Teaser: Dis is a fun one!
Eric Columbus (also on Bluesky and 🧵)
@EricColumbus
·
5h
I was working for Congress on January 6, 2021. The night before, my boss, House General Counsel Doug Letter, asked me to be on House floor with him that day. 1/
We had spent months preparing for January 6. In the fall of 2020, anticipating that Trump might not accept defeat, we helped prepare for the House’s role in a contested election. 2/
We were ready for just about every possible (nonviolent) contingency—including governors refusing to certify the election, fake electors, Pence going rogue, the House GOP walking out, and many more. 3/
I told my boss that I could be more useful based at home (as we usually did, due to COVID) with full access to my computer and files. 4/
By working at home I avoided having to don a gas mask and flee the House chamber as Capitol Police—and some members of Congress—fended off the attackers. 5/
In the end Pence did the right thing and followed the script to the letter. I thought he would try to slip in some stray snide remarks about the election as a sop to Trump. He did not. 6/
When Congress reconvened that night, Pence's two-minute speech was like something out of a movie—in a good way. Trump could have given such a speech that night. We know why he didn't. 7/
youtube.com
WATCH: 'Let’s get back to work,’ Pence urges Senate
Vice President Mike Pence told the Senate, “let’s get back to work,” hours after a violent mob forced its way into the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the counting o…
For as long as Trump is a candidate for president, I don’t want to hear a word about not platforming him. Focus on what’s important, but broadcast it to the hilltops and the valleys. Let no one say they didn’t know or didn’t remember. 8/end
[Soooo, you were "planning for months". Interdasting.]