This morning I woke up to retired Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn being interviewed by Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC. Officer Dunn’s next step on his path of public service is to run for the 3rd Congressional seat in Maryland currently held by Rep. John P. Sarbanes (D), who is retiring at the end of this Congress after nine terms. On Friday, he announced:
On January 6th, I did my duty as a police officer and as an American and defended our nation’s Capitol from violent insurrectionists. Today, I’m running for Congress because the forces that spurred that violent attack are still at work and as a patriotic American, it is my duty to defend our democracy.
Officer Dunn wrote Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th with Ron Harris. It is a highly informative, sobering, and moving account of the insurrection on January 6, 2021. With a clear voice, he recounts the sense of betrayal felt by the officers who protected the Capitol on that “unprecedented” day:
We lost Christine [a member of Dunn’s unit] that night ~ not to death or injury but to the same feelings of betrayal that so many of us feel. She describes it as “a resigned bitterness.” I understand, because I feel the same way. We were let down. We were let down by our citizens, by our elected officials, and by our leadership within the Capitol Police.
[Three] years later, we are still waiting for answers, still waiting for vindication ~ still waiting to be made whole.
Officer Dunn is a big guy. He was a linebacker in high school, college, and with the Canadian football league. He doesn’t intimidate easily, and his instinct to protect is enormous. His rants are at times funny, bittersweet, and exceedingly sad. He doesn’t hold back.
On January 6, Brian Sicknick collapsed after being viciously beaten, was hospitalized, and died after suffering two strokes. About 140 officers were injured ~ 75 from Capitol Police and 65 from the Metropolitan DC Police Department. Further, 38 tested positive for Covid ~ before vaccines were available to the general public.
Officer Dunn isn’t shy about calling “bullshit” on attempts to minimize what happened on that “unprecedented” day. I too want answers and accountability.
Anne Caroline Drake 
You know they whine about taking “their” country back. Well it’s time for US to take back Democracy and Truth.
Amen, Annie! Amen!
It might not be well understood, but DJ Trump’s most (all?) ardent followers ignore the mainstream media in its entirety, considering it as biased and even spreading false information. Their sole source of information is right-wing extremists who inhabit the web. These right-wing purveyors of false and misleading information, knowingly, purposely, prey on their tendency for conformation bias. This last confirms and cements the in the followers minds the “truth.”
There certainly is some / a large degree of absence of critical thinking in that audience also. My general presumption is that these followers of Trump also suffer from the fact that they didn’t study science, or algebra and geometry in school, as that is where the foundation of logic and decision making is learned.
Not to be overlooked, is DJ Trump’s lies, which also rely heavily on the confirmation bias factor.