3. What was January 6?
Observations and Thoughts on January 6 [12jan21]
Prelude. As a retired US Army Master Sergeant, the only thing that i have seen recently that filled me with the same sense of horror and nausea ~ and degree of disgust and foreboding ~ as the Trumpatistas’ invasion of the Capitol was the sight back in August, 2017, of legions of young American white nationalists and supremacists carrying torches, signs, and flags, and chanting their chants on the grounds of the academy that Jefferson built in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having said that…
Observations. Whatever that was up on Capitol Hill on January 6, it was not a “coup,” an “insurgency,” or an “insurrection,” no matter what the politicians, pundits, and other propagandists in Swampland, the media, Tinseltown, or academia may try to tell and sell us.
It was trespassing, assault on government employees, breaking and entering, the invasion and destruction of public and private property, the disruption of public business, and the wasting of public officials’ and government employees’ time, effort, and energy, and of taxpayers’ money.
Coups, insurgencies, and insurrections aren’t attempted by people carrying nothing but flags, signs, selfie-sticks, and smartphones, with hotel checkouts the next day at 11 am. That was not an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States [which, to actually happen in the real world, would have to start at the Pentagon, the CIA, and/or the Federal Reserve].
At this point, the whole “Save America March” ~ at least for the thousands who showed up to hear Trump’s speech and didn’t go on to Capitol Hill ~ was, rather, an attempt by a bunch of disgruntled American taxpayer/citizens to have some sort of impact on what they see happening to their country and to their and their children’s future. It was a chance for those “Disgruntleds” to let somebody ~ anybody ~ know how they feel about the next President and how he got there; much as there were massive anti-Trump marches the day after his inauguration back in 2017, and condemnations of the whole Electoral College system.
[Note: It was interesting to note how everybody’s attitude about the Electoral College suddenly changed when asked how they would feel if the results of that election were exactly reversed: That Trump had won the popular vote, and Clinton the Electoral.]
Of the however many that then went to the Capitol, there were but a few hundred who actually attempted and made it into the building, and, of them, but a handful who actually made it into the Chamber or Congressional offices. And from the looks of many of those who got inside, they weren’t exactly sure of what they were doing other than wondering how they got there, and what they were supposed to be doing next, other than making sure they captured it on their phone.
One thing that the Black Lives Matter activities and actions last summer have in common with the Save America March is that both started as, and consisted of peaceful, lawful protest by the overwhelming majority of the participants, on the one hand, and ended in violent, lawless rioting by a distinct, clearly identifiable minority, on the other.
Those several thousands of Trumpatistas who gathered to hear Trump’s invocation were as peaceful and law-abiding as the BLM protesters who took non-violently to the streets in 2020. The question is, were they, as a neighbor of mine put it:
“…a group of racist, while supremacists, neo-Nazi far-right extremists out to let the world know that to “Make America Great Again” and to keep America great, is to rid America of Black and Brown people, and Jews for that matter.”
One can only ask: ALL of those several thousands are All of those things? And is that what they want to make the world know that
MAGA and KAG mean? ALL of them?
My guess is that that would depend upon where You took Your sampling: at Trump’s speech; enroute to the Capitol; at the Capitol; and getting inside. The further from Trump’s altar, the concentration of “racist…extremists” no doubt increased even as the total numbers ascending up to the other end of Pennsylvania steadily diminished.
No meaningful arguments can be had about the mindsets and worldviews of those who stormed The Hill. But it is incorrect to automatically ascribe those “racist… extremist” politics to those thousands who stood listening to and cheering, chanting, and applauding his “Why We Are Here; What We Are Going To Do; How We Are Going To Do It; and When” speech.
In any event, the biggest difference between the BLM and SAM events is that the violence on January 6 did not include the widespread damage, destruction, arson, and looting of government and private property that characterized how many BLM protests ended up. All that happened on Capitol Hill in terms of property damage was some smashed windows and bashed in doors, and nothing at all that could be termed “looting.” Pelosi’s lectern never even made it out of the building; probably would’ve been tough to check.in for the flite back home, eh?
Another difference is that BLM protests that turned into riots had virtually none of the direct, extended, face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat between law enforcers and SAM rioters; which included many very violent, individual and small-group physical contacts. This summer’s riots had lots of rocks and stun guns, tear gas and fireworks, and counter-vailing aerosols; but very few up-close and personal, hand-to-hand combats, if any.
Another similarity between the BLM and SAM riots is that both included verbal and physical assaults by rioters against journalists and news crews, and the destruction of journalists’ and news crews’ equipment and property. One very notable difference is that, compared to the number of assaults, obstructions, and arrests by police of journalists during BLM protests, there seem to have been none during SAM. At least so far.
And finally, arguably the most important thing that both BLM and SAM have in common is that they both blame the violence and rioting on outsider infiltrators, agents provocateurs, false flaggers, and anybody but themselves. BLMers says the Proud Boys and their anti-Everything Not Them ilk are behind all the chaos; just like the Trumpites are claiming the same for the antifas [or “Pantifas,” as one wag put it].
At this point, serious consideration should be given to the possibility that there is perhaps a third clement and force at work; one that seeks to use both BLM and Trumpatismo’s SAM for its own agenda’s purposes. See Question 4, which follows.
The most important Questions to be asked and answered about January 6 are:
1. Who shot and killed that woman, and Why? Whoever it was gave the MAGAites and Trumpatismo their first Martyr.
2. Exactly How did those two Capitol Police Officers die, and Why? However it happened, it gave somebody else their first Martyrs, as well.
3. Where were the Capitol and DC Police ~ let alone Federal national defense and law enforcement agencies ~ while all this was going on? And more importantly, where were they even before it all started? What did they know and when did they know it? Where was our nation’s most-extensive-and-expensive-in-the-world vaunted surveillance/secrecy/security/safety panopticon when the Legislative Branch of the government of the United States of America really, really needed it?
4. Who benefited from all this? Ie, “Cui bono?,” as they say in the investigative business. Who is better off today than they were before the “Save America March,” in whatever currency of the realm of note? Which politicians, bureaucrats, special interests, and their owners and operators can and will cash in on it to advance their own individual, organizational, and institutional agendas? Biden and his cohorts certainly are and most certainly will; as will and are Trump and his compeers.
5. Will the “Save America March” becomes a so-called COVID-19 “Super Spreader” event? And how many Americans ~ in their deepest Heart-of-Hearts ~ actually, really hope that that is exactly what happens; that a whole bunch of those thousands of folks that showed up to hear Trump rant and then marched on the Capitol get sick and, before they die, pass it on to anybody who thinks like they do. That may be a number with a magnitude and intensity that nobody wants to know; or at least wants for the rest of the world to know.
Thoughts. As November 3 dawned and then drug on, and it became evident that this election was nowhere close to being decided, two timeless truths came to mind:
~ Joseph Stalin’s admonition that “It’s not who votes that counts, it’s who counts the votes.”
~ Yogi Berra’s reminder that ”It ain’t over til it’s over.”
Presumably, the action by Congress on January 7 to certify the Electoral College victory of Biden/Harris over Trump/Pence will satisfy the “official” counting of the vote of November 3; thereby at least satisfying the requirements of the Constitution of the United States, regardless of who it leaves un- or dis-satisfied out in TrumpLandia.
And given all that has happened between November 3 and January 6 re: who the next President is, Item-to-Remember #2 goes without saying. A lot more can happen between now and January 20, both here in the United States and abroad; and, given the way this whole past year and past two months have unfolded, a lot no doubt will, both here and there. That is one week from today.
And speaking of abroad, every American should spend some time taking in what the rest of the world’s News, Views, and Social Media have to say about the day’s events in DC, and the latest episode of the whole reality-tv extravaganza America has been since at least November 9, 2016, if not 9/11. Of particular interest are what the media of China and Russia arc saying, and their takes on the problems America seems to be having with functional, efficient, effective democratic, representative government.
Shortly after Congress sealed the deal, President Trump vicariously assured somebody that there would be an “orderly transition” of power on January 20. Note, however, that he did not “concede” anything. And in fact, he promised that this was “only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
So even if it does happen that Trump leaves the White House on or before January 20 [25th Amendment, Impeachment and Conviction, a relapse of his COVID infection, whatever], that does not mean that The Age of Trump is ending.
To a significant number of Americans, it is only just beginning. And a time for re-grouping for the next jihad. After all, some Germans thought they’d seen the last of Hitler after the failed Beer Hall Putsch; but other Germans thought otherwise.
Not only is this whole thing not only not over, it is actually just barely even just getting started.