Former federal prosecutor and bestselling author Andy McCarthy published on National Review Online what purports to be a balanced and nuanced article about the Jan. 6, 2021, debacle at the U.S. Capitol. Titled “Making Sense of the Capitol Riot Tapes,” McCarthy tries to find a happy middle ground between the factions warring over Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s access to (and coverage of) 44,000 hours of video footage taken on that day. McCarthy takes pains to defend “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley’s 41-month sentence as appropriate, but calls the term “insurrection” pure Democrat “mythmaking.” He acknowledges that former President Donald Trump did not “incite” a riot “in the strict criminal-law meaning of that term” (is there any other kind?), but declares the day to be “an indelible, disqualifying stain on his record as president.”

McCarthy’s criticisms of Democrats are, in essence, “Tsk, tsk — see? We told you guys you should have had a bipartisan committee,” and “Democrats’ narrative about Jan. 6 has been a bit overwrought.”

I enjoy reading McCarthy, respect his expertise and generally appreciate his analyses of legal issues. But he’s missing the larger point here.

It’s not merely that the “mythmaking” of J6 has been used as an excuse to smear half the country as “domestic terrorists,” weaponize the Justice Department against irate parents at school board meetings, sic the FBI on pro-lifers praying at abortion clinics, and create a new bogeyman — "white Christian nationalism" — as the greatest threat facing the republic.

It’s that the J6 manipulation is just one of many instances of Democrats flat-out lying to the American people for political gain.

The “Russia collusion” story was a lie from the get-go, and Democrats knew it because Democrats colluded to create it. The Clinton campaign paid law firm Perkins Coie, which paid Fusion GPS, which paid former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, who concocted the “Russian dossier” out of whole cloth. The “investigation” — which produced nothing — cost taxpayers $32 million, and the Clinton campaign paid a small fine. Who was undermining confidence in the electoral process then?

The COVID-19 “wet market” origin story was a lie, and Democrats in government (and elsewhere) knew it because the United States was funding the dangerous “gain of function” research that likely produced the virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. COVID “vaccines” that millions of Americans have been forced to take were neither effective nor safe. But medical professionals who posed serious questions were censored and sanctioned because the Democratic National Committee, the White House and federal law enforcement pressured Twitter and other social media companies.

It wasn’t just “our democracy” being threatened by that conduct and those decisions.

The scandalous information on Hunter Biden’s laptop was authentic and revealed President Joe Biden’s compromised positions with Ukraine and China; we’re now funding a war in Ukraine to the tune of almost $200 billion, and just this week, China has threatened “confrontation and conflict.” Democrats got the Hunter Biden laptop censored because it threatened Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

Who’s “threatening democracy”?

The point that Andy McCarthy’s NRO editorial misses is that the J6 hysteria is not merely unfortunate political hyperbole; it is part of an ongoing scheme to deceive the public and deflect attention away from the behavior of Democrats that legitimately threatens the health, stability and prosperity of our country and its people.

Tucker Carlson is unintimidated by those like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer who object to the release of the J6 video footage to the public, accusing them of “panic” and “fear.”

Schumer has previously made statements unbecoming of a man in his position. When the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision was pending before the United States Supreme Court last spring, Schumer called out justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh by name, saying, “I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh — you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” Just a few months later, Nicholas John Roske was arrested outside Justice Kavanaugh’s home, armed with a gun and ammunition, a knife and burglary tools. Roske told authorities he had traveled from California and planned to kill Kavanaugh and then kill himself.

Who is a “threat to democracy”?

This week, Schumer publicly demanded that Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, prohibit Carlson from revealing any more of the J6 videos, or discussing them on the air.

This is censorship of the press and a violation of the First Amendment.

Who is a “threat to democracy”?

To his credit, Murdoch has a history of standing behind the journalists in his employ. In 2015, Wall Street Journal writer John Carreyrou broke the story about serious problems in blood-testing startup Theranos, which ultimately exposed the fraud being committed by its CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Holmes hired powerhouse Democrat consigliere David Boies to take on the Journal. Boies is lead partner in the tony Manhattan firm Boies Schiller Flexner. (In a tactic that smacks of the Perkins Coie/Fusion GPS arrangement, Boies also represented disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, and his firm hired private investigative agencies filled with ex-spies who tracked, stalked and tried to dig up dirt on the women who were accusing Weinstein of sexual assault.)

Boies met with Murdoch personally and threatened litigation unless Murdoch put a stop to Carreyrou’s investigation. It’s worth noting that Murdoch had personally invested $125 million in Theranos; he had plenty of reasons to intervene. Nevertheless, Murdoch refused to bend to Boies’ threats, expressing faith in the writers and editors working at the Journal. Holmes ended up being convicted of fraud and was recently sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.

The liars and wrongdoers in our government need to be similarly exposed and punished. Getting accurate information to the American public is the first step.

Mr. McCarthy, open your eyes. Mr. Murdoch, stick to your guns.

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