Michael Fanone deserves the nation’s gratitude. That’s not what he has gotten.

More than 150 officers were hurt battling the insurrectionist mob on Jan. 6; nearly five months later, 17 remained so badly injured that they were still out of work. Others may have sustained undiagnosed long-term head injuries, according to a therapist who has counseled D.C. officers involved in the events.

The reality-denying Republicans who have said the rioters were harmless tourists, or antifa, add insult to those injuries. In refusing to recognize the heroism of Mr. Fanone and other officers who defended the Capitol, and who protected the integrity of the election results and democracy itself, those politicians have disgraced their party and the nation. Their indifference to the gravity of Jan. 6 is an affront to the Constitution, to patriotism and to law enforcement.

Mr. Fanone and the others who tried to hold their ground that day have earned the right to speak out. In the face of Mr. Trump’s own lies about Jan. 6 — he called the mob “a loving crowd” — the truth must be heard. As Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, another officer who defended Congress, bitterly told lawmakers in July, “I’m still recovering from those hugs and kisses.”