A Substack article by a former Democrat advisor has made the rounds in conservative circles this month. It is nothing less than a “full-throated apology” by feminist and author Naomi Wolf. Titled “Dear Conservatives, I apologize,” the article provides heartfelt regret for believing a “farrago [assortment] of lies” about the events that took place on Jan. 6, 2021. Wolf’s apology was a refreshingly redemptive and courageous act, leaving one to wonder why she appears to be the only well-known progressive thus far to express resentment toward those who deceived her.
Wolf explained that the footage aired on the Tucker Carlson Show on Fox News caught her eye, made her revisit her assumptions about J6, and recognize that she and her friends on the left had been duped. Wolf’s intellectual honesty is to be admired and comes through sincerely in passages like this one:
“You don’t have to agree with Mr Carlson’s interpretation of the videos, to conclude that the Democrats in leadership, for their own part, have cherry-picked, hyped, spun, and in some ways appear to have lied about, aspects of January 6, turning a tragedy for the nation into a politicized talking point aimed at discrediting half of our electorate.”
Wolf described her disbelief after seeing footage of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick engaged in active duty rather than lying on the ground after supposedly being pummeled with a fire extinguisher. She was staggered to see the famed QAnon Shaman walking peacefully around the hallowed halls, escorted by several Capitol Hill policemen. And she became even more suspicious about the lack of security and safety protocols in place that day – something which is de rigueur for the law enforcement command at the US Capitol.
Bonus Riot (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Wolf’s Apology Stands Alone
These elements of the J6 event appeared to bother Wolf’s conscience. She also took time to debunk the media narrative that the unrest at the Capitol was “unprecedented.” Her research on this topic alone makes her Substack lament worth reading.
Wolf cites the “massive, raucous public crowds [that] thronged the Gallery to observe the outcome of a contested Election — between Rutherford B Hayes and Samuel J Tilden” in 1876 and 1877. She also accurately recalls the riotous protest of the Bonus Army at the US Capitol in 1932, a topic that has been entirely ignored by the advocacy media. During the last gasp of the Herbert Hoover administration, thousands of World War I veterans who were promised a bonus for their service amassed in Washington to collect their money. She truthfully recounted:
“When it appeared that the bonus would not be paid, many of the marchers refused to leave, and President Hoover ordered the Army to evict them. Using tear gas, tanks, and a troop of saber-wielding cavalry commanded by Major George S. Patton, U.S. Army chief of staff General Douglas MacArthur drove the marchers out of Washington and burned their main camp on the Anacostia Flats.”
In other words, Wolf essentially puts to rest the assertion of many on the left – including Vice President Kamala Harris – who doggedly strived to lump J6 in with Pearl Harbor Day and 9/11. “Peaceful Republicans and conservatives as a whole have been demonized by the story told by Democrats in leadership of what happened that day,” Wolf proclaimed.
So where is the rest of the rabble who bought a legion of lies about the events of J6? (This is not to say there weren’t violent events that took place that day, but that they should be placed in proper context.) Are they too steeped in the accepted narrative to do a volte-face? Do they lack the sheer courage to admit to being duped? Or is it because they have seen the “other side” of the story and have chosen to ignore the parallel reality it exposes?
Perhaps it is too much to ask for more propagandized Americans to come forward. Or it may be that conservatives should be satisfied with one lone conversion – not a political conversion as such, but rather a willingness to allow one person’s interpretation of Jan. 6 to evolve based on facts. Until more of these people are willing to cast their pride aside, those on the right must revel in the final words of Naomi Wolf’s apology:
The gatekeepers who lie to the public about the most consequential events of our time — and who thus damage our nation, distort our history, and deprive half of our citizenry of their right to speak, champion and choose, without being tarred as would-be violent traitors – deserve our disgust.
I am sorry the nation was damaged by so much untruth issued by those with whom I identified at the time.
I am sorry my former “tribe” is angry at a journalist for engaging in — journalism.
I am sorry I believed so much nonsense.
Though it is no doubt too little, too late —
Conservatives, Republicans, MAGA:
I am so sorry.
