The Ballad of Eugene Goodman
When the Time Came, One Man Stood His Ground
“[Eugene Goodman] was a hero long before last Wednesday,” so said the XVIII Airborne Corps, Goodman’s unit when he served in the United States Army, following his actions during the insurrection on January 6th, 2021, widely credited as saving lives and averting disaster.
Four years on, it’s worth spending a few minutes bringing Officer Goodman’s actions and service, back to the fore. He is a Washington, DC native. Before his work with the US Capitol Police, he served in the 101st Airborne Division, having deployed to Iraq in 2005 in a combat role.
That day, four years ago, Goodman came face to face with a group of insurrectionists making their way toward the House Chamber. Seeing this, Goodman didn’t simply tell them to stop, or attempt to hold them back with his body. No, in this moment, when an angry #MAGA mob was rampaging through the Capitol, Goodman’s instincts told him to make them angrier. He shoved the man leading the scrumb, convincing the hive-mind to purse him.
Washington’s local CBS affiliate, WUSA commented during their report of the day’s events:
“In short, he [Goodman] tricked them, willingly becoming the rabbit to their wolf pack, pulling them away from the chambers where armed officers were waiting, avoiding tragedy and saving lives. Lives which include their own.”
Former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse commented, “[Goodman] single-handedly prevented untold bloodshed.” If anyone has Ben’s cell number, please ask him to repeat that sentiment today, he doesn’t have anything else to do.
Meanwhile, elite, effette, instigators like Missouri Senator Josh Hawley literally ran for their lives, scurrying away from the riot he’d helped incite. That tells us all we need to know about his cynical ilk, and the personal risks he was unwilling to contemplate.
While Goodman was doing all he could to distract a bloodthirsty mob, then-President Donald J. Trump sat in the Oval Office Dining Room watching it all unfold on live television. When told that marchers were chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” staff reporter him saying, “he thinks Mike deserves it.”
The Bipartisan Committee on the January 6th Attack would later produce information, recordings, and video of Pence being hustled down a back stairwell by his US Secret Service detail. Some agents were heard to ask their colleagues to let their families that they loved them, assuming the mob would ultimately catch up to them. Instead, they moved Pence to an underground garage, where he subsequently refused to leave the Capitol in a motorcade.
We know that hours after the riot began, Officer Goodman and his colleagues, many of them grievously injured, cleared the Capitol and the counting of Electoral Votes continued. Joe Biden was duly inaugurated two weeks later, behind steel barriers, heavy police and military presence, and a cloud that still hasn’t cleared: It was the first non-peaceful transfer of power in 250 years.
For his actions on that day, Goodman was nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal, by among others, Nancy Mace, but Republicans refused to approve his award. That is no surprise, of course. Good on ya, Nancy!
President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Author’s Note: Why Goodman was not presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, considering its often presented to public luminaries and other long-serving politicians, is beyond me.
Four years later, we see that Goodman’s actions, like those of his colleagues, bought American democracy only four short years. January 6th 2021 was not the end of Trump’s presidency, but the beginning of an era in which violence is an acceptable form of political speech and truth no longer matters.
Just last week, when Biden awarded former Congresswoman Liz Cheney same Citizens Medal that Goodman received, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Trump’s Colon) tweeted this:
The Enabling Act can’t be far behind.
Reflecting on the four years that have elapsed since that day, it would be easy to despair. I choose instead to look at the actions of heroes like Eugene Goodman, and so many others who put duty and service above their personal safety, as crucial lights in the darkness to come.
When Trump and his MAGA refuse are finally swept into the dustbin of history, and the Capitol is scrubbed of their infamy and un-American acts, I believe that Eugene Goodman’s visage should take its rightful place in Statuary Hall. Generations of school kids on their 7th Grade trips should see his image and hear the story of a man, who when confronted with evil and danger, did all he could to preserve life, peace and the United States of America.
News and Notes:
My interview with MPD Officer Michael Fanone will is below. I hope you’ll give it a listen:
The hideous diatribe by disgraceful Speaker Mike Johnson against the Jan. 6th committee is a textbook case of slandering, gaslighting, lies. To have this calumny repeated over and over by the fpotus and his cult is infuriating. And if it weren't for courageous people like Officer Eugene Goodman, some of these same liars could have been injured or killed as they crouched cowering in fear from a mob they now glorify. These quislings are beyond monstrous.
MAGA Mike would do better to put J6 in the rear view mirror rather than reminding us of the conspiracy to overturn a lawful election that was orchestrated at the highest levels of government AND the LIES the Mumpettes are manufacturing to cover up this historic tragedy.
But, instead, he’s going to keep reminding us of how Trump, members of Congress and Trump allies incited violence to halt the counting of the electoral votes- and how only the extreme bravery of our LEOs, Speaker Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Mike Pence permitted the count to proceed. Why? Because Trump (and Putin!) want him to lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie until we forget the truth. WE WILL NEVER FORGET THE TRUTH OF JAN6. NEVER.
NO AMOUNT OF SCRUBBING WILL REMOVE THOSE STAINS.