Like everyone else, I was stunned by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. I followed the proceedings from the start to see what stunt Trump might pull. I watched as the mob approached and stormed the Capitol, where Electoral votes were being counted. What happened was a violent desecration of the Constitutionally prescribed process for transferring power from one president to the next. It was an attack on our government and our Constitution. The ceremony is typically dry as dust, and no one watches it.
This time there was an air of anticipation because some 140 Republican members of the House and at least 13 Senators had announced that they would oppose certification of Biden’s victory unless there was an “audit” of the states that Trump thinks he should have won, despite multiple recounts and 60 failures in state and federal courts and two rejections by the United States Supreme Court. Not a single court agreed with Trump’s claims of election fraud. (Remember that Trump said on the famous phone call with Georgia election officials that he couldn’t possibly have lost Georgia; not only did he lose it on November 3, he lost it again in the Senatorial elections of January 5.)
I have visited the Capitol many times for meetings with members of Congress. I always thought security was tight, but then I was always in a single-file orderly line, not part of an angry mob. Trump invited his base to come to D.C. on January 6 to take part in his effort to overturn the election. He predicted on Twitter that January 6 would be “wild.” On December 26, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote a widely read article warning that there might be disorder in the streets of D.C. on January 6. Former Defense Secretaries worried that Trump might try to stage a military coup. Yet no extraordinary security precautions were taken.
Trump held a rally in the morning to stir up his loyalists. He urged his angry partisans to march to the Capitol. They did, and they broke through its feeble defenses, meeting little resistance. For hours, the mob had the run of the Capitol, sitting at the dais of the Senate chamber in the Vice-President’s chair, rummaging through private offices, looting, smashing windows, and showing their contempt for our government. Several boldly marched around with huge Confederate flags. They were domestic terrorists.
As the rampage continued, Trump was silent. After a few hours of lawlessness, he released a video telling them to go home. He reiterated his lie that the election had been stolen. In the video, he also praised the crowd, who broke into the Capitol using force, stole items from its rooms and posed for photographs in the legislative chambers. “We love you,” Trump said. “You’re very special.”
Yeah, very special thugs, looters, and terrorists.
It was frightening and sickening. I expected the National Guard, the city police, some authority to drive them out, handcuff them, arrest them, and put them in jail. That never happened, unlike the Black Lives Matter protests where armed guards are always a large presence. The Mayor’s curfew of 6 pm came and went, hundreds of terrorists milled about, and no one was arrested. Why are the police hyper-vigilant when African Americans protest, but gentle and patient when faced with a siege of the nation’s Capitol by thugs?
It was a humiliating day for our democracy. The realization dawned on those too blind to see: The United States of America is under attack by the president of the United States. Even some of his loyalists in Congress lost the faith. Six of the 13 Senators backed away from their commitment to abet his last desperate effort to overturn the election. (The Senators who refused to certify Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania: Ted Cruz of Texas; Josh Hawley of Missouri; Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; Roger Marshall of Kansas; Rick Scott of Florida; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.)
If ever there was a time to force this vile man out of office, it is now. His Cabinet could activate the 25th Amendment and force him out; he is unfit to lead, even for two weeks. The leaders of the Republican Party could call on him and demand that he resign at once or face bipartisan censure and other sanctions. He put their lives and our nation at risk. He is our leading national security risk, and it’s terrifying to know that he holds the nuclear codes for two more weeks.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post summed up what many felt: an angry, vengeful Trump committed treason. He incited an insurrection against the seat of his own government, so desperate to cling to power that he would unleash violence on the members of Congress who had convened to confirm his loss.
Milbank wrote:
President Trump broke any number of laws and norms during his ruinous four-year reign. He just added one more on the way out: treason.
He lost the House in 2018. He lost the presidency in November. He lost the Senate on Tuesday. And on Wednesday, with nothing left to lose, he rallied a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol in hopes of pressuring lawmakers to toss out the election results, ignore the will of the people, and install him as president for another term.
Trump fomented a deadly insurrection against the U.S. Congress to prevent a duly-elected president from taking office. Treason is not a word to be used lightly, but that is its textbook definition. “We will not take it anymore, and that’s what this is all about,” he told a sea of MAGA fans and Proud Boys on the Ellipse outside the White House at noon. From behind bulletproof glass, he told them: “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Earlier, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani had proposed, to the same crowd, a “trial by combat” to resolve Trump’s election complaints. And Donald Trump Jr. delivered a political threat to lawmakers who don’t vote to reject the election results: “We’re coming for you.”
The elder Trump worked the crowd into a frenzy with his claim that victory had been stolen from him by “explosions of bullshit.” “Bullshit! Bullshit!” the mob chanted.
Trump instructed his supporters to march to the Capitol — “and I’ll be there with you” — to “demand that Congress do the right thing” and not count the electoral votes of swing states he lost. “You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong,” he admonished them, with CYA instructions to make themselves heard “peacefully and patriotically.”
Wink, wink. “We’re going to the Capitol,” he told the mob.
With that, Trump snuck back into the safety of the White House fortress. But his supporters, thus riled, marched to the Capitol and breached the barricades. They overpowered Capitol Police, climbed scaffolding, scaled walls, shattered glass, busted into the Senate chamber and stood at the presiding officer’s desk, and broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hastily abandoned office. They marauded about the Rotunda and Statuary Hall wearing MAGA hats, carrying Confederate flags, posing for souvenir photos and scribbling graffiti (“Murder the Media”).
Police rushed legislative leaders to safety. They barricaded doors to the House chamber and drew guns to protect lawmakers sheltering inside. They fired tear gas at the attackers. Shots were fired inside the Capitol; a bloodied woman who was wheeled out later died. The District of Columbia declared a curfew. And even then it took Trump nearly three hours before he released a video telling those ransacking the Capitol to “go home” — even as he glorified the violence by saying “these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots.”
Before he lost the election, Trump refused to commit to the peaceful transfer of power. During the campaign, he defended militia violence and told his violent white nationalist supporters to “stand by” — part of a well-documented pattern of encouraging violence since he launched his first campaign in 2015.
Yet, somehow, the men in the Capitol who enabled Trump for all those years were shocked that he would unleash a mob against Congress. “What is unfolding is unacceptable and un-American,” declared House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who just hours earlier had announced he would support Trump’s effort to annul the electoral college count.
“Violence is always unacceptable,” tut-tutted Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who along with Josh Hawley of Missouri was leading the effort in the Senate to nullify the election results. Just moments before the MAGA mob burst into the chamber, Cruz gave a speech saying “democracy is in crisis” because many Americans think the election was “rigged” — in large part because Cruz et al. kept telling them so.
As Trump’s goons began taking over the Capitol, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who had called the attempt to set aside the electoral college tally an “egregious ploy,” yelled at Cruz and his co-conspirators: “This is what you’ve gotten, guys.” Romney later issued a statement saying: “What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States.” Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House GOP leader, told Fox News: “The president formed the mob. The president incited the mob. The president addressed the mob. He lit the flame.”
Trump’s inept legal challenges amounted to a clownish coup attempt. The Cruz-Hawley scheme amounted to a bloodless coup attempt. And now, Trump has induced his MAGA mob to a violent coup attempt.
As it happens, moments before the barbarians busted into the Senate chamber, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, long among the most faithful Trump enablers, had denounced the effort to overturn the election. “The voters, the courts and the states have all spoken,” an emotional McConnell said, in perhaps the finest speech of his long career. “If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.”
Or maybe the spiral has already begun.
Most Americans never imagined they would see such banana-republic images of violence from the seat of American democracy. But Wednesday’s mayhem and violence form a predictable coda to a presidency that has brought us far too much of both.
Republicans must now decide whether they are going to return to being the party of small government, individual liberties and national strength, or to continue being the Trump and Cruz party of violence, racism and authoritarianism.
Are they small-d democrats or are they fascists? After Wednesday’s terrible scene, they must choose.
Diane, this is an excellent article, and I agree wholeheartedly with the points above. As I just wrote in a lengthy comment to your “American Taliban” article a short while back, these problems have been brewing for a long time, and we need to think about what we can do as educators to help address them.
I”d very much like to see Trump throw out of office for this misuse of his power.
I am appalled at the brazenness of our ‘Great Leader’. He encouraged these lawless loyalists to storm D.C. There is a movement to take the presidential position away from him. Trump has proven to be a traitor to the values of democracy that keep our government functional. Foreign countries who looked to the U.S. as a leader in democracy are astounded and many leaders have commented on Trump’s abhorrent behavior. Twitter and Facebook temporarily closed down his account. It should be made permanent. He conceded the election to Biden but will never admit that he lost the election legally. He is a domestic terrorist as are his followers who stormed the capital building and other sites yesterday.
I read that 52 people were arrested. This is not nearly enough considering the number of those who illegally stormed the capital building.
Insurrection. Sigh. You’ve been had, folks. This was a theater production worthy of Hamilton. Insurrection implies the overthrow of a government – this was in support of the government.
Fact: the Capitol Police knew this was planned and they chose not to do anything to stop it (as they did with legions of cops in full riot gears when BLM protested this past summer).
Fact: the Capitol Police, in fact, abetted and enabled this to happen by opening the barricade and letting the mob in, taking selfies and joking around with them once inside, failing to prevent looting and vandalism and then escorting them out gently when the fun was over.
Fact: if the Capitol Police knew, then Congress (including the Democrats) knew too.
Fact: the mob left peacefully of its own accord with plenty of time for the vote to be certified in favor of Joe Biden, showing that preventing Biden from becoming president was not the goal of this demonstration.
Fact, despite the fact that the Capitol Police let in the mob, Congress unanimously gave them a standing ovation that evening.
Fact: despite our obscenely bloated military, national security and police budgets, the mob was able to walk right in and “take over” a major center of government, proving that our military, national security state and police have nothing to do with protecting democracy.
The establishment (both Democrats and Republicans) in fact, benefited from this theater production.
There are already increased calls (on top of previous calls) for our dear, trusted overlords to further protect us by further censoring social media (https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/01/07/msm-already-using-capitol-hill-riot-to-call-for-more-internet-censorship/) If anyone thinks this will be directed toward right-wing groups like the ones that organized yesterday’s events, they are sadly uninformed about U.S. history.
Following up on #1, many media talking heads and politicians are already blaming this on “Antifa” infiltrators, despite the fact that well-known right wing organizers live-streamed the entire event fully displaying their own faces. Very soon the consensus will crystalize that this was an anarchist uprising by violent Antifa members, thereby justifying further control and suppression of left-wing groups.
This is the perfect opportunity to distract us all from those $2,000 checks that Biden himself promised if both Georgia Senate races went Democratic (which they did). And even if people do remember, well, we simply don’t have the money right now because clearly we need to increase our military, national security and police budgets.
Probably about a dozen other benefits to the establishment that will become clear over the next months and years. Prepare for PATRIOT Act 2.0.
This was not an insurrection or a coup or anything half that serious. Those are the kinds of things that we impose on places like Bolivia and Honduras and thousands of people then die in bloody raids by right-wing militias. Only four people died in yesterday’s “coup”, all of them were part of the invading mob, one of whom tased himself and one fell off the balcony (plus an unspecified medical emergency rumored to be a heart attack and the woman who was shot).
As I have been saying all along, Trump is being used to generate fear to facilitate compliance with the goals of the national security state and it has been quite successful. But the only cure for Trumpism is to meet the needs of our citizens, which we can only do by drawing down the U.S. empire and the national security state. We can’t afford to take our eyes off the goals that this country so desperately needs: universal single-payer healthcare, the Green New Deal, paying people to stay home during an on-going and escalating pandemic, rent/mortgage/student loan/other debt foregiveness/massive reduction in policing and incarceration, etc. If Democrats could pass those things in the next two years, they would guarantee a Democratic majority for years to come. If they instead go the direction they have been signalling – ramping up wars and national security – they will lose heavily in 2022 and 2024 will see the ushering in of a real fascist who will make us yearn for the good old Trump days.
Anyway, go ahead and sling insults and abuse. I’ve said what I need to say and I wont be back.
This is not an insult. It is my opinion. You are as delusional as Trump.
“This was a theater production worthy of Hamilton.” This sounds like something from the conspiracy nut Alex Jones.
Exactly: Republicans and Democrats conspiring with Trump to encourage a mob invasion of the Capitol. What good actors those members of Congress are! This is as loony as it gets. Next we will hear that the mob were all professional actors, like the ones at Sandy Hook.
If the mob had had the opportunity they would have strangled Pelosi, AOC,…. after raping some of the victims. The mob would have lynched black Capitol staff and representatives.
Mobs that trample people, carry guns and explosives don’t moderate to societal norms.
This want just against the democrats, they wanted to string up Pence. We are lucky none of our elected officials were harmed. It’s heart breaking that people were injured and/or died. Once you start watching the videos you realize how gut wrenching it was.
I would say it is Hanlon’s razor, never attribute to conspiracy what can be explained by neglect. When the stakes were higher, Pearl Harbor, the 1983 Beirut bombing, obvious signs and preparation were missed.
But we know from Portland and Seattle protests, that police now have the recognition skills to quickly (several days) pick anyone out of a crowd and arrest them. If the next several days do not bring massive arrests of those in the capitol, then yes, it is a rigged game in favor of privilege for a cult ideology.
I wonder why the FBI was silent on this conspiracy. They supposedly keep close track of rightwing extremists. The FBI should have protected CONGRESS and the Capitol.
Ed Johnson…that would be “Baked Alaska” from Arkansas sitting in Pelosi’s chair. They’ve resorted to giving themselves gangsta type rap handles in the name of some fun….SMH
I agree with most of your conclusion. Marginalized people often destroy themselves or others. They are more likely to be susceptible to conspiracy theories and violence. If Democrats can work to make the economy work better for the little people, our democracy will become more stable.
Again, people made losers for no good reasons will invariably figure out how to win, if only in their eyes and at their own expense.
In whatever form it manifests, competition begets competition begets competition and operates as self-reinforcing vicious cycles. Interestingly, however, competitive structures that manifest self-reinforcing vicious cycles hold the possibility of reversing to become cooperative structures that manifest self-reinforcing virtuous cycles.
I so hate seeing anybody, especially young children, made losers for no good reasons. Some young children, too many of them, grow up not liking having been made “the little people” so, as grown ups, they dedicate themselves to figuring out how to become “the big people” and so, here we go again, with more self-reinforcing vicious cycles. At the very moment the Trumpian terrorist seated himself in Pelosi’s office chair and put his feet up on her desk, I bet, in his mind, he became a “winner” and one of “the big people,” like Trump.
I believe authentic education as a common good, hence democratically governed public education, is essential if we are to ever have structures out of which come far more self-reinforcing virtuous cycles than self-reinforcing vicious cycles.
OOPS! I made a mistake ^^^^. It was Richard “Bigo” Barnett from Arkansas sitting in Pelosi’s chair with his feet propped up on her desk. Still disgusting.
retired teacher says:
“Marginalized people often destroy themselves or others. ”
But those people destroying the Capitol weren’t “marginalized”. Some took private jets. Other owned their own businesses. Others had good jobs.
Those Trump-supporters acting out violently were privileged by their whiteness.
John Lewis:
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
What we saw wasn’t “good trouble” by people who are marginalized. It was white folks who hate progressive ideas and are convinced that any embrace of “socialism” will destroy our country.
Exactly right, NYCPSP. The vandals were not “marginalized,” they were cult members and fascists following the command of their leader, Trump.
Dienne-
Curious about your pov on Josh Hawley.
“preventing Biden from becoming president was not the goal of this demonstration…”
What a ridiculous and totally invented statement presented as if it was evidence-based fact. Sounds like something Matt Gaetz would say. The conspiracy theories of the far right legitimized by a professional Trump-normalizer and Trump-apologist (and non-American) Caitlin Johnstone, who just happens to have many fanboys in the alt right.
Many of those privileged white folks marauding through the Capitol had good paying jobs — some had the money to take private jets.
They aren’t protesting because the Democrats are not progressive enough. They are protesting because the Republicans won’t embrace fascism enough.
We cannot be rid of Trump fast enough, he still has 2 weeks to do more damage to the country. I had always assumed that the security around the Capitol building was very tight and very secure given all the terrorist attacks we have lived through. Wow, was I wrong. Someone really dropped the ball with basic security and what the hell was going on with some of the police who were taking pictures with the mob members. That’s like taking a selfie with the burglar who just broke into your house. Shocking. As for the Republicans still supporting Trump and his absurd lies, they are despicable traitors. The 2 parties are not the same and Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden are not the same or worse than Trump.
That was always my worry. The time between election day and inauguration day has felt like a very long time.
I always pictured Dump as the type of person who would go scorched earth and “if I can’t have it, no one can.”
Kinda like a certain toothbrush mustachioed man that ruled a land far away 84 years ago.
Good morning Diane and everyone,
I actually kind of agree with some of what Dienne says. It did have a kind of staged feel to it. The Capitol Police basically let them in, wander around for a while and then they just seemed to have been cleared out very easily. If they really wanted to overthrow the government, why didn’t they go all the way? After thinking about it a while, I find it really strange.
“If they really wanted to overthrow the government, why didn’t they go all the way?”
The mob at the Capitol Building were among the thousands of attendees at an event Trump put on at the Ellipse park—two miles away—called the “Save America Rally.” He addressed them at the Ellipse for an hour, mostly detailing his claims, state by state, on how the election was stolen. Near the beginning of his speech he announced, “And after this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you… We’re going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol.” About midway he said, “I think you have 250,000 people, 250,000. Looking out at all of the amazing patriots here today I have never been more confident in our nation’s future… If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country because it’s illegal when the votes are illegal when the way that they got there is illegal, when the states that vote are given false and fraudulent information…” He wrapped it up with “So we are going to–we are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we are going to the Capitol, and we are going to try and give… our Republicans… the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Per ABC: “After he spoke, thousands of attendees, many of them without masks, marched toward Capitol Hill as federal law enforcement vehicles raced to beat them there.”
So I’m thinking these folks weren’t exactly planning on “taking over the government.” No doubt there were those among them planning on making trouble, but without a specific plan. Trump gave the movement a direction. The idea it was staged in advance is belied by fed law enforcement vehicles racing to beat them to the Capitol Bldg. They got there, found themselves outnumbering Capitol Police by 600:1 (per one estimate cited by ABC), no barricades/ cordons, nada. They were probably delighted and proceeded ad lib in an almost jokey way.
p.s. note Trump did not walk with them or join them there. He went back to the White House to watch on TV & see what would develop.
Nothing “jokey” about a mob besieging the nation’s Capitol, looting, vandalizing, threatening the members of Congress, who hid in a secure bunker for two hours while the mob roamed freely through those awe-inspiring halls. It could have been much worse. They might have taken hostages. They might have started a fire. It was seen around the world as a symptom of national disgrace.
Correct, Diane, not in fact jokey in the slightest. It is hard to know which is more dangerous, a group with a mission, or an ad hoc mob of troublemakers cheering each other on. I think what floors me the most is their pliability to Trump. They did exactly as he recommended: walk over there, don’t worry about illegalities as the election was illegal anyway; show strength.
I don’t want to seem harsh or wish to be disrespectful or rain on anyone’s parade, but when it’s stated, “It was seen around the world as a symptom of national disgrace”, I have to say, we did not need this incident to be seen as a “symptom” of national disgrace to the rest of the world.
The rest of the world really does ALREADY know about our status as a modern industrialized democratic society along with our scandalous childhood poverty rate, our shrinkage of unions, our semi-privatized education system, our non-living wages, our bloated war campaigns, and our disgraceful, appalling lack of a national healthcare system, lack of decent vacation time, family leave time, maternity leave, and child care.
No, we did not need a storming of the D.C. Bastille to tell the world that we are national disgrace and one “exceptional” nation . . . Maybe to Afghanistan and Mali or Uzbekistan, we are a great or better nation, but to those societies who have gotten a lot of their act together, we are imbeciles.
The truth hurts, but it also makes you grow up.
100% agree. I was not shocked or dismayed by the events of Wednesday. People are acting like this never could have happened in this country as if it was the worst thing. Our political system has been gravely broken for years to have allowed this man to not only get into power, but to stay in power for the length of time he has despite the objections from his “so-called” opponents. The mere fact that one political party invariably makes decisions about our country’s balance of power based on its own affiliations with the party and not on what’s best for all citizens speaks volumes about how fractured Washington has become. This was just the icing on the cake.
A friend and I are studying a Chilean author via zoom with our teacher from Buenos Aires, a politically-aware millennial. He has reminded us more than once recently: “El mundo los está mirando” – the world is watching you. He elaborates that Latin Americans, as fellow former colonies, look to the US as a model for what is possible in democracy. Our Wed class coincided with this riot, which he found disturbingly familiar.
Do members of Congress now have an inkling of what a school lockdown is like?
Very good point. The disorganization of the exit by members of Congress made me wonder if they had even prepared with the type of lockdown drills that are common in public schools.
Yup. Hardly what this “Designated Survivor” fan would have imagined 😉
The woman who died was supposedly shot by police defending the capital. That is a far cry from “letting them in” … Apparently four people are now dead.
I also wonder why there wasn’t a stronger police or national guard presence around the Capitol in light of the inflammatory rhetoric earlier in the morning. It seems like a logical move, but don’t forget that we often don’t take steps that, with the benefit of hindsight, seem obvious. This is how conspiracy theories get started…
There are the National Capitol Police, a Federal agency and I don’t know who oversees this department. There are the Metro DC Police Dept who were on full duty by the Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Mayor called for the DC National Guard to be on standby. I believe (?) that the National Guard can only be called in by the Feds. Mike Pence called for the National Guard to assist. I don’t know why the NCP didn’t do more to stop the rioters and I don’t understand the NCP letting the rioters walk through the barriers. It was a very strange scene and didn’t seem quite right with no arrests taking place. Quite appalling were the NCP taking selfies with the rioters. Something stinks like a dead fish in the hot sun, but it will take time for all of the details to come out……in the meantime, the conspiracy theories will flourish!
It is also possible that a subset of the police at the scene were simply Trump supporters and didn’t want to fight these people. There doesn’t have to be an organized plot for that scenario to occur.
The NCP was grossly outnumbered. One estimate put it at 600:1. There are videos online showing lone cops trying to fend off groups heading up the stairs, then running away. Sad. Obviously the siege was unexpected and unplanned-for. Most likely because it was it45’s ad-lib idea to sic his 2-mile-away Ellipse crowd [at planned “Save America Rally”] on the Capitol Bldg.
I don’t see the good of removing him from office at this late date.
If he resigns or is removed, Pence will just pardon him post haste.
Been There, Done That. Wait two weeks and begin prosecution.
I like the idea of removing him ASAP and barring him from ever seeking elected office again.
He’ll continue to be a threat, in or out of office.
He needs to be locked away, prison or looney bin, whichever.
But locked away or dead, another will rise up and take the mantle. This is how cults generally continue unless you defrock every sub-leader.
One crisis at a time
I’ve said this before and I will say it again, locking at the big picture. connecting the dots, and posterity:
Until both parties start to listen to average everyday Americans and deal with 1) Redistribution of wealth, 2) Progressive taxation, and 3) Utilizing taxes to strengthen and expand the public commons and safety nets, this will happen over and over again, and it will worsen. It does not matter what camp you are from. Suffering and oppression are suffering and oppression, even if you use widely different rationales and perspectives to explain them. A sad and infuriating day in American history . . . .
Robert, you just listed three principles that Republicans campaign against. They call it “radical socialism.”
Diane,
Is it really as binary as you suggest? Nancy Pelosi, basically one of the most powerful and critical Democrats and Speaker for the DNC, stated to Lesly Stahl, “We’ll never have a single payer healthcare system. We are not a socialist country”.
She also told Stahl, hilariously enough, “Oh, I’m a progressive!”
Obama did this as well, basically, even with his pre-presidency flip flopping:
https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/baucus-obama-say-single-payer-not-achievable
It has been too much of a bipartisan effort to to prevent the realization of a robust single payer system. I am glad at your age you have Medicare. I’d love to have it at 56 and see it improved in its coverage and payout to doctors instead of me paying so much for my crappy coverage.
I agree with you about the GOP. What you say is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. There is simply more to the mechanisms within that scenario.
Robert, you are comparing the party of Trump/Cruz/Hawley to the party of Obama/AOC/Pelosi/Cuomo?
One is evil, the other is centrist.
Diane,
I think it’s evil that on average 40,000 American die each year because they don’t have access to healthcare. I don’t see privatizing public education and letting testing companies write policy as “centrist”. I absolutely don’t see companies like Google, Amazon, and FB not paying federal taxes in years 2018 and 19 as “centrist”. I think these actions and permissions are radical, oppressive and unacceptable by themselves. Both parties are to blame.
“ Republicans must now decide whether they are going to return to being the party of small government, individual liberties and national strength, or to continue being the Trump and Cruz party of violence, racism and authoritarianism.
Are they small-d democrats or are they fascists? After Wednesday’s terrible scene, they must choose.”
I believe what Milbank wanted in this last paragraph was “Are they small-r Republicans or are they fascists?” The last paragraph references the previous one.
Your ability to write so clearly and summarize things right before our eyes in ways we didn’t see or were unable to focus on is truly awe-inspiring. Most people don’t understand how difficult it is to write prose that can be so easily absorbed by the reader. You make it seem too easy, like Woody Guthrie or Chuck D.
Funny, Greg, I started off with the title “There Are No Words.” I started writing and I found the words.
Well observed, GregB!
Our National Security apparatus has let us down. Who will hold these traitors to account?
Beautifully said, Diane!!!
There are more and more people with money and influence who are calling for Trump to be removed as president.
…………………………….
The Hill:
Schumer calls for 25th Amendment to be invoked after Capitol riots
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday called for President Trump to be removed from office through the 25th Amendment, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
Schumer is the highest-ranking Democrat to throw his support behind removing Trump from office with roughly two weeks left in his administration.
The Hill:
First GOP lawmaker calls for invoking 25th Amendment to remove Trump
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Thursday became the first GOP lawmaker to call for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office.
Does two weeks give Trump enough time to pardon everyone arrested yesterday?
Wreaths at Arlington Cemetery turned black
.
Letters dropped off the US Constitution hanging on a wall in the White House.
Putin gave permission to begin excavation for the foundation of a Trump Tower.
Kim Jung Un prepared for a celebratory launch of the Ivanka
Congress reconvened, smoothing wrinkles of concern from their garments, determined to reassure anxious allies and applauding foes that this democracy will prevail from sea to shining sea.
Carter pardoned hundreds of thousands of Vietnam war draft dodgers, so it might be well within the President’s purview to pardon anyone involved in storming the Capitol.
The Presidential pardon is a very weird thing, in my opinion.
It’s like the framers of the Constitution hadn’t given a single individual enough power as it was. So they had to give him even more.
I will only continue unless there are real consequences for these traitors. If you’re a white politician committing treason get a pass, black person with a tail light out you get shot. Equal justice under the law has become a fantasy.
Rhetorically, is it wise to ignore Josh Hawley’s position in the sedition?
“(Hawley) …uses the democratic institutions to seize power whenever possible, …religion-based hostility to liberalism in economics…puts rigid purity over partisan solidarity…seeks unconstrained power over liberal democratic norms”. Those our quotes from the article,
“The one man most likely to turn the U.S. into a theocracy” (Think Progress 6-14-2019).
Hawley is not a redneck Tommy Tuberville, he’s a Stanford and Yale graduate. Some conservatives fear him based on his attack on a lawyer he falsely portrayed as an anti-religious bigot. Hawley “triumphed” in his battle to destroy the man’s reputation.
The contentious case that brought the men together involved “a Michigan city that wanted to enforce a civil rights ordinance against a Catholic business owner who believed he had a Constitutional right to discriminate”.
My opinion- one possibility -Hawley’s authoritarianism is either driven by religion or, by a foreign allegiance that echoes Trump’s, with the possibility of an alignment between the two.
IMO, the definitive Republican statement from Liz Cheney of the house.
“There’s no question the president formed the mob. The president incited the mob,” Cheney said. “He lit the flame.”
I think it was Trump’s biographer who predicted he wouldn’t make it to term.
There are still two weeks to remove him with the 25th amendment.
Elaine Chao, wife of McConnell and Transportation Secretary, resigned. Is that a case of one rat leaving a sinking ship or is it a case of she doesn’t want to go on record against the Orange Liar if he gets the 25th amendment?
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View in browser | nytimes.com
The New York Times
BREAKING NEWS
President Trump has suggested to aides in recent weeks that he wants to pardon himself, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
Thursday, January 7, 2021 3:04 PM EST
In several conversations since Election Day, Mr. Trump has told advisers that he is considering giving himself a pardon and, in other instances, asked whether he should and what the impact would be on him legally and politically, according to the two people.
It was not clear whether he has broached the topic since he incited his supporters on Wednesday to storm the Capitol in a mob attack.
Yesterday someone said somewhere “The president has been kicked off Twitter but he’s got the nuclear launch codes.”
One of the stations today was sharing what a joke we’ve become around the world. “Palestine is going to ban travel to the U.S.” “How’s that western democracy working for you now?”
This is the position we’re in.
All this talk about Impeachment and Article 25… I keep hearing “Who knows what this crazy man will do next before he leaves…” NO (or AND).
I am worried what else he might initiate – I am scared of what SOMEONE ELSE might do to provoke him. Gee, what foreign country might take advantage of the mess especially after yesterday. Planning something is one thing, being the person making a decision on how to respond is another.
Barr: Trump committed ‘betrayal of his office’
Former Attorney General William Barr accused President Donald Trump on Thursday of a “betrayal of his office” — the latest rebuke of the president by a former high-ranking administration official after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
“Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable,” Barr said in a statement obtained by POLITICO. “The President’s conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters.”
Barr’s criticism on Thursday was not his first public comment on the chaos at the Capitol. As the president’s supporters breached the building on Wednesday afternoon, he released a statement through his spokesperson that did not refer to Trump by name.
“The violence at the Capitol Building is outrageous and despicable,” Barr said on Wednesday. “Federal agencies should move immediately to disperse it.”…
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/07/barr-trump-committed-betrayal-of-his-office-455812
Gotta love Barr criticizing Trump for barrtrayal of office.
These people sure don’t understand irony or hypocrisy.
SomeDAM Poet: Maybe Barr doesn’t read the bible OR maybe Barr doesn’t consider Trump to be his brother????
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Matthew 7:5
Christian Standard Bible
Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.
New International Version
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Some reactions…
After exhaling about democracy – another take on yesterday is WELCOME TO OUR WORLD. Congress got to walk in the shoes of teachers and students – the thousands who have been attacked or sheltered-in-place for real and all of them who do these drills all year long.
The PResident ANNOUNCED something was going to happen on January 6. He told his boys to “stand ready.” He whooped them all up the days before.
Did anyone pay attention? Why wasn’t the Capitol barricaded? Where were the plans and drills and why weren’t they enacted?
Heck, call a teacher… call a principal or superintendent… ask “Gee, we’ve been receiving threats, what do you think we should do?” They’d pull out the manual, organize security, scour the building, and have a presence ready to go.
No doubt the NRA and half of that Congress will say, “Just like we want for teachers, let’s arm the congressmen!”
Aggh!
We have a Pandemic 9/11 # of deaths every day! But gee, masks are for democrats.
People were arrested planning to kidnap governors. But, gee, that really wouldn’t happen.
The president gives the green light to extremist groups who are NOT conspiracy theorists, they just believe him. But, gee, the president’s just blustering again to get attention.
All those apologetic Republicans last night (except hawley), Uh, TOO LITTLE WAAAAY TO LATE!
Hawley? Unreal.
He’s a wannabe T**** only with an education (hmmm, no ETHICS classes at Yale?).
He actually posted CAMPAIGN DONATION APPEALS while the riots were going on!
He puts his fist in the sky cheering on the mob (hmmm, “outside agitators”?)
He used cute slogan phrases in his speech: “Ballots to Bullets” – give me a break.
AND in case you missed it….
He wasn’t addressing Congress and the Chamber like every other legislator talking to colleagues, HE STARED INTO THE CAMERA the entire time.
The silver lining is he does not have nor could develop a “base” and use the media the way the president did. And, moderate republicans would not have any problem criticizing him unlike their silence and soul selling with the president.
And… his only entertainment value will be seeing him in a debate with other bona fide but not crazy republicans in 3 years. They’ll shut him down!
as for the new Congresswoman from Missouri, Cori Bush, when interviewed pointed out “Can you imagine if that was a Black Lives Matter protest group rushing up those steps?”
Think Progress described the threat that Hawley poses in an article 6-14-2019,
“The one man most likely to turn the U.S. into a theocracy”.
Hawley is the mini me of “Lucifer himself” (Ted Cruz).
There are a number of countries that are commenting on Trump’s latest attempt to destroy our democracy. They are not complementing him.
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‘Assault on Democracy.’ How the World Responded to a Pro-Trump Mob Storming the U.S. Capitol
UPDATED: JANUARY 7, 2021 7:27 AM EST | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JANUARY 6, 2021 6:57 PM EST
Images of violent rioters storming the U.S. Capitol stunned the world Wednesday, as a pro-Trump mob breached police barricades and sought to force Congress to undo President Donald Trump’s election loss.
Lawmakers gathered in a joint session to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory were forced to evacuate as Trump supporters turned violent and stormed the building, making their way into the Senate Chamber.
Politicians around the world quickly condemned the violence, urging respect for America’s democratic processes and a peaceful transfer of power, as international media took up the story…
https://time.com/5927060/world-reactions-capitol-breached-trump-supporters/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-share-article&utm-term=politics
Trump lost Georgia more than twice. He also lost the hand-count after the election, because, correct me I’m wrong, Trump demanded the ballots be counted again after he lost the first time.
I understand that the Georgia hand-count added more votes to Biden’s win.
Trump refused to accept any vote count where he didn’t win even if it meant adding votes that never happened to get at last one vote more than Biden, RE: the infamous phone call to Georgia’s Secretary of State.
It is obvious that the only results Trump will accept are the ones that say he won.
So who wrote this speech? Trump is already lying. [He’s obviously reading from a teleprompter.]
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Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Tweeted:
https://t.co/csX07ZVWGe
Tyrants often turn on their own people: it’s time to remove Trump from office
Jan. 7, 2021 4:20 pm
By Thom Hartmann
Tyrants very rarely leave power voluntarily. In almost every case they’ve committed so many crimes in the process of acquiring and holding power, and exploiting that power to enrich themselves, their friends and allies, that they know if they step down they will be facing, at the very least, a long stretch in prison.
This is why it’s so vital that Donald Trump be removed from power immediately. Be it through the 25th Amendment or immediate articles of impeachment and a vote in the Senate, it must be done.
A dear friend of mine, Armin Lehmann, was the 16-year-old courier who brought Adolf Hitler the news that the war was totally lost, and thus was in the Führerbunker when Hitler committed suicide. Armin told me how a few weeks earlier, on March 19, 1945, Hitler had ordered the remnants of the German Air Force and tank crews to bomb Berlin and reduce other German cities to rubble. Germans still refer to it as his Nero Decree.
Hitler was not unique. This is how tyrants often go down. Like Jim Jones, they destroy everything in sight and kill as many people as they can on their way out. In his last days Robert Mugabe ordered 20,000 people murdered in a state that hadn’t voted for him. The last days of a tyrant’s reign are the most critically dangerous moments for the survival of a nation.
Trump still has control of the nuclear codes, and Congress has given presidents so much power to initiate foreign “police actions” and wars, particularly since 9/11, that his provoking World War III to try to stay in power, or simply to punish the human race, is not inconceivable.
Which is why the House of Representatives must today pass Articles of Impeachment against Trump, and the Senate must hold an immediate vote to remove him from office. Parallel to that, Vice President Pence must invoke the 25th Amendment and pull the Cabinet together to temporarily remove Trump from power and perhaps even institutionalize him until this moment of crisis has passed.
Originally posted on Medium.com.
-Thom
I understand……..It’s like having your own country kneeling on your neck and you can’t breathe! Zulu Delta
when you have privilege conferred on you at birth, privilege that is unrelated to merit, and you know it’s in jeopardy-
when those in power are demographically similar to you, then, you have to face diversity’s competition-
Up until now, colonialism’s “knee” spared you. Concentrated wealth changed that and you’ve been thrown to the dogs. Man up.
A Pulitzer Prize finalist wrote, “The perception that decency is now suddenly threatened probably flows from two facts: People who have been targeted are being vocal about their rights. And political leaders have become more blunt and vulgar. …For most of history this country has tolerated indecency and outright brutality toward people that were marginalized because of race, gender, and national origin.
This has to be the single most significant comment here. So much to unpack, but could the trend toward oligarchy be finally unraveling?
Zulu Delta will either surrender his neck to the knee of the colonialists or he will accept that he is now part of the class below him and join them in their fight. I predict he’ll choose the former.
I’ve been watching FOX to see how they spin this. They were a part of the instigation, with many of their commentators decrying the results of the election. I tried to understand their reasoning, but many states increased the use of mail in ballots due to COVID. I would think a pandemic would be the extraordinary incidence which would allow this change. As far as I can see, mail in ballots were not limited to democrats – independents and republicans were also allowed to vote in this manner. Plus, if the Republicans wanted to contest the results shouldn’t they also have included every state that changed the rules, not just the states that Trump lost? In addition, how could the election be rigged against Republicans when Trump lost in a state where Republican Senators and Congressmen won. That would require some sophisticated cheating coordinated across multiple states. I just don’t see it.
Yet, if FOX TV and Trump with his followers in Congress keep crying fake news loud enough, there will be those who believe them (even when it doesn’t make sense to the rest of us). I just wonder now whether my Trumper friends (who I don’t consider radicals) have woken up and will now admit that Trump is in the wrong.
Truthfully, I’m afraid to ask.
All my conservative friends are twisting their logical explanations for Jan 6 into pretzels.
The demonstration was actually the responsibility of Black Lives Matter, who wanted to discredit Trump
The police deliberately allowed the mob to get out of hand to make Trump look bad.
I could go on, but every event will be interpreted by the Trump base in an arcane fashion so that their cognitive dissonance about this matter is fully resolved and the saint over whose bones they were cured is properly enshrined as the great american.
That’s because that is what they are hearing from some of the commentators on FOX and from other right wing media.
Roy Turrentine: I read that the problem was started by Antifa. Yep, it was those people, not Magats.
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Trump supporters say Antifa was to blame for Capitol siege in Washington DC
Trump supporters have jumped on a bizarre theory about the US Capitol siege, claiming it is not at all what it appeared to be.
They’re being condemned as “domestic terrorists” and “unhinged” rioters, but supporters of US President Donald Trump have sprouted a bizarre theory in the wake of their attempted coup of the US Capitol, shifting the blame instead to left-wing anti-fascist movement, Antifa.
Multiple conspiracy theorists, right wing figures and MAGA fans – including, notably, Republican and former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin – are claiming that the rioters who descended on Washington DC were actually “leftists dressed as Trump supporters”.
“We don’t know who were the instigators … a lot of it are the Antifa folks … I dunno, there are a lot of questions out there,” Ms Palin told Fox News earlier, adding that President Trump “tried to win over too many anti-Trumpers, whom he hired”.
She then tweeted a message to the media, demanding they “quit labeling DC protesters ‘Conservatives, Republicans, Tea Partiers, Trump Supporters, etc’ LOOK IN TO WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE who’d choose an apparent leaderless insane swarm to create a perception of condoned violence”.
Two Republican congressmen, Louie Gohmert and Mo Brooks, are also spreading the theory, with the latter declaring “time will tell” whether it was “ANTIFA fascists in backwards MAGA hats”.
“Remember, Antifa openly planned to dress as Trump supporters and cause chaos today,” lawyer and self-proclaimed “patriot” and “civil rights activist” Rogan O’Handley tweeted.
“It’s extremely easy for a radical Leftist to throw on a US flag shirt & MAGA hat, engage in violence, then let the media delegetimise an entire movement. In fact, it’s a preferred tactic of dictatorship (and 3 letter agencies).”
Lin Wood, another pro-Trump lawyer and QAnon influencer, sent several viral tweets also claiming Antifa supporters were the ones who’d stormed the Capitol, claiming there was “indisputable photographic evidence that antifa violently broke into Congress today to inflict harm & do damage”.
Mr Wood then went so far as to declare Trump supporters are “peaceful” – a statement, given today’s actions, nearly as bizarre as the conspiracy theory itself – urging his followers to “not be fooled” and writing that “it was antifa that created the violence in our cities over the past several months”.
Sure, must have been BLM since the insurrectionists were almost completely white. Rightwing pundits say it was Antifa, but a number of their leaders have been identified as right wing extremists, not Antifa.
I also believe the attack against the Capital was coordinated otherwise the “protester” wouldn’t have entered from multiple locations. I won’t blame the security around the Capital (al least not until I have more information) since they were understaffed and overwhelmed. The snippet of videos we are shown are often deceiving. We shall see.
“Multiple entrances” = front & back (E & W). A BBC blow-by-blow says protestors began gathering at both entrances. Seems like a natural development given the large numbers: front is too crowded, hey let’s go round the back. It took another hour after front was breached for the 2nd crowd to get in the back.
I believe that some of the crowd just got swept up in mob appeal, but there were those who knew what they were doing.
I’d say that those loyal followers who read or watch the nonsense that far R media is putting out will not be influenced negatively by Trump’s desperate attack on our democracy.
One policeman died. They were being hit by pipes.
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Trump’s political future in peril after Capitol attack, advisers say
By Jeff Mason
5 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters and his long refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election have jeopardized the president’s political future and tainted prospects for his top lieutenants and family members, current and former administration officials said.
The Republican president has dangled the possibility of running for president in 2024, and political operatives had expected him to exert influence over the Republican Party for years to come.
But his behavior on Wednesday – goading supporters to march on the Capitol to encourage lawmakers to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the Nov. 3 election, and then failing quickly to call on them to stand down after violence ensued – has sickened people who work and used to work for him and, they said, changed the equation for his post-presidential relevance.
“It was a dereliction of duty as commander-in-chief and I think he will be mortally wounded from a political career going forward,” one former White House official who worked for Trump said on Thursday. “He has blood on his hands from yesterday. A woman died.”
Trump supporters broke into the Capitol, pushed past police, and roamed through the building, forcing lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to evacuate. One woman died after being shot by police; three other individuals died of medical emergencies.
“There’s no recovering from what happened. It was sedition. I don’t see how there’s a future,” said another former administration official, referring to Trump and his top aides. “I think the Cabinet members that stayed and that aren’t speaking out now or even quietly resigning have a stain forever.”
The former administration official singled out Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a Trump acolyte who may have presidential ambitions, for not doing more to condemn what happened. Pompeo issued a tweet in which he called the violence “unacceptable.” The State Department declined to comment further.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced on Thursday she would resign, as did Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who cited the impact of Trump’s rhetoric in spurring the Capitol melee. Other lower level administration officials have announced their departures, too, with roughly two weeks to go before the end of Trump’s administration.
The president came as close as he has to a concession in a video statement on Thursday night in which he pledged to work towards a smooth transfer of power to the new administration and called the violence at the Capitol a “heinous attack.”
But the statement was late, and it came after intervention from his daughter, Ivanka, according to one current White House official, who noted that the political hit from the week’s events would extend to his family members, such as daughter-in-law Lara Trump, a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina.
The former officials who spoke to Reuters for this story had been broadly supportive of the president, even after leaving their posts earlier in his four-year tenure.
Trump has raised massive amounts of money in the period since the election, capitalizing on discontent he has fomented by falsely claiming the election was rigged against him through widespread voter fraud.
But another former White House official said the president’s ability to bring in cash would be inhibited now, too, with the exception of smaller donations from still-ardent supporters in his political base.
“I think anything above low-dollar-crazy is going to be a problem,” the former official said. “Anything above the $100 giver is out.”
Many elected officials within the Republican Party have turned on Trump because of the violence, a break that could lessen his leverage over the political futures of other Republicans as well as his own. Senator Lindsey Graham, a long-time defender of the president, declared on Wednesday night that “enough is enough” and said Biden had been elected lawfully.
“I don’t think he’s going to be elected to anything else,” a third former White House official said of Trump. “As time goes on, he will continue to be a very strong voice and he will have a very big following, but … I think this lessens the chances that he runs for anything.”
Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Mary Milliken, Rosalba O’Brien and Daniel Wallis
Insiders say federal help rejected; prepared for protest, not revolt
WASHINGTON — Three days before the pro-President Donald Trump riot at the Capitol, the Pentagon asked the U.S Capitol Police if it needed National Guard manpower. And as the mob descended on the building Wednesday, Justice Department leaders reached out to offer up FBI agents. The police turned them down both times, according to a defense official and two people familiar with the matter.
Capitol Police had planned for a free speech demonstration and didn’t need more help, those three told The Associated Press. The police weren’t expecting what actually happened — an insurrection.
But the Capitol ended up being overrun, overwhelming a law enforcement agency sworn to protect the lawmakers inside. Four protesters died, including one who was shot inside the building.
The failure raised questions over security at the Capitol and the treatment of mainly white Trump supporters who were allowed to roam through the building, compared with the Black and brown protesters across the country who demonstrated last year over police brutality…
It’s not clear how many Capitol Police offers were on duty Wednesday. There are 2,300 officers who patrol 16 acres of ground and protect the 435 House members, 50 senators and their staffs. By contrast, the city of Minneapolis has about 840 uniformed officers for a population of 425,000 across more than 6,000 acres of land…
Trump and his allies were perhaps the biggest megaphones, encouraging protesters to turn out in force and support his false claim that the election had been stolen from him. He egged them on during a rally shortly before they marched to the Capitol and rioted.
But the Capitol Police had set up no hard perimeter around the Capitol.
“The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.,” Sund said. “But make no mistake — these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior.”
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser had warned of impending violence for weeks, and businesses had closed in anticipation. She requested National Guard help from the Pentagon on Dec. 31, but the Capitol Police turned down the Jan. 3 offer from the Defense Department, according to Kenneth Rapuano, assistant defense secretary for homeland security. The Justice Department’s offer for FBI support as the protesters grew violent Wednesday was rejected by the Capitol Police, according to the two people familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
By then, it was too late.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department descended. Agents from nearly every Justice Department agency, including the FBI, were called in. So was the Secret Service and the Federal Protective Service. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent two tactical teams. Police from as far away as New Jersey arrived to help.
It took four hours to disperse the rioters from the complex. By then, rioters had roamed the halls of Congress, posed for photos inside hallowed chambers, broken through doors and destroyed property. At least 80 people were arrested.
http://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=361ff95a-e9b2-4cde-b2c1-bf21968ef278
FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) Tweeted:
#FBIWFO is offering a reward of up to $50K for info leading to the location, arrest & conviction of the person(s) responsible for the pipe bombs found in DC on Jan. 6. https://t.co/q9pdw6Rnoy https://t.co/aQ7Vz4uydO
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
This is the best news ever. The Orange Monster now has lost his ability to Tweet!!! Ahhh. Poor Trumpy.
Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) Tweeted:
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.
https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y
Simply Patriot put out an email asking people to vote for who really won the election. I voted Biden won but haven’t seen the results yet. Of course, on this site, the majority of readers still believe Trump won the election.
Trump will continue to be a huge problem when sites like this continue to promote lies.
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Trump OR Biden
Simply Patriot
6844 Bardstown Rd #534
Louisville, KY 40291
United States
Shomari Stone (@shomaristone) Tweeted:
BREAKING. Mob of Trump supporters swarm the media near the US Capitol. They yell what Trump frequently says, “the media is the enemy of the people.” They destroy equipment and chased out reporters. I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 year career: @nbcwashington @MSNBC https://t.co/3VLC07JQR2
I hope Trump uses the resurrection act to have the evidence heard. There WAS MASSIVE FRAUD. THERE IS PROOF. WE DEMAND TO HAVE IT HEARD AND WE DEMAND EVERYONE IN ON THE DECEPTION OR REPORTING IT DOESNT EXIST BE LABELED FOR WHAT THEY TRULY ARE!!! A LYING, CHEATING, COMMUNIST! WE ONLY WANT A FAIR TRAIL OF THE EVIDENCE. We only want that rules that were changed thqt NO ONE will argue was constitutioNal be examined further and the constitution upheld. The ONLY party we trust at this point to look into this is the UNITED STATES MILITARY. So lets have the evidence heard or lets go to war!
Resurrection Act
Yes. Let’s start with changing the electoral college vote four years ago and give Hillary Clinton back the presidency that the majority of voters rightfully have her.
Really? This was all Trump’s fault? Your bias towards the Conservative viewpoint is so blatant, and exemplifies your hypocrisy. Where was your outrage when the Left rioted,posted, burned police vehicles, etc all Summer long? You’ve been indoctrinated, swallowing the rhetoric the Left has shoved down your throat for four years. I sincerely hope you will reap what you sow, meaning the embracing of a totally Communist agenda, where freedom of expression and speech has already been accomplished. Next comes monitoring and suppression of your religious beliefs, your livelihoods, and a huge increase in taxes.
From Axios:
Secret Service is locking down D.C. for Biden’s inauguration six days earlier than planned
In an escalation of inauguration security following the Capitol riot, federal authorities plan to lock down a massive swath of downtown Washington on Wednesday, six days earlier than originally planned.
Why it matters: The earlier shutdown is based on warnings about pre-inauguration demonstrations planned for this weekend in capitals throughout the country, as well as tighter security after the Capitol siege.
The Department of Homeland Security announced that the window for the National Special Security Event, which will involve tens of thousands of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement personnel, will begin Jan. 13, rather than the previously scheduled Jan, 19, the day before the inauguration.
During the expanded security period, many businesses around the Capitol and White House will be inaccessible…
https://www.axios.com/dc-lockdown-biden-inauguration-national-guard-f5a40a69-4cc8-4861-84fe-1ea047ff3f3d.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=email