Aaron Blake for WaPo:
Shortly after the dust settled on Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump’s allies went to great and strained lengths to distance the then-president from the insurrectionists who had stormed the U.S. Capitol. They falsely linked the attack to antifa and supposed government “provocateurs” — claims that had no basis then and still don’t….
In the intervening four years, though, Trump himself has expressed an increasing amount of sympathy for the rioters — not just for their humanity and purported legal persecution (he has repeatedly floated pardons), but also for their actions. He has clearly sought to retcon that day from one of national shame to one that is to be, in many ways, celebrated.
That culminated Wednesday night with a very choice word: “we.”
Appearing at a town hall hosted by Univision, Trump was confronted by a self-identified Republican named Ramiro González who cast Trump’s actions surrounding Jan. 6 as a dealbreaker for him. González challenged Trump to win his support.
But Trump made no apologies for that day. What he instead did was actually link himself to the rioters — stronger than he ever has before.
“There were no guns down there; we didn’t have guns,” Trump said, before repeating: “The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns.”
The first thing to note is that’s false; Trump supporters did have guns and many other weapons. But also consider what Trump has done rhetorically. He cast the insurrectionists as a “we.”
It’s actually not the first time Trump has seemed to do this. But the last time, Trump’s comments weren’t so clear, and he apparently caught himself. At last month’s presidential debate, Trump cited “we” before shifting to “this group of people.”..