On Monday, Donald Trump will visit the scene of the crime, place his hand on a Bible and vow to uphold and defend the Constitution. swear a formal oath Becomes the 47th president of the United States.

The blood stains of the January 6th riot have long been washed away. The Capitol’s shattered windows were repaired and broken doors replaced. You will never know the horrific mayhem that unfolded in the seat of our national government on that dark day, or how our country and democracy were tainted.

Some people may want exactly that.

Trump and his followers have spent years rewriting history, telling unpleasant truths — lies about the stolen 2020 election, violent attempts to overturn the results — through deception, misinformation, , have buried it under a blanket of falsehood and stench.

The attempt at concealment has been so thorough that it extends to the physical premises. There, House Speaker Mike Johnson single-handedly blocked a bill that would have installed a plaque honoring the Capitol and the law enforcement officers who fought the pro-Trump mob to protect it. Residents — including Mike Johnson.

The word “disgraceful” cannot describe the contempt for their courage and sacrifice.

“What they went through was just horrific,” California Representative Zoe Lofgren said of the men and women who threw themselves into the breach to protect lawmakers, staff and reporters covering Congress. “Honestly, they saved us. They saved my life and they saved our democracy.”

President Trump has said he will take his hand off the Bible and pardon some rioters soon after taking office. In his view of superiority as inferiority and ignorance as strength, these lawbreakers are the actual victims of a violent attack on our country and its fundamental principles.

So it’s worth remembering that on what President Trump described as a “day of love,” police were attacked by thugs wielding baseball bats, flagpoles, Tasers, pepper spray, and steel pipes. More than 140 police officers were injured. some died in the aftermath.

As one Republican congressman said of the Capitol invasion, “a normal tourist visit” caused about $3 million in damage and resulted in criminal charges For over 1,500 people.

try acting like that At Disneyland.

a expense bill Passed and signed into law in March 2022, it requires a memorial plaque to be erected within a year and placed on the West Front of the Capitol, where the worst of the violence occurred. Lofgren, a San Jose Democrat, served on House committees investigating the Jan. 6 attack and President Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 defeat, and served on the House Administration Committee during its enactment. led.

After more than two years of inaction, she sent Johnson a “polite letter” noting that the deadline had long passed and asking for the reason for the delay. “I look forward to any information you can share to that end and what is being done to address it,” Lofgren wrote.

To this day, she has not heard back from the speaker. “Crickets,” Lofgren said in an interview.

Last week, dozens of lawmakers, all Democrats, co-signed another letter to Johnson, again urging action and demanding a timeline for his delivery.

When asked about the shield, he weakly told reporters, “I’ve never even seen it.” “We need to confirm that.”

The chairman owes his office solely to Trump, who appears to be the only person standing in the way of the monument’s legitimate installation. Both House and Senate Democratic leaders approved the signature, and then-Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell agreed to sign it, after which he announced he would vacate his leadership position and retire rather than seek re-election to the Senate next year. It is being

Mr Johnson’s motives are as clear as the dome of Parliament against a blue sky. Mr. Johnson is bowing down to Mr. Trump, lest he scratch his eggshell ego or prick the president-elect’s downy skin.

Michael Fanone, a former Metropolitan Police Department officer who was injured in the Jan. 6 attack, said so frankly. The heinous events of that day were “so politically inconvenient,” that Johnson and other Republicans said they were “basically calling out their own Capitol Police Department and others who responded to assist them.” I’m going to hold the institution responsible,” he told the Capitol newspaper Roll Call. .

Why should anyone care? Washington is chock-full of statues, signs, monuments, and plaques that, with a few notable exceptions, are rarely seen and easily passed by on a daily basis.

“Imagine how you would feel if your police officer’s son died in an attack and the people he was protecting said it was just a ‘peaceful protest,'” Lofgren said. “How does it make you feel to hear that? It means something to some officers, and therefore it means something to me, to have some recognition for their sacrifice.”

More than that, it’s important not to whitewash history simply because it offends some people or undermines a party’s political agenda.

Erasure is a step towards forgetting. Forgetting is a step towards invalidation. Nullification is a step toward repeating the sordid event.

“On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the outstanding men and women who bravely defended and defended this symbol of our democracy on January 6, 2021,” it reads below the floor plan of the U.S. Capitol. The inscription reads: “Their heroic acts will never be forgotten.”

Nor should it be.