Are Pelosi and Hillary Clinton Laying the Groundwork for a New War on Terror?

This week, Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called for a “9/11-type commission” into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol following a pro-Trump rally. This may suggest the Democrats are mulling a new War on Terror — against domestic enemies. Both Clinton and Pelosi also returned to the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy theory, suggesting Russian President Vladimir Putin played a role in the Capitol riot.

Pelosi appeared on Clinton’s podcast on Monday. Clinton claimed that Trump “disdains democracy” and suggested that Putin may be controlling him.

“I hope, historically, we will find out who he’s beholden to, who pulls his strings. I would love to see his phone records, to see whether he was talking to Putin the day that the insurgents invaded our Capitol,” Clinton said. “But we now know that not just him but his enablers, his accomplices, his cult members, have the same disregard for democracy.”

Turning to Pelosi, she asked, “Do you think we need a 9/11-type commission to investigate and report everything that they can pull together and explain what happened?”

“I do,” the House speaker replied. Pelosi recalled confronting Trump and saying, “With you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin.”

“I don’t know what Putin has on him politically, financially, or personally, but what happened last week was a gift to Putin because Putin wants to undermine democracy in our country and throughout the world,” Pelosi argued.

“And these people, unbeknownst to them maybe, are Putin puppets,” the House speaker added. “They were doing Putin’s business when they did that, at the incitement of an insurrection by the president of the United States. So yes, we should have a 9/11 Commission.”

Clinton shared the interview on Twitter. “[Pelosi] and I agree: Congress needs to establish an investigative body like the 9/11 Commission to determine Trump’s ties to Putin so we can repair the damage to our national security and prevent a puppet from occupying the presidency ever again,” she wrote.

.@SpeakerPelosi and I agree:

Congress needs to establish an investigative body like the 9/11 Commission to determine Trump's ties to Putin so we can repair the damage to our national security and prevent a puppet from occupying the presidency ever again. pic.twitter.com/yR7LQmXm5Z

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 18, 2021

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The 585-page 9/11 Commission Report sought to explain exactly what happened on September 11, 2001, what inspired and equipped the terrorists involved, and which governments and organizations abetted the heinous attack on American soil that killed 2,977 Americans in four deadly airplane hijackings. The report revealed the terrorists’ histories in the Middle East and set the groundwork for the War on Terror.

While the January 6 attack on the Capitol rightly shook Americans to their core, it is worlds apart from the September 11 attacks. The Al Qaeda terrorists who knocked down the World Trade Center and crashed into the Pentagon had ties to foreign governments and were motivated by radical Islamist ideology. By contrast, the rioters who broke into the U.S. Capitol did not do so as part of a coordinated effort with an organization and they were motivated by the narrative that Democrats stole the 2020 election from Trump.

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The rioters attacked the Capitol because Trump had told them that he had really won “in a landslide,” so Congress’s ratification of the Electoral College votes represented an attack on America’s election system. While the legacy media has been too quick to dismiss legitimate concerns about voter fraud and irregularities, it is unlikely that these irregularities add up to a stolen election. Trump’s hyperbolic claim of a “landslide” victory is certainly false and it was dangerous for him to spread it.

While the president’s rhetoric about the election and his public demands that Vice President Mike Pence abuse his authority by unilaterally rejecting Electoral College votes were dangerous, Trump never advocated an attack on the Capitol.

Unlike in the case of 9/11, there is no reason to suggest the rioters had any connection to or inspiration from foreign countries or leaders like Putin. Trump seems more driven by his desire to always be a winner than any sort of alleged loyalty to the Russian president.

So why are Clinton and Pelosi making these claims and demanding a 9/11 commission-style report? It seems the Democrats are building up a narrative about the Capitol riots in order to justify demonizing and silencing Republicans and conservative speech. Many Democrats are demanding the expulsion of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) from the Senate because they supported Trump’s efforts questioning the 2020 election results.

It seems the Left is adopting the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) strategy of using guilt by association to silence ideological opponents. As the SPLC brands mainstream conservative and Christian groups “hate groups,” listing them alongside the Ku Klux Klan in an effort to silence them, so Democrats will tie more and more Republicans to the Capitol riots.

While some Republicans do deserve condemnation for their role in fighting the election results (Rep. Louie Gohmert’s lawsuit to force Pence to reject Electoral College votes was heinous), the Left will stigmatize all forms of what it brands “disinformation,” including dissent on issues like climate change, transgenderism, and abortion.

Part of Clinton’s Putin talk shows that she’s just bitter about 2016, but her 9/11 commission suggestion hints at something far more sinister. Democrats may be mulling a new War on Terror, with conservatives identified as domestic enemy number 1. We need to be on our guard in the weeks ahead.

Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.