It has been 15 months since a merry band of cultists, conspiracy theorists, and diverse yahoos on the lookout for any excuse to smash stuff stormed the DC Capitol Constructing and struck terror into the hearts of tens of millions of People.
As horrifying because the actions of these wannabe home terrorists might have been, what’s arguably extra appalling is the truth that they have been doubtless egged on by a sitting president.
For properly over a 12 months now, the questions of how a lot Donald Trump know forward of the assaults, in addition to how huge of a job he performed in encouraging the insurrectionists have been looming like a grim specter over the American political panorama.
With the entire equipment in place to maintain these solutions obscured, we might by no means get to the true fact of the state of affairs, however no less than the investigation is making issues uncomfortable for individuals who have one thing to cover.
At problem this week is the query of a seven and a half hour hole in Trump’s communication logs on the day of the assaults.
Sure, for the size of a whole work day — not that that exact unit of time means a lot to a person who famously spent a lot of his White Home mornings lounging in a shower gown and watching Fox Information — the president was MIA whereas his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Now, this can be a man who normally cannot cease himself from speaking with nearly anybody who will pay attention.
Earlier than he was banned from Twitter final 12 months, Trump used to feverishly put up each stray statement that handed via his head, like an aspiring standup comedian within the throes of an Adderall overdose.
What we’re saying is, this isn’t a man who typically goes incommunicado for a whole day, particularly not when mentioned day is likely one of the defining moments of his presidency.
So the right way to clarify this anomalous interval of radio silence?
Properly, the going principle is that Trump employed a “burner” telephone to stay involved together with his high cronies throughout these hours.
Most regularly utilized by Avon Barksdale-types of their valiant campaigns to maintain their metropolis’s streets provided with illicit uppers, burners are untraceable telephones which can be used briefly at instances when extra typical modes of communication are unavailable.
Not solely has Trump denied utilizing a burner telephone on January 6, he additionally insists that he is by no means even heard the time period.
“I do not know what a burner telephone is,” the president mentioned, in response to The Washington Put up.
“To the very best of my information I’ve by no means even heard the time period,” he added.
Now, you understand the Donald is spewing BS each time he begins speaking all lawyer-y like that,
And naturally, nobody truly believes that he is by no means heard of a burner telephone earlier than.
Maybe most aged politicians can convincingly faux to be unfamiliar with up to date slang phrases, however Trump shouldn’t be your typical aged politician.
This can be a man who’s virtually as obsessive about popular culture as he’s with himself.
And whereas nothing has been substantiated, there are longstanding rumors that within the eighties and nineties, the man inhaled sufficient snow to close down faculties in Anchorage.
If Mitch McConnell poked his head out of his turtle shell and gave a comically exaggerated shrug when requested about burner telephones, we is perhaps inclined to imagine him.
However Trump is a person of the streets — Wall Road counts as a avenue, proper? — and he is been across the block a time or two.
Hell, the person remains to be sniffling and grinding his jaw from that weekend he partied with the 1986 Mets after they gained the World Sequence.
Look, when Trump claims ignorance, we’re typically inclined to associate with it — however not on this case.
This can be a man who buys burner telephones as stocking stuffers for his grandkids, and we refuse to imagine in any other case.
