As Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign has progressed, the Republican has emphasized his support and affection for Jan. 6 rioters. The former president has defended them as “victims” and “hostages.” He has promised to reward them with pardons — including those who violently clashed with law enforcement. He has helped rioters raise money, and at one point he even released a song with Jan. 6 inmates.
But as it turns out, there was still room for him to fall further.
During a Univision town hall event, a man named Ramiro Gonzalez told Trump that he had lost his support, in part because of his handling of Jan. 6. “I want to give you the opportunity to try to win back my vote,” the Floridian — who described himself as a Republican — told the former president.
After pretending he wasn’t responsible for summoning the Jan. 6 crowd to the nation’s capital, Trump said: “Nothing done wrong. At all, nothing done wrong.”
He went on say, in reference to the insurrectionist violence, “There were no guns down there; we didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns.”
Just so we’re all clear, when Trump referenced “we,” he was aligning himself with the violent criminals — some of whom carried guns, his latest lies notwithstanding. Similarly, “the others” was in reference to law enforcement personnel.
The Washington Post published an analysis that noted, “It’s actually not the first time Trump has seemed to do this. But the last time, Trump’s comments weren’t so clear, and he apparently caught himself. At last month’s presidential debate, Trump cited ‘we’ before shifting to ‘this group of people.’”
Circling back to our earlier coverage, the day after the assault on the Capitol, the then-president said: “Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.” He went on to describe the riot as a “heinous attack.”
Reading from a prepared text, Trump added: “The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. … To those who engage in the acts of violence and destruction: You do not represent our country, and to those who broke the law: You will pay.”
Five days later, the Republican condemned the “mob [that] stormed the Capitol and trashed the halls of government.” On the final full day of his term, again reading from a script, Trump added: “All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol. Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.”
Nearly four years later, Trump not only “tolerates” the rioters’ crimes, he’s associating himself with the rioters.
The Republican is not just rewriting history and relitigating insurrectionist violence in the race’s final weeks, he’s also engaged in a bizarre fight pitting the January 2017 version of himself against the October 2024 version.
It’s a fight he’s losing because it’s one he can’t win.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”