Reviews

The January 6 Report by The January 6th Committee, The New York Times

thefoxyreader's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I’m not really sure how to rate a government document, but I commend the House January 6 Committee for the investigation they conducted to definitively prove the following facts:

1.) Donald Trump knew the 2020 US Presidential election was NOT stolen but continued to pedal lies about voter fraud and election interference to stoke his base.
2.) Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in hopes of overturning the election results and/or stalling the count of the Electoral College votes.
3.) Donald Trump did NOTHING for 187 minus while rioters staged an insurrection by breaking into the Capitol building. Law enforcement were viciously attacked while senators ran for their lives. Donald Trump watched this all on Fox News while his advisors and kids begged him to tell the angry mob to go home.
4.) Donald Trump is a liar and a danger to our democracy.

Despite knowing a lot about Jan 6 (hell, I watched it all unfold on TV), I thought this was still an interesting read. And because of the damage he’s already done to our country, I’m always down to read more of Trump getting dunked on with FACTS.

afitta507's review against another edition

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5.0

It feels strange to give this book a review since it’s an official government report but I will say it definitely deepened my understanding of the events of 1/6/2021 and Ari Melber’s preface was well done!

lukaron's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow.

Hefty tome, but worth every moment.

Critical reading for all Americans who care about our Democracy.

mari77's review against another edition

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dark informative sad slow-paced

3.0

nferraro90's review against another edition

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5.0

While I didn’t read the entirety of this 1000+ page behemoth, the executive summary really does a job in succinctly telling the story of what happened on that day. There were times when I was listening to this on audio that I had to remind myself that this was an official government investigation of an attempted coup, and not a Tom Clancy novel. The fact that an event like this happened in a time and place where democracy is something we typically take for granted shows just how fragile our institutions really are. the odds of any one of the key players, in particular Trump, facing any sort of legitimate punishment from this seems unlikely, but you never know. At the very least, this investigation and report serves as a historical undertaking of what happened on, and leading up to, one of the most consequential days in our nations history.

adkwriter15's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

mekowaletti's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

3.75

jammasterjamie's review against another edition

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4.0

I watched the hearings live and was appalled, but having it all laid out on black and white with footnotes galore really takes it to another level. The amount of malfeasance coming out of Trump's White House around election fraud is unparalleled it's truly frightening how close the checks and balances in American democracy came to failing that day. I know it takes a while to build a good case, but the DoJ has a ton of the work done for them right here, so let's start seeing some of those higher up indictments. Those involved do not deserve to get away with what they attempted and the ongoing damage done by their actions.

sde's review against another edition

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4.0

I read this for a political book club because that's the kind of nerd I am. I probably would not have made it through if it weren't for talking about it with other people. It is so jammed packed with information that one reader will miss a lot. I enjoyed hearing what other readers picked out.

Lots of legal cases are going to arise from this. Some readers felt it was almost a blueprint to DOJ and other jurisdictions as to who they should go after and try to prosecute.

Parts of this were actually funny, believe it or not. Little digs were inserted into the report, such as some of the comments people in the administration made about Trump behind the scenes or the fact that money raised by "Save America" went to Melania's designer for "strategy consulting."

Will the electorate's mind be changed by this report? I doubt it. People believe what they want to believe. But I do think it will have consequences for many of the people mentioned. I am also glad that this document was created for future generations to study.

I wish there had been a list of all the players and their positions in alphabetical order. Some, but definitely not all, of the people are in the front of the book, and they are in a seemingly random order. Maybe in the order that they are mentioned in the report? But there are a LOT of people in the book, and it is hard to keep them all straight, even after watching a good chunk of the hearings.

gardner98's review against another edition

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challenging informative

5.0