Will January 6th be filled with memories?

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There are two different stories about what happened on January 6. One is the truth, as Representative Liz Cheney and others on the House Select Committee have established: Donald Trump. “Round up an angry mob and send them to the United States. City Hall where they attacked police officers break into the building and stop the official counting of electoral votes” in an attempt “Overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power,” said Cheney, who has never wavered from that position. In fact, she issued that. statement Last week, following Trump’s advice in NBC interview That she should go to jail for serving on the committee.

However, Trump has often told his own version of what happened on January 6th. And he didn’t hesitate either. During the campaign He called today a day of “Love and peace” after the election, he continued to refer to those who were convicted of their actions that day as “people who were punished for their actions” that day. “Political Prisoner” and “hostage” And he said a few times that he would forgive them –The New York Times latest Reported that Trump’s transition team is asking some of the candidates running for his administration what they think about January 6)

In the recent period Atlantic A podcast series hosted by me and my partner Lauren Ober, we enter this alternate reality universe. Over the course of six episodes, we talk with J6 prisoners and their families, and Ober reports on their experiences. She is a juror in the January 6th case, but mostly the series is about our neighbors who one day we find to be key characters in the January 6th narrative. The series is called We live here nowAnd this week atlantic radioWe broadcast the first episode

The following is a transcript of the episode:

Hanna Rosin: The South slowly rewrote Civil War history. What we now know as the legend of the Lost Cause has continued to build momentum. with lectures and stories in magazines Then there are statues and monuments. It wasn’t until some Southerners finally became the official narrative of the war that it became meaningful decades later.

But at that time there was no TV. There is no Twitter. There is no social reality that will hasten the process of historical revisionism.

a few days ago Trump did his first post-election interview on NBC with Kristen Welker, and according to most reports, His rhetoric seemed calmer. The general headline about the interview is “Trump is calm about taking revenge on his enemies.” But there was a section about halfway through the interview where Trump didn’t seem so gentle.

rosin: The prison he was referring to was the D.C. jail. “These people” he was referring to were charged with crimes related to the January 6 riot at the Capitol. And the big question Trump just answered is whether he still plans to follow through on his promise to pardon those convicted of treason. To which he replied:

rosin: He was then asked about officials on the Jan. 6 congressional committee, including Liz Cheney, who put the true facts of that day into the official record.

rosin: Trump’s desire to write January 6th as a day of “Love and peace,” as he said on the campaign trail, appears to be as strong as ever. The day Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Joe’s pardon for Hunter. Does that include hostage J-6, who has now been imprisoned for many years?”

The New York Times Reported That Trump’s transition team is asking candidates for positions in the Defense Department and intelligence agencies three questions And one of them is what they thought about the events of January 6th.

Right now, we still don’t know who Trump will pardon. And he will follow Liz. Whether or not it was really Cheney or anyone else on that committee, what we do know is that there are two very different stories being told about that day.

On one side were Liz Cheney, Benny Thompson, and dozens of Capitol Police officers. Not to mention the millions of American citizens who intend to remember that day for its violent attempts to undermine democracy as it once was. On the other side: Trump, hundreds of prisoners on January 6, and possibly millions of American citizens who don’t know or care enough about that day to think that it disqualifies Trump from being elected.

In many things these two sides are very far apart. But the people who live on both sides They are just people. And people can always find something in common. That’s the spirit that drives what you’re about to listen to. It’s the first episode of a podcast series we did before the election. It’s called We live here nowAnd it is driven by a deep—perhaps even hopeless—belief that no matter who you talk to and what you believe, You can always ask the question: What are you dealing with?

This series takes you inside prison – just like Trump talks about. And in the next episode We spoke with some of the prisoners on January 6th who Trump wants to pardon. And we think seriously about how the justice system treats them.

But mostly this series is about our neighbors. One day we discovered they were on Trump’s side on the divide on January 6th, and that’s putting it mildly. This podcast is hosted by me, Hanna Rosin, and my partner, Lauren Ober, who is also a journalist. This is the first of six episodes. You can find the rest in the podcast feed. We live here now–

This was then

Find subtitles for episode 1 of We live here now at: theatlantic.com/podcasts/we-live-here-now