Responding to comparisons of the January 6 events with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described them as "an insult to the people that were going into those buildings," alluding to the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
"It's interesting how everything in our society becomes very politicized, and so today – honestly, I'm not going to watch any of it – you're going to see the DC/New York media, this is their Christmas, Jan. 6," DeSantis said at a press conference on Thursday. "They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump."
DeSantis went on to equate the event to an attempted assassination attempt on several Republicans years ago by an infuriated Bernie Sanders backer. On that day, June 14, 2017, several Republican members of Congress were practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game. James Hodgkinson opened fire on the field, injuring several people, including US House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Three people were injured in addition to Scalise.
"I just look back and compare when I was in Congress, one event we faced was the attempted assassination of Republican members of Congress during a baseball game," he said. "I was actually on the field. The guy, who was a Bernie Sanders guy, was definitely a politically motivated attack, came up, pulled his van, and we didn't think anything of it. We walked out to go to the car, and we came in contact with him."
According to DeSantis, the perpetrator wanted to know "if it was Republicans out there." Then, the governor said, they got in the car and left the stadium, only to soon find out that the man had shot "a bunch of people."
"If you do not have the Capitol Police there, you probably would have a dozen people assassinated," he added. "That was like a one-day, two-day story. That was not something that the capital-based press wanted to talk about."
According to DeSantis, the reason behind the metropolitan media not catching on to that story and why it has been talking about the attack on the Capitol for a year now is that the assassination attempt on the Republicans undercuts their preferred narratives.
And most importantly, the January 6 events allow the mainstream media "to create narratives that are negative about people that supported Donald Trump."
"Look, if you obstruct a proceeding, all about holding people accountable. If you're rioting, hold them accountable," DeSantis added. "But let's just be clear here: When they try to act like this is something akin to the September 11 attacks, that is an insult to the people that were going into those buildings."
Attack on the World's 'Oldest & Greatest Democracy'
Earlier in the day, In a speech at the Capitol, Vice President Kamala Harris compared the attack of January 6 to the 9/11 attacks, as well as the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
"Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing, when our democracy came under assault," she stated. "December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001 and January 6, 2021."
According to the vice president, the US cannot allow those bent "on silencing our voices, overturning our votes, and peddling lies and misinformation by some radical faction that may be newly resurgent, but whose roots run old and deep," to decide the nation's future.
Harris went on to describe the United States as the "oldest and greatest democracy in the world."
"I wonder, how will January 6 come to be remembered?" Harris said. "Will it be remembered as a moment that accelerated the unraveling of the oldest and greatest democracy in the world? Or a moment when we decided to secure and strengthen our democracy for generations to come?"
Some on social media have expressed disagreement with such a seemingly strained comparison with much more tragic events in the country's history.
But critics of Harris' 9/11 comparison, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, are using the statements as an "excuse."
"Instead of, for those who are being critics of the vice president’s remarks, I think instead of focusing on, or analyzing comparisons of moments in history," she said on Thursday, "I would suggest that they be a part of solving the threat to democracy that occurs today … They are using this as an excuse not to be a part of that."
On January 6 last year, hundreds of Trump supporters broke through Capitol security, as members of Congress and former Vice President Mike Pence were certifying the electoral college votes in favor of Biden. In the mayhem of the day, four people died, and one injured Capitol police officer died a day later.
In total, almost 3,000 persons were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attack.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor claimed the lives of 2,403 Americans.