Consider the following sequence of events:

1. On January 6, 2021– during a pro-Trump mob’s brutal assault on hundreds of police officers protecting the U.S. Capitol, members of Congress and their staffs– Congressman Cline posted on his Facebook page:

2. As recently as last July, Cline delivered a speech to a Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, in which he referred to “our great President Donald J. Trump.” Every indication is that if Trump runs for President in 2024, he will have Cline’s enthusiastic support.

3. At a Saturday rally in Texas, Trump said, “If I run, and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly.”

So Congressman: Are you OK with the “great” Donald J. Trump promising pardons to the people you said deserved to be prosecuted to the the fullest extent of the law?

So, Congressman: Are you saying that public schools should be barred from requiring ANY of the potentially life-saving vaccinations that have been mandated in Virginia for decades with no serious opposition?

Every January, when anti-voting rights and anti-union politicians like Congressman Cline purport to honor Martin Luther King, it’s important to recall that Dr. King:

• Marched and went to jail to achieve the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which those same politicians now refuse to restore and strengthen. Given the chance to do so, Ben Cline has repeatedly voted NO.

• Was a staunch opponent of anti-union “right to work” laws that those same politicians– including the union-hating Cline– want to impose on a national level.

• Was in murdered on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, where he went to support a strike by members of Local 1733 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Can you imagine Ben Cline even crossing the street to support any sort of labor strike?

Thanks to Yvonne Surette for this excellent op-ed in Thursday’s News-Virginian.

You’d never know from Congressman Cline that Thursday was the one-year anniversary of one of the most harrowing events in American history.

Cline’s Facebook page: nothing.

Cline’s Twitter account: nothing.

Cline’s website: nothing.

He didn’t attend a remembrance event at the Capitol. He has never publicly discussed his own experience on January 6 of last year.

I’m reminded of this scene some years ago when the Simpsons visited China.

I suppose if Cline and most of his Republican colleagues had their way, a similar plaque would be placed in the Capitol rotunda.