• Show Notes

The deadly insurrection is top of mind also because, weeks later, details of the day continue to emerge. New video clips, with new angles and implications, keep surfacing. And fresh first-person testimonials offer a deeper perspective on how catastrophic that day was and how much worse it could have been.

One of those remarkable testimonials came this week from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, in the form of a widely-watched Instagram Live feed. For an hour, AOC narrated her experience on January 6th, with both color and emotion. What she described was galling, heartbreaking, and riveting all at the same time.

"The reason I say this and the reason I'm getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened, or even telling us to apologize. These are the same tactics of abusers. And I'm a survivor of sexual assault."

Then there was this frightening assessment: “I thought I was going to die.” Millions of people have now seen and heard AOC’s statements and have been moved by them. (Just as I’m writing this, some outlets have raised questions about the accuracy of AOC’s account. She has strongly stood by her description of the events.)