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You'd be hard-pressed to find an airport blockbuster as shocking or compelling as the congressional inquiry into the January 6 storming of the Capitol in Washington. Friday's hearing, beamed into lounge rooms across the US in prime time, was edge-of-your-seat television. Its focus was what happened in the 187 minutes between Donald Trump's incendiary speech urging his followers to head down to the Capitol and his half-hearted statement calling for the violence to end. Three hours and seven minutes in which the world's most powerful nation teetered on the edge of insurrection. Three hours in which the president refused to call off the mob he'd set upon democracy itself.
Despite a flurry of calls from those close to him - his advisers and his family - he sat watching, unmoved, the violence unfold on a TV in his White House dining room. And when he did finally urge the rioters to leave, he didn't condemn them, saying instead they were special and "we love you". The evidence presented at the hearing was disturbing on many levels. The mob, we heard, hung on every word Trump tweeted. When he tweeted during the riot, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done", the chant "Hang Mike Pence" echoed through the Capitol. As rioters rampaged through the building, members of the Secret Service were saying their final goodbyes to their families.
All that is shocking enough but the closing remarks from Republican committee member Adam Kinzinger should really send a chill. He said the extreme ideology and weird fantasies that drove the January 6 insurrectionists were still out there and were "the elephant in the room". They are and we should be concerned.
No less than our former prime minister, Scott Morrison, dog-whistled the homegrown fantasists when he addressed the Victory Life Centre pentecostal church in Perth recently. "We don't trust in governments, we don't trust in United Nations, thank goodness," he told churchgoers. "We don't trust in all of these things, fine as they might be." Extraordinary words from the man who until May 21 headed our government. Of course, his successor, Anthony Albanese, seized on the statement. "I've spent two months trying to repair our international relations," he told the ABC. "And that sort of nonsense throwaway conspiracy line about the United Nations isn't worthy of someone who led Australia."
Morrison saw the fantasists en masse when they descended on the capital with their red ensigns in February. He performed a Trump-lite, saying the protesters were "speaking up for the things they feel strongly about". But he did ask them to follow police directions. Morrison would have been advised by police and intelligence agencies of the harm being wrought by disinformation and conspiracy theories. He would have seen the violence the mob visited on Melbourne during the lockdown - especially the gallows prepared for Dan Andrews. One hopes, probably forlornly, that he pays attention to the January 6 hearings and chooses his sermonic words more carefully in future.
Fortunately, Morrison is unlikely to gather much of a following among the tinfoil hat brigade here. It's hard to see him capturing the febrile imaginations of the anti-vaxxers and sovereign citizens the way Trump did.
Nonetheless, it's best he doesn't play with matches.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Did Scott Morrison's sermon give you the creeps? What can we learn from the Trump episode in US history? What's the nuttiest conspiracy theory you've heard? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- United States ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy will focus on regional security, economic engagement and climate change in the face of a more assertive China. Ms Kennedy arrived in Sydney on Friday morning after her ambassadorship was unanimously confirmed by the US Senate in May and she was sworn in on June 10.
- One in six Australians have experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviours in their lifetime and more than two in five have had a mental health disorder. Those are the findings of a comprehensive study on mental health and wellbeing conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- Australians would be subjected to mask mandates this winter if medical experts had their way, amid surging cases of Omicron variants and increase in the national death toll. While the Prime Minister and the NSW Premier are yet to support mandates, third wave BA.4 and BA.5 case numbers have led numerous medical bodies to call for the return of mask wearing.
THEY SAID IT: "When you're young, you look at television and think, there's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want." - Steve Jobs
YOU SAID IT: We asked for your views on combating political corruption and the federal integrity commission promised by the new government.
David said Australia needed a national integrity commission. "A vicious beast. One with teeth, fangs, claws a bad attitude and a long memory. Corruption makes everything worse. Even global warming and environmental degradation are made worse by the corrupting influence of vested interests."
Bruce said an integrity commission needed to follow similar watchdogs in NSW and Victoria: "If the proposed federal ICAC is anything less than the NSW or Victorian commissions then it would be a failure. Bring it on."
Ross said the key to curbing corruption and incompetence was to have fewer politicians: "Eliminate state parliaments and upper houses and have legislation so that after two terms if an incumbent hasn't displayed 'high-flyer abilities' they get replaced at the next (all too frequent) election."
According to S, watchdogs with teeth are required: "Groups like Fair Trading are powerless to stop corruption in their own small arena of governance. An anti-corruption watch dog is a must at any level but especially at the top. But this watchdog must have enough power and education to act in the best interests of all the Australian peoples: First Nations; refugees; migrants and those born here. A truly independent, and appropriately powered anti-corruption commission will act in such a way."
Karis wanted more transparency: "Australia has become too secretive, unethical and willing to cover up deals. Democracy risks being discredited, even overthrown. Remember the 1930s and the rise of dictators. Also we must stop the revenge taken on bona fide whistleblowers. Only independent, transparent openness by honest, reputable lawyers and other senior people will save liberal democracies. Politicians must not select members of corruption investigatory bodies."
Graeme said: "The level of blatantly unethical and corrupt conduct by those in positions of power makes it very clear that there is never enough power in the hands of the people via a corruption watchdog."
Oliver wanted to see any corruption watchdog properly funded: "The corruption problem, as clearly described by The Echidna, is serious and growing. A federal integrity commission is vital and urgently needed. It should be at least as powerful as ICAC and IBAC. Helen Haines' model could be a good one. Both the new commission and the Australian National Audit Office will need a good supply of staff and resources - they have a great deal of important work to do and must not be throttled by budget limitations."
John, however, sounds a note of caution: "The weakness of ICAC/IBACs is the show trial aspect of their operations. The new ACT Integrity Commissioner has to convince the Ombudsman a public hearing is necessary to collect further information. What new information was revealed in Gladys Berejiklian's public hearing?"