Two recent articles in The New York Times indicate that not only is the Times doing its best to keep "Jan. 6" alive as a distraction from the disastrous Biden presidency, but it has concocted an illusory scenario where the "attack" on the Capitol on "Jan. 6" was merely the opening assault of a threat to the country instigated by "far right" Republican lawmakers.  These articles suggest, further, that The Times is beneficiary of individuals who have senior GOP members of Congress under surveillance, if not the recipient of audio of phone conversations "obtained" from Republican moles.  (Liz Cheney, after all, was among the GOP House members addressed by Kevin McCarthy, January 10 and 11, 2021.)  Finally, the articles suggest that House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is either a fool or an agent for the Democrats.  The articles appeared in The Times on April 23 and April 27.

The April 23 narrative, "McCarthy Said/Trump Took on/Blame for Riot," is bylined Jonathan Martin, Alexander Burns, and Neil Vigdor.

The April 27 narrative, "McCarthy Raised Alarm/About G.O.P. Colleagues," is attributed to Burns and Martin.

The April 23 story cites "new audio" as the source of the material set forth in the story — that President Trump accepted some blame for "Jan. 6."  The April 27 article relates: "Audio recordings of [incendiary] comments [by Republican members of Congress] were obtained in reporting for a forthcoming book, 'This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America's Future.'"  (This book is also cited in the April 23 piece.)

 Neither article mentions that Burns and Martin are the authors of the book; neither article reveals how Burns and Martin "obtained" the audio of conversations between Mr. McCarthy and select House Republicans that took place on January 10 and 11, 2021.

According to the April 23 story, the "audio" in question "is part of a series of revelations about Republican leaders' private condemnations of Mr. Trump in the days after his supporters stormed the Capitol."  The assertion that Donald J. Trump "may have admitted some measure of culpability for the deadly mob" was made, allegedly, in a Jan. 11, 2021 conference call with House Republican leaders.  The Times said Mr. McCarthy was dishonest for subsequently denying that he called on President Trump to resign.  The April 23 story included the observation that "[t]he book [by Burns and Martin] ... has quickly become an embarrassment and a potential political problem for Mr. McCarthy."  (One may wonder that this comment amounts to a blurb to stir sales of the tome among leftists, which would have the two pieces as little more than promotion for anti-GOP propaganda.)

The April 23 contention that a "deadly mob" was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is perhaps the greatest insertion of mendacity yet in the left's "Jan. 6." narrative.  The one violent death, of Ashli Babbitt, was the result of shooting by a Capitol policeman.  There should be no doubt whatsoever that The New York Times has become an organ for outrageous political propaganda worthy of Pravda in Soviet Union days.  This statement, for example, April 27, has not a jot or tittle of newsworthy journalism: in his quest for the speakership, "Mr. McCarthy has spent much of the last year forging a closer political partnership with the far right, showing little public concern that his most extreme colleagues could instigate bloodshed with their overheated or hateful rhetoric."

The foregoing quote is a call to arms, not journalism, I submit.  And note how the title of the Burns and Martin book talks not of politics, but "the Battle for American's Future."  Republican "leaders" like Kevin McCarthy seem, at best, ignorant that a furious battle is underway — and thus are ready to denounce Republican realists for daring to scan the battlefield.  For a leftist, after all, a Republican realist is a "far right extremist."

Now, who taped McCarthy's January 10 and 11, 2021 comments to his leadership group, and how did those remarks reach The New York Times?  Republican populists want to know.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.