January 11, 2021

If the "Capitol mob" was "a raging collection of grievances and disillusionment" as The Washington Post says...

... in its headline, here, then doesn't that mean it wasn't an "insurrection" or much of a plan at all, just a coming together of disparate elements? Let's look at the long article. I'm reading it for the first time and making excerpts and comments as I go. I'm doing this without an agenda, just wanting to figure out what the hell happened and what it means.
Those who made their way to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday hail from at least 36 states, along with the District of Columbia and Canada, according to a Washington Post list of over 100 people identified as being on the scene of the Capitol. Their professions touch nearly every facet of American society: lawyers, local lawmakers, real estate agents, law enforcement officers, military veterans, construction workers, hair stylists and nurses. Among the crowd were devout Christians who highlighted Bible verses, adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory and members of documented hate groups, including white nationalist organizations and militant right-wing organizations, such as the Proud Boys. 
The list is just a limited cross section of the thousands of people who descended upon the area, yet some striking commonalities are hard to ignore. Almost all on the list whose race could be readily identified are White.

Not sure how that is done. But okay. The Washington Post seems to have compiled a list of 100 people — a hundred out of what? "thousands"? — and it's making assertions about these people, somehow "readily identifying" their race and capitalizing "White." How many of the 100 were in the category whose race was "readily identified"? 10? 80? I have no idea.

Most are men, yet about one in six were women...

2 grammar mistakes there. It needs to be "one in six was a woman" to get subject/verb agreement, and, for parallelism, it needs to be either "Most were men, yet about one in six was a women" or "Most are men, yet about one in six is a women." We can argue about whether past or present tense is worse (or an outright error). But enough tripping along the pleasant side road that is grammar. Back to the substance:

... also almost all White. Many left extensive social media documentation of their passions, ideologies and, in some cases, disillusionment and vendettas.

Great. This is what I've been waiting for. Reading the social media of the various participants in the breaching of the Capitol. 

Their paths to the nation’s capital were largely fueled by long-standing grievances and distrust, and yet planned in spontaneous and ad-hoc fashion.

Was there a plan?  If it was "spontaneous and ad-hoc" then maybe it was not a plan, just diverse individuals whose paths flowed together at that place and time?

Several reported pulling together their travel funds and schedules in just a handful of days. Some took a solitary journey, including flying from coast to coast alone, only to find a shared community upon their final destination in Washington. Others traveled in buses that departed Wednesday at dawn, filled to the brim with other Trump supporters....

Don't mix up the plan to go to a big rally and street protest with a plan to break into the Capitol (and don't mix up a plan to break into the Capitol with a plan to take Mike Pence or members of Congress hostage).

Several who traveled to Washington to support the “Stop the Steal” rally told The Post they were driven by two primary grievances: their opposition to the election results and the restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Lindsey Graham...

Interesting name. 

... a 39-year-old entrepreneur from Salem, Ore., said her eventual path to the Capitol began last spring, when the six small businesses she and her husband own, including tanning salons, a gym and hair salon, were suddenly shuttered because of coronavirus restrictions...  Graham said she was “peacefully protesting” with thousands of people. She said she did not enter the building and does not condone violence. “I’m glad I was there because I am one of the people that can vouch for the crowd,” she said. 
Like Graham, 47-year-old construction worker Pete Harding said he was drawn to the Capitol by his disdain for restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Until last year, the Upstate New York resident said he had largely confined his strong political opinions to the Internet, describing himself as just a “keyboard warrior.” That’s all changed now, in radical fashion. The first days of 2021 found him — by his own account — charging through the chemical irritants that Capitol Police meant to deter him from entering the U.S. Capitol, rambling through the building, and then attempting to set fire to journalists’ equipment outside.... 
“We know that if Biden-Harris was going to get into office, they’ve said they’re going to make the lockdowns mandatory and mask-wearing mandatory across the country,” he said....

This article is making the lockdown seem more central to the protest than the idea that Trump won the election. 

After listening to Trump’s speech and marching to the Capitol, he found that “our people,” as he described the mob, had already pushed police back up to the top of the Capitol steps.

So Harding doesn't seem to be part of any plan to breach the Capitol, just a person in a crowd who finds out that in some other part of that crowd, something violent is happening. This reminds me of Black Lives Matter events, where there were peaceful protesters in some places and violent people in other parts. Is the whole mass to be called a "mob," with everyone who went to the event held responsible for what everyone else does? The answer should be no.

He waded through the crowd to join them, and persisted up the stairs, though he says police repeatedly deployed irritants to try to deter the mob. Harding describes himself as a “peacekeeper” who charged up the Capitol stairs to protect both police officers and rioters. 
“I started to see everybody going up the stairs at that point, and I decided I needed to be up there. … I knew that things could escalate and I needed to be there to de-escalate things,” he said. “I was there to protect and keep the peace. That’s what I do every single place that I go.”

By his own account, Harding made an independent decision to enter after the breach was made, and he has the image of himself as a "peacemaker."  

Harding said that the only weapon he carried was a dinner fork, which he put in his pocket because he believed he might need it to confront “antifa” or “Muslim brotherhood” fighters. 
It stayed in his pocket. “Fortunately, I didn’t have to wield the kitchen fork menacingly,” he said.

I hear that statement as humorous, though you could do some damage with a fork. Harding also seems to have believed, as I think many do, that any violence was attributable to anti-Trump forces — “antifa” or “Muslim brotherhood."

Once he left the Capitol, he saw journalists with cameras protected by barricades. He says he walked over twice to taunt them, saying, “You’re responsible for this” and “There’s a woman shot — this is on your hands.”

Harding claims that only after he walked away did other Trump supporters harass the journalists to the point that they fled, leaving behind their equipment. He was delighted. “I was kind of happy about it, to be honest with you, not going to lie, because they deserve it. But that’s not a crime,” he said. 

He said he came back and piled up the abandoned equipment, then used a lighter to try to set it on fire though he believed most of it was metal and wouldn’t burn. 

“The visual and the imagery was for the media to see, that they have started our country on fire,” Harding said, “with their constant lies about covid and about Trump.” Harding maintains that he did nothing illegal Wednesday....

Clearly, some of what Harding did is illegal, but — by his own account, assuming he's correctly and fairly quoted — he seems like an independent actor, making his own decisions according to his idea of what is true and good, and not part of a group plan. Just to be clear: I completely oppose the intimidation of the reporters and the damaging of their property. 

Many attendees described a type of fervor they felt that drew them to the Capitol. For 48-year-old Leonard Guthrie Jr., it manifested in his faith in the Lord. The Cape May, N.J., resident hasn’t often been well enough to work since having two surgeries on his back. In the absence of employment, he has heavily leaned into his Christian beliefs and conservative political views. When he heard about the “Stop the Steal” rally, Guthrie thought he could combine his two passions. If he and other Christians had been able to pray outside while senators voted inside, he feels certain it would have changed their votes.... 

He said he broke through a police barrier to reach the U.S. Capitol steps and readily admits his transgressions, bluntly saying: “I broke the law.” Still, he feels aggrieved. “We’ve been silenced for so long,” he said. “For years, because I voted for Trump, I’m called a racist, a Nazi, a bigot and all that stuff, and it’s not right.”

Again, this sounds like an individual making his own decision in real time, not a participant in any plan to enter the Capitol. He wanted to pray outside, and it sounds as though he didn't go inside, but only to the steps, though he did break a barrier, and he's confessionally sorry. 

Others squarely cited their fealty to the president as the force that pulled them to the nation’s capital....

This is a screwy way to blame Trump. Trump is a man, not a force. If the "fealty to the president" is a "force" within people who love him, then "pull" is the wrong word. That wrongness is the tip that WaPo is straining to blame Trump. In any case, this is only saying people were drawn "to the nation's capital." That's only saying they chose to go to the city, not that they felt drawn to enter the Capitol building.

Now, I've read the whole thing. There's nothing here about a plan to break into the Capitol! That doesn't mean there weren't people with such a plan, and I can see why such people wouldn't want to talk to the Washington Post, but this article supports the idea that the crowd consisted of individuals who were acting independently. 

312 comments:

1 – 200 of 312   Newer›   Newest»
Leland said...

It reads like WaPo is trying to foment a race war. I'm old enough to remember people proclaiming how it was the White vote that put Biden over the top.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"had already pushed police back up to the top of the Capitol steps.

what? All of the video I see the police are just standing there.. letting everyone file in.

&
Will wapo weave narrative and lace the supposed quotes with their own narrative?
This is how badly we distrust the media. They are like Nancy Pelosi - THEY LIE.

rehajm said...

Don' mix up the plan to go to a big rally and street protest with a plan to break into the Capitol

Alternatively, don' read the Washington Post.

-Jon Voit

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If you rip off Antifa masks - It's all WHITE. Media have nothing to say.

Sebastian said...

"Again, this sounds like an individual making his own decision in real time, not a participant in any plan to enter the Capitol . . . There's nothing here about a plan to break into the Capitol!"

But Trump knew there was one, and if there wasn't he still incited them, and even if he didn't incite them he was to blame for the influence he exerted, and even if they made their own decisions without his influence he is still to blame--because, well, because he is Trump.

Anyway, the real tell in this article, and in a similar piece on the WSJ front page today, is the detail: we are now getting more about the events and protagonists than about any of the more destructive Antifa events of the past summer. It's almost as if the MSM have an agenda.

Dave Begley said...

Having graduated from an all boys high school, I can tell you exactly what happened.

We use to have pep rallies before some football games. After the rally, we were dismissed and the entire school had to funnel through two regular sized doors. We use to "moo" as we went through them.

Now, if there would have been a fiery speaker and a very disgruntled student body which was amoral, we could have turned on the teachers and beaten them to a pulp. That's the power of a mob. A mob has a mind and life of its own and it is fueled by temporary insanity and lack of belief in punishment or personal responsibility.

rehajm said...

Strunk and White and your seventh grade english teacher cringe at WaPo. Now you should too.

Mike Sylwester said...

Democracy Dies in Darkness!

Ajnal said...

why did they bring zipties to a protest?

Ray - SoCal said...

First they came ... Pastor Martin Niemöller

Updated for 2021
First they came for the Tea Party defaming them and using the IRS and other Government Agencies, to make the process the punishment, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Tea Partier.

Then they used the Russian Hoax / Collusion to try to get rid of Trump and appointed a Special Counsel based on a Clinton Funded Campaign Opposition Research laundered through the Steele Dossieer that the FBI then used to go after Trump.

Then they came for the Alex Jones and Infowars and deplatformed them, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a conspiracy follower.

Then they came for those that were against Gay Marriage, such as Brendan Eich, and I did not speak out—
Because I did not contribute to political causes, and kept my vote private.

Then they came for Milo, for being provocative while discussing his under age relationship with a priest, and I did not speak out.
Even though George Taki had similar conduct.


Then they came for GAB, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a member.

Then they harassed Trump Administration People in Restaurants,

Then they came for Trump, sitting President and deplatformed him off Twitter, Facebook, E-Mail Providers, and Youtube.

Then they came for Parlor, and kicked them off the App Stores and removed their hosting.

Then they came for Trump Administration People, so they could not get jobs. Lincoln Project is putting together an online black list.

Then they came for those that attended the Election Fraud Protest in DC. 200,000 to 2 million attended. And a few, around a hundred, of them broke into the Capital Building, and were used to tar the rest and justify a night of long knives, and calls to label them as domestic terrorists and insurrectionists.

I'm Not Sure said...

"just wanting to figure out what the hell happened"

That's easy enough. A bunch of people are pissed off. But they're the wrong people, so they're not allowed to protest and they need to be shouted down.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

wapo: Clearly, some of what Harding did is illegal, but — by his own account, assuming he's correctly and fairly quoted — he seems like an independent actor, making his own decisions according to his idea of what is true and good, and not part of a group plan.

Judge and Jury wapo(D) - reminding us of the 2 sets of rules.

If you are a leftwing protestor - all is fine. nothing illegal, and even if you are arrested, people like kamala Harris have funds set up to set you free and pay your legal bills.

exhelodrvr1 said...

The left is not letting this crisis go to waste, and their actions have a reasonable chance of costing us our country.

Kai Akker said...

GIGO

Gusty Winds said...

althouse.promotemedianarrative.blogspot.com

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"Muslim brotherhood" fighters?

That sounds like Bs from wapo. I have not heard one word about "Muslim brotherhood fighters" until now. anyone?

rehajm said...

Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino’s employer, Cumulus Media, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or face termination “immediately”

Memory Hole-ing is hard...but they're getting better at it.

Owen said...

Prof A: thanks for doing the dirty thankless work of reading WaPo so that others may start their day without hurling the contents of their stomach across the room. From your report, what strikes me is:
(1) how thin and sloppy is the WaPo piece. A junior high newspaper trainee could do as well or better.
(2) how even straining as it does, WaPo can’t find even passing reference to actions or words suggesting that ANYBODY had a “plan” beyond going to DC to be heard. No pregame rehearsals, briefings, assignments, issuing of equipment (oooh! A fork! Was it a Commando Fork?). A “plan” is what you need for group action. It becomes visible, becomes evidence, as the group members communicate: as they must, if they are indeed a group. Here we had no sign of a plan, only more or less vague ideas, often formed on the spot, by individuals who went to DC and were surprised to find they were not alone.
(3) the diversity of grievances and especially the frustration and growing anger against the tyrannical ineptitude of lockdown.

Glad WaPo wrote this, it shows the depth and resilience of the marchers’ commitment. Disperse them, they will form again.

Leland said...

I was trying to be satirical, but after the last 5 days, I see that my comment is the same level of extremism we have been seeing from the left. For example, "have a Parler account, well you must be past of a insurrection movement, and therefore we can act as a cartel to stop you."

Over the weekend, I read elsewhere someone proclaiming that if you write in support of the march in anyway, then you are aiding and abetting insurrection. That seemed random and absurd; yet how random is it when that argument seems to be guiding principle behind the mass censorship of the last 100 hours.

To the WaPo piece:

It stayed in his pocket. “Fortunately, I didn’t have to wield the kitchen fork menacingly,” he said.

That seems clearly a joke, but I suspect it was put here to seem like the person was serious. Maybe it was the fork that caused the journalist to "[flee], leaving behind their equipment." What, what? The journalist left their equipment? Why would they just abandon their equipment. As for Harding, I don't know peacemakers that burn others belongings. Everything about Harding seems odd, from the things he supposedly did to what others around him did.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If the plans were to fake MAGA, and destroy stuff - that was probably antifa. If proven true, We will never hear about that from the press.

Krumhorn said...

The entire point of the exercise is to demoralize and marginalize those who voted for Trump. As an ABC news apparatchik put it, to “cleanse” society of the Orange Scourge. I saw a black guy on a tv panel vehemently insist that Trump voters, particularly those who voted for him the “second time”, were “complicit” in the events at the capitol. A leftie commenter on this blog insisted that a photo of some guy carrying a confederate flag told us “everything we needed to know” about the event.

This is all about humiliating and battering down the 77,000,000 folks who had the temerity to vote for Trump with the goal of reedukating us to fall in line with our moral betters.

The lefties never fail to demonstrate that they are nasty little shits right to the bone.

- Krumhorn

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

wapoo)D)
"Others squarely cited their fealty to the president as the force that pulled them to the nation’s capital...."

The collective left DO think support of Trump - in any way - is a crime.
They have been saying so and acting on that for 4 years.

Gregg said...

If you have a plan, you have to be rather meticulous and methodical about it. The wrong doers seemed rather chaotic, scattered and hodge-podge.

You've also failed to show a pattern of past conduct. The fact that 99 percent of these rallies haven't yielded violence is significant. The December rallies seemed just a fraught with grievance, yet no violence.

One violent rally does not an insurrection make----not without 1. past pattern and 2. intricate precision organization.

Dave Begley said...

One of the biggest mistakes in the history of SCOTUS and the federal judiciary is not hearing any of the Trump election cases on the merits. The PA federal court case filed by Rep. Kelly should have been decided by SCOTUS.

pacwest said...

I just heard about this insurrection thing. They actually burned down the Capitol building?

gilbar said...

coincidentally, recently finished The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

i didn't realize, when i was on the part about the Reichstag fire; how pertinet it would be!
Today's Press and Democrats sure were ready to jump on the whole insurrection thing, weren't they?

MayBee said...

There is video with the crowd pulling at police officers and beating him:

https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1348335004082966528

I don't know who the people are, but this is awful.

tcrosse said...

Think of the Stop the Steal rally as a giant Festivus celebration: airing of grievances followed by feats of strength. Serenity Now!

MayBee said...

Does anybody remember Schumer on the steps of the Supreme Court during an abortion rally:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/schumer-threatens-the-court-11583368462

Speaking to a crowd on the Supreme Court steps, the leading Senate Democrat declared: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.” He meant Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, the newest Justices who were appointed by President Trump.


Mr. Schumer was speaking before abortion-rights activists as the Supreme Court considers whether to curtail the ability of abortion providers to sue on behalf of women seeking abortions—a doctrine known as third-party standing. Mr. Schumer, still addressing Messrs. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, added: “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”


This was March 3, 2020. So Schumer is really going to impeach Trump?

Tom said...

They didn’t break in to the capitol - they were let in. Once inside, they met secret service (for VP) and plain clothes resistance.

Think Madison protests in the capitol and then pretend the police decided they needed to leave and things got out hand.

tommyesq said...

documented hate groups... documented by who? SPLC?

Also they forgot not to capitalize "White."

Shouting Thomas said...

Six months to a year prior to the 2024 election, the Democrats will proclaim that violence is, indeed, justified under certain circumstances, and they’ll send their shock troops back out into the cities to loot, riot, commit arson and murder cops, as they did in 2016 and 2020.

President Trump and the GOP should assemble their own private armies, similar to Antifa and BLM, finance them and set them out on the streets when strategically necessary.

Either both sides have the right to field paramilitary forces, or neither does. I’m not buying this shit.

tommyesq said...

documented hate groups... documented by who? SPLC?

Also they forgot not to capitalize "White."

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The plan was to gather the raging collection of grievances and disillusionment and send it down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. But that was only the second part of the plan, the first part was to stir up the grievances and disillusionment into a pot ready to boil over through repeated false statements.

Michael K said...

Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino’s employer, Cumulus Media, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or face termination “immediately”

This is why Rush Limbaugh set up his own syndicate. His sponsors are all local businesses in cities where his show is on the radio. He could probably offer them the same plan and help them get going. It didn't work for Rush on TV but that was years ago. The tech oligarchs that run Biden and Harris will deplatform any Trump supporter so they had better figure this out fast.

Friedrich Engels' Barber said...

Dave Begley said...
One of the biggest mistakes in the history of SCOTUS and the federal judiciary is not hearing any of the Trump election cases on the merits.

Yes, that failure even to listen is why it was the John Roberts Riot.

Howard said...

It's all about you people and your feelings. All the tough macho second amendment we have all the guns secessionist going rogue talk is blowing back in your faces.

You fucked up, you trusted Trump. Fortunately for your self esteem, he taught you how to blame others for the messes you make.

Good luck with that.

Curious George said...

}BidenFamilyTaxPayerFundedCrackPipe said...
wapo: Clearly, some of what Harding did is illegal, but — by his own account, assuming he's correctly and fairly quoted — he seems like an independent actor, making his own decisions according to his idea of what is true and good, and not part of a group plan.

Judge and Jury wapo(D) - reminding us of the 2 sets of rules.

If you are a leftwing protestor - all is fine. nothing illegal, and even if you are arrested, people like kamala Harris have funds set up to set you free and pay your legal bills."

FYI that was Althouse, not wapo.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I'm doing this without an agenda, just wanting to figure out what the hell happened and what it means.

Good luck. One of the stupidest things big tech is doing right now is silencing the very voices it claims are “inciting” unrest, thus taking away the ability of citizens to see for themselves what Trump has to say. If the speech is hidden from me I don’t trust Big Tech or Big Media to honestly report it to me, therefore I discount all their claims as fluff and twaddle. Fuck ‘Em!

Michael K said...

ST, I think there is an even chance that we will be living one of Kurt Schlicter's novels by then.

Leland said...

has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump

I wished they would finish that statement, because I'm reading on blogs elsewhere from lefty commenters that any suggestion that the election was stolen is insurrection. 3 years of an investigation into Russia stealing election was due process, but now just saying you think an election is stolen is insurrection.

Michael K said...

All the tough macho second amendment we have all the guns secessionist going rogue talk is blowing back in your faces.

Not yet, pussywillow. Let's see how far they push us.

Kay said...

This feels like a whole new thing in politics where activists from both sides wage these street brawls and act as a sort of proxy for the viewers at home, who would never get involved in such things, but nevertheless they root for their side’s street fighters. It’s an extension of the same game people play when there’s a terrorist attack and the conversation turns to what side of the political aisle does this attacker belong to, and how can we prove it.

Gregg said...

OFF TOPIC: Sorry ! You won't post this, but, will you please do a post about Twitter not paying taxes?, and heavy Gov tax breaks means they aren't strictly, just another private company. --Much more in line with Churches whose tax-free status makes them subject to First Amendment regulations.

Amazon, Google, and Apple = don't pay taxes making them subject to Gov regulation as well.

MayBee said...

People who are saying they were "let in", please at least watch the video that is here:
https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1348335004082966528

I'm not blaming Trump for this, and I'm not blaming the people who didn't do this. But the police have this door barricaded, and there are some men beating the cops.

Known Unknown said...

"why did they bring zipties to a protest?"

They? I saw that one man had zip ties, which was a bad idea. He has been arrested.

Shouting Thomas said...

@Howard,

The taunting of people to put up or shut up with violence you’re doing is amazingly stupid.

Unless you just enjoy the prospect of mass bloodshed.

TreeJoe said...

The concept there was a "plan" seems to fall apart when the "plan" was simply to push through barricades and then mill about absently with no present leader, defining objective, or coordination. The idea this was fomented insurrection seems to conveniently ignore this fact.

Was this stoked? Yes.

Could you make a case for inciting a riot? Probably.

Is this a natural evolution after 7 months of Americans witnessing their citizenry riot at large scale in major city centers, encouraged by political leaders? Yes.

Unknown said...


WAPO Link on Cumulus Media censoring their people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/cumulus-radio-conservative-election-fraud/2021/01/11/e12ec46e-537c-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html

Unbelievable!

They own 416 radio stations. public company.

tim in vermont said...

The relevance of the Reichstag Fire is that outrage was orchestrated by the Nazis far in excess to the actual threat, and civil liberties were then destroyed with a set of laws already ready to go were enacted on this pretext. Already we see Parler not only deplatformed, but denied legal representation, protesters allegedly caught up in this put on the no-fly list as a kind of vindictive punishment without trial when nobody seriously believes they represent any kind of threat to air travel, to name a couple.

Biden has a new set of laws to make terrorisms illegal, as if it already isn't, which will no doubt be carefully tailored to exempt Antifa and BLM. No doubt the thrust of these laws will be the denial of civil liberties of those on the right side of the spectrum, just like the Nazis, after the fire, removed all restraints on criminal investigation, I give you the Gestapo.

They have been following Hitler’s path to unopposed power almost to the letter, all the while accusing Trump of being the fascist.

In the other post you talked about Saul Bellow, well he wrote a novel called “The Dean’s December” and part of the plot hinged on trying to get a family member behind the Iron Curtain into a “party hospital” where, like in all communist countries, decent medical care was restricted to those with party connections. How far are we from that? From Republicans being denied decent medical care, just like they have been denied the right to fly, and just like this new “anti-terrorism” law is likely designed to deny our civil rights?

Make no mistake, those people who crossed police lines damaged their cause beyond repair. It was stupid.

clint said...

"This article is making the lockdown seem more central to the protest than the idea that Trump won the election."

I've been saying that all summer. The mass protests and riots were an expression of cabin fever driven by lockdowns. So was this one.

Shouting Thomas said...
"Either both sides have the right to field paramilitary forces, or neither does. I’m not buying this shit."

The left doesn't accept even the structure of this kind of reasoning. The very idea of objective principles that apply to everyone equally is a cover for White Supremacy. For them, the important thing is virtue -- The virtuous good guys can be forgiven if they occasionally get a bit violent (he had a very punchable face, he's just so deplorable); the unvirtuous bad guys cannot be allowed to disagree with the narrative, or perhaps even remain silent. (Silence is violence; incitement isn't protected speech; dangerous misinformation...)

Heck, right now, CNN's debating the extent to which Facebook and Twitter are to blame for the Reichstag Fire because they weren't diligent enough in censoring conservatives.

Amadeus 48 said...

"...just wanting to figure out what the hell happened and what it means."

Good luck with that. It is WaPoo you are reading. You can read about what they wanted to happen and what they want you to believe it means. It is their news columns, after all. That's where they put most of their editorials.

Howard said...

Doc Mike doing his very best to channel the impotent Ralph Kramden: to the Moon, Alice

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shouting Thomas said...

@Howard,

Did you hear me?

The violence is coming. After it’s here, you’ll regret this taunting you’re doing.

Gang violence is indiscriminate. I’ve lived through it, the last time the Democrats united with the gangs to plunder NYC. Once the gangs control the streets, intimidation and extortion (which is fun for them) is all that really matters. Big issues don’t get resolved, just petty vendettas.

Try, instead, to pray that the violence doesn’t happen.

Clayton Hennesey said...

"Why did they bring zipties to a protest?"

To restrain themselves, of course, and it worked. No one set the Capitol afire.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Once again there is a giant PINK elephant in the room.
The dishonest press leave one big item on cutting room floor.

There are multiple videos showing clearly local Police and/or Capitol police opening barricades, video showing police standing aside while people walk buy, video showing police standing aside WHILE PEOPLE ENTER THE CAPITOL BUILDING. you know - letting people enter 'Nancy's sacred temple... the democrat owned citadel'

How on earth is it "illegal" to enter the Capitol building, while the police let it happen?

Amadeus 48 said...

Michael K at 8:54 "The tech oligarchs that run Biden and Harris will deplatform any Trump supporter so they had better figure this out fast."

One of my gripes about Trump's 2020 campaign is that he thought he could run 2016 all over again, even after he saw how the GOP got snockered in 2018 with ballot harvesting, late mail-in voting, and "flexible" interpretations of the voting rules. Why didn't he have his own vote harvesting operation? When he saw that Biden wasn't going to campaign, why didn't he become the New Trump (like the New Nixon), that friendly guy who was looking out for you and brought you all those good jobs and and all that prosperity? There was a war to be fought against Covid to bring back good times. Why even mention Biden? He was stuck in his basement.

Clayton Hennesey said...

"The left is not letting this crisis go to waste, and their actions have a reasonable chance of costing us our country."

The Left isn't going to cost anyone the country; they're only going to cost a bunch of innocent people their lives unnecessarily.

Howard said...

Yeah Thomas. I heard you. I don't agree that a significant bloodbath is coming. Big mouth bullies are cowardly fools. Did you see the video of the deplorable crying after he was kicked off his flight for being in the Capitol Putsch?

MayBee said...

George W Bush was accused of stealing his election. If pressed, most Democrats will still say he did not legitimately win.
John McCain's supporters were accused of being dangerously angry.
Donald Trump's supporters, too, were accused of being dangerously angry during the 2016 election. When leftists showed up at his Chicago rally and were beating up his supporters, the media, Democrats, and his Republican opponents accused Trump of causing it, because his angry supporters had brought this on themselves.
At Trump's inauguration, Antifa spent the day lighting limos on fire, but it was ok because they weren't... (I don't know why it was ok)
The Women's March was then lauded, romantically covered as being for women, against Trump because Trump was going to....(I don't know what Trump was going to do to women) and their rhetoric was overheated and violent, but they wore pink hats which were a symbol of all women.
Antifa continued to slow burn across the country, but they really showed up to the rally in Charlotte, where violence ensued and the reports were incredibly confusing about what happened, in part because nobody in the media wanted to implicate Antifa in the violence.

We were then told Antifa was like D-Day soldiers.

Schumer threatened the Supreme Court in March, and Antifa went wild at the end of May.

All the while we watched Trump be accused of collusion with Russia, being a Putin stooge, being on the verge of putting black people and gay people in camps, being a white supremacist. His supporters were pushed off Ravelry, a knitting website.
Trump was impeached for the crimes of the Biden family. Biden and Harris raised money for people who were rioting in major cities. People tried to say Trump was good friends with Epstein. Trump was made solely responsible for "putting brown children in cages" Trump was accused of willingly letting people die due to COVID.
All of this was mainstream.

But some people think Trump actually won the election and this is the conspiracy that cannot be tolerated. This is the point of view that cannot be spoken. And Trump, for foolishly pushing this idea, is the one person in government who must be punished. This, apparently, is the one opinion that will move people to violence.(well, at least where the violence is "unjustified")

If people thinking just telling people they have no right to their opinion, no right to express their opinion is going to fix any of this, they are so very very wrong.
Violence is wrong. Riots are wrong. They are wrong wrong wrong. Don't create conditions where there are going to be more of them, politicians.

tommyesq said...

Tim in Vermont said The relevance of the Reichstag Fire is that outrage was orchestrated by the Nazis far in excess to the actual threat, and civil liberties were then destroyed with a set of laws already ready to go were enacted on this pretext.

There is also the further point that the Reichstag Fire was almost certainly not started by the man the Nazi's executed for arson, and was likely started by the Nazi's themselves as a false flag operation.

dbp said...

" a Washington Post list of over 100 people identified as being on the scene of the Capitol."

Are they talking about protesters or people who illegally entered the Capitol building? I may be interested in the backgrounds of protesters and also in the backgrounds of rioters, but definitely want they kept distinct.

After-all, the protesters did nothing wrong and the rioters who entered the building committed crimes to various degrees.

Matt Sablan said...

"Did you see the video of the deplorable crying after he was kicked off his flight for being in the Capitol Putsch?"

-- I mean, given that no other protestor who has breached the Capitol in recent history has been put on the No Fly list, I can see why he'd be upset. He did exactly what years of protestors have done, and all of a sudden, it is wrong to breach the Capitol or threaten people in Congress. He's probably wondering if the people who breached the Capitol and actually got within arm's reach of Senators -- I think it was Senators -- to scream in their face about Kavanaugh aren't being grouped in as insurrectionists. Or why the one guy who admitted to not being a Trump supporter, to encouraging people to burn it down and threatening Capitol Police, didn't get arrested.

I understand the man's confusion. The riot was wrong, but it was the sort of wrong that people get cheered for and the elites pay your bail for if you get arrested, as of a few weeks ago. The sort of wrong Cuomo, Harris, Pelosi, Maxine Waters and others on the left celebrated. The kind of wrong that got Bill Ayers a prestigious position and Al Sharpton a shot at the presidency.

So, you can see why the man is confused when all of a sudden it is now a wrong that gets you kicked off of planes.

Sam L. said...

I despise, detest, and totally distrust the WaPoo. The NYT, too, of course.

henge2243 said...

Shorter Washington Post:

https://youtu.be/N1D4Xz-3YE4

MayBee said...

"This article is making the lockdown seem more central to the protest than the idea that Trump won the election."

I've been saying that all summer. The mass protests and riots were an expression of cabin fever driven by lockdowns. So was this one.


Yes!
And on top of it, the relentless "you aren't doing enough! You need to not see family! You need to wear your masks! You are killing people!". Always more more more, not good enough, not trying enough, awful people killing people by going out to eat, close your business, don't complain about not seeing granny you'll kill her.

There is finally an ad here from Henry Ford Hospital systems that recognizes how hard this is to do for months on end. It's an attitude and empathy that would go really far, I think.

chuck said...

The Viva and Barnes live stream from last night was pretty good. It's on locals, but there seems to be a version here. It's long, about two hours, but sheds some light on events.

Amadeus 48 said...

The point of my comment at 9:17 is that Team Trump has not shown itself to be very good at figuring things out fast.

MayBee said...

About the video of the guy being kicked off the plane: Yahar Ali says the original poster said he was kicked off for not wearing a mask, not for being at the protest.

Remember that guy who got dragged off the plane a few years ago? A doctor. Even before COVID a couple years ago there was a rash of videos of people getting kicked off planes.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

video of people calmly marching in.

So odd? Where are the police?

Howard said...

Matt, he wasn't confused. He was crying like a baby. Bullies are cowards. What ever happened to take your medicine like a man?

MayBee said...

Amadeus 48- I agree that Trump 2020 became too much about Trump adulation. Which is fine for people, but I think it went to Trump's head. They needed to focus on other things other than Trump as a man. And that's been the problem with post-election, too.

Owen said...

Reichstag fire is the obvious template here, by which a crisis is created and then not wasted. I worry that the January 7 event is not the end of the pretextual “insurrection.” Inauguration Day is the next obvious piece of the puzzle. How hard is it for Antifa to run multiple false flag ops (probably NOT in DC: could be anywhere)? They need not do much damage, just be (conveniently) well-covered by media as “proof of the ongoing hard-right revolution,” and then BANG, down comes the hammer.

I see no way to prevent this. Maybe by stating my fear of such a thing will help to preemptively discredit it, but I rather think the Progs could care less about credibility. So long as they control the media, they will manufacture the pretexts they want: openly, and make us agree.

wendybar said...

Went to bed in America, woke up in China. Congratulations Regressives. You won.

Achilles said...

Ann Althouse:

“I'm doing this without an agenda, just wanting to figure out what the hell happened and what it means.“

MLK and Ghandi protested against the US and England.

The responses to them were organic and they succeeded peacefully protesting because the people of the US and England are decent people. If they had done this in China they would have rotted in jail.

Right now they are lying about the January 6th protest because the Democrats and their corporate sponsors cannot justify what they are doing honestly. They have to vilify their opponents with propaganda and censorship because they know they are fascists and any honest description of what they are doing is completely antithetical to the founding principles of our country and to a free country.

If they had an bones case they would not have to resort to blatant censorship and dishonest attacks. They cannot have any kind of transparency in anything they have done for the last 5 years. It will not bear scrutiny.

They are fascists. That is how fascists operate.

Shouting Thomas said...

The Democratic Party recruits its paramilitary soldiers, for Antifa and BLM, through its labyrinth of colleges, non-profits and churches.

The Party’s effectiveness in organizing its violence is predicated on creating the appearance that Antifa and BLM are independent and spontaneous organizations, when it is obvious that they were created, organized, funded and directed by the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party doesn’t have such a mechanism for organizing paramilitary forces and hiding their connection to the party.

Howard, I guarantee you that there are bad guys on my side who are studying right now on how they can emulate the Democratic Party’s shadow game in organizing paramilitary groups.

They’ll figure it out, too. Give it some time. Soon, your opponents will figure out how to field their versions of Antifa and BLM. You might want to pray for the delay of that day when they figure it out.

Howard said...

It's nice to see that some of you Trump supporters are cancelling your flights to Guyana

Howard said...

Everything you say Thomas is speculation based on FUD.

Leland said...

"This article is making the lockdown seem more central to the protest than the idea that Trump won the election."

I've been saying that all summer. The mass protests and riots were an expression of cabin fever driven by lockdowns. So was this one.


One might consider that it was the lockdowns that incited violence. Alas, why would people consider house arrest to be too oppressive when it can save lives?

Mattman26 said...

I hope I never see a phrase more ridiculous than "planned in spontaneous and ad-hoc fashion."

Probably the only way my wish comes true is if I am stricken dead in the next hour or so.

Matt Sablan said...

"Matt, he wasn't confused. He was crying like a baby. Bullies are cowards. What ever happened to take your medicine like a man?"

-- I mean, again, the problem is that "the medicine" you're talking about hasn't been distributed to everyone else who needed it. In fact, it has been selectively given only to certain wrong doers while other wrong doers get praise and elevation. Bullies are often cowards, it's why Antifa generally only attack people when they have a massive number advantage, or the people can't defend themselves in some other way. Because Antifa, like other rioters, are bullies. But, people pay Antifa's bail and no one organizes a multi-news paper/media campaign to identify them and hand them over to the state, even when they burn down buildings, attack the White House while calling for the president to be dragged from the bunker and shot, etc., etc.

So, yeah. I'm fine with giving people "the medicine" they deserve, but I find it concerning when people only want to deliver medicine to the people they don't like, while letting the people they like continue with their political violence without "the medicine."

Or the bullet, like one of the Trump rioters/protesters got, whereas the years of left-wing protesters generally get non-violent, if any, resistance from authority figures.

So, I'm not sure what your point is. The right has been saying for years (or decades if you want to go back to people like Bill Ayers) that political violence should be stopped and not tolerated. We're just shocked that all of a sudden, the left is pretending to agree with us so they can give "the medicine" to the people they don't like while winking at the groups they do.

MayBee said...

This Twitter thread from Doc_0 is so so good:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Doc_0/status/1348619774088130566

Here are three that I think hit the nail on the head:


And for a generation now, our political culture has been loudly sending the signal that people who cling to the stated principles of our civilization, who play by all the rules, are chumps, suckers, and punching bags. Elites laugh merrily at their polite and ineffectual protests.

John Hayward
@Doc_0
·
1h
The Tea Party folks who held orderly rallies and meticulously cleaned up after themselves a decade ago were called domestic terrorists, treated like violent subversives, slandered as racist cavemen, and destroyed without remorse by the establishment of the party they SUPPORTED.

1h
The message has been sent, over and over again: you want to be taken seriously? Get some real power. Show some muscle. Nobody in D.C. is afraid of people who work hard all day and pay their taxes. You have no connections, no influence, no leverage. You're no threat.

Even the electoral strength of the middle class, the only real threat it ever posed to the power elite, has been diluted to near-irrelevance. Big city machines dominate state politics. The middle class has been made dependent on government, afraid to bite the hand that feeds it.

Levi Starks said...

Democratic Party presumed innocent.
Republican party presumed guilty.
Accusations against Democrats “baseless claims”
Accusations against Republicans demand further investigation, because they “night be true”
That’s the double standard that had, and will always be in place.
Strangely, I’m ok with it. Better that at least one party be held accountable, than none.

Temujin said...

From someone who was actually there. Michael Yon

Achilles said...


Blogger Howard said...
Matt, he wasn't confused. He was crying like a baby. Bullies are cowards. What ever happened to take your medicine like a man?

You are just a fascist piece of shit.

You are explicit enemy of freedom.

chuck said...

likely started by the Nazi's themselves as a false flag operation

That was a later accusation made in a book published by two communist refugees in Paris, I wouldn't trust it anymore than the Nazi version. The later history of authors is interesting, one was purged and executed for Zionism in, IIRC, Bulgaria, the other fell out with the communists and disappeared when released from a French internment camp after the French surrender. The story is that he was last seen going off into the woods with two husky men, with the implication that he was assassinated, probably by the communists.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The left killed off our roaring economy - and inserted a corrupt man who used his name and power to enrich his family with illegal funds that ultimately came from the US tax payer.

Don't get mad! It's illegal to say so.

Temujin said...

From someone who was actually there. Michael Yon

Browndog said...

Soon enough even mentioning the reason for the protest (stolen election) will get you banned from a number of things, if not all the things.

Shouting Thomas said...

@Howard,

I’m speaking to you from inside the bowels of the beast... the beast of the left.

I lived in the most radical leftist community in America... Woodstock, NY, for 45 years. I played music in the progressive churches. I worked for the non-profits. I taught in half a dozen colleges.

I know precisely what the left is doing because I watched it and listened to them plan and execute.

Now, if you were to ask me what the right is doing, I’m only speculating based on human nature. When people run out of options, they resort to violence and they look to the example of successful implementation of political violence, the specialty of the Democratic Party.

dbp said...

"Did you see the video of the deplorable crying after he was kicked off his flight for being in the Capitol Putsch"

If the "deplorable" broke into the Capitol building, he should be facing an arrest warrant, not a no-fly list. If he was merely at the protest, is that a crime now? To protest?

Krumhorn said...

Howard never fails to demonstrate at every turn that he, along with his snarky and presumed morally superior soulmates, is largely responsible for what happened in DC.

- Krumhorn

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Temujin - thanks for the Yon link. He is a man of superior integrity.

Just reading thru it now. Paused for this...

"The night before the attack, I published that my prediction of violence was 90%. I erred on the safe side. My gut was more like 99%. That violence was likely was flatly obvious. I expected to see thousands of cops and National Guard. Only a skeleton crew was half-prepared. They were not even kitted-up."


If there was chatter for a planned attack (admitted by a least one known antifa participant) - where were the police, the national guard?


Browndog said...

The nation's capital is legitimately on fire in every direction. This is unreal.

Look at the photo. Check the date.

What were the repercussions? They got their name painted on Pennsylvania Ave, and renamed that section "Black Live Matter Plaza".

So, fuck-off.

iowan2 said...

why did they bring zipties to a protest?

1/11/21, 8:29 AM


To zip tie their protest sign together. To fix broken signs. To hold their pants up. Because its their fidget toy...
And a hundred other uses.
Geeesh. Because all you have is a hammer, does not magically convert everything into a nail.

Matt Sablan said...

"When people run out of options, they resort to violence and they look to the example of successful implementation of political violence, the specialty of the Democratic Party.'

-- It's not just that they've run out of options. They're looking at what works. Antifa and other left-wing rioters burning down cities, threatening police, threatening police stations, destroying monuments, attacking the White House -- they get coverage from their political allies and they *win political points.* War, remember, is politics by other means.

And, the right-wing protesters who, until recently, were relatively non-violent (see the Tea Party and March for Life), have been watching the left make political gains through political violence. They've seen that there is political cover to be given to those who engage in political violence. So... why SHOULDN'T they engage in political violence?

It's a compelling, if dangerous, argument to see that there were, what, two attempts on Rand Paul's life, and there are STILL groups of rioters that are allowed to surround him when he is in D.C., and those people are allowed to attempt to intimidate him.

So long as people are given political victories while engaging in political violence, eventually the other side is going to say, "hey... why don't we try that?"

And that's why you should be against political violence from the word go -- not just when it is convenient. People should have been this angry about political violence YEARS ago.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More YON..

"The lack of barriers, police, and National Guard. Everyone should have been on the line in full kit that day."

Is the press focusing on this big detail?

Achilles said...

Matt Sablan said...

We're just shocked that all of a sudden, the left is pretending to agree with us so they can give "the medicine" to the people they don't like while winking at the groups they do.

Why are you shocked?

You could just say I was right about them and stop pretending they are not openly fascist.

Shouting Thomas said...

Now, some advice to the rightist/Trumpers here:

Crack touched on a crucial issue here a couple of days ago when he said that the right is killing itself by not supporting and funding its artists.

On the lefty side, that support is constant and pretty generous. It’s one of the foundation stones of the left’s paramilitary recruitment and organization... creating effective propaganda.

The right really has its head up its ass here.

Matt Sablan said...

"Is the press focusing on this big detail?"

-- Probably not, because if they do, they'd have to answer the uncomfortable question why Mayor Bowser refused sufficient help from the National Guard, and the few she would allow, she insisted had to be unarmed and not provided body armor.

Wince said...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday night that one of the motivating factors for some in the new effort to impeach President Trump and remove him from office is to eliminate any chance he has of being elected again.

Well, that should put to rest any allegations of election rigging.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More YON...

"Approaching the Capitol Building was like landing at Atlanta airport. Total clear runway. Flashing lights. Beacons. People were guiding Trump supporters in.


From my experience, I recognized some were likely APs. Agent Provocateurs.



APs hijack portions of crowds do to their bidding. Mind hacking. Instead of inserting the program via USB stick, the AP uses megaphone, symbols, and other arts and methods of persuasion.


Those who controls the megaphones can cleave off some portion of any crowd and direct it to do work. Old tactic. Anyone can learn AP tactics and run a crowd. Basic carnival work. “Step right up! You there! Come here!” Take social media, as example. The APs are the owners."

MayBee said...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday night that one of the motivating factors for some in the new effort to impeach President Trump and remove him from office is to eliminate any chance he has of being elected again.

Isn't that what he was accused of doing in his first impeachment trial?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More YON..

"There appeared to be some “false flagging” going on.


Example: someone holding a large Rebel Flag marched by. I grew up in the South, raised by plenty of Democrats. Rebel flags are as Democrat as it gets. Republicans fought against that flag. Most people do not seem to realize this.


Anyway, the term “false flag” derives from the simple act of making actions wearing your opponent’s flag. It works. Pirates and Navies sometimes raise false flags. Flying the Jolly Rodger is hardly the way to enter harbor.


The term Agent Provocateur dates back to 16th century. Old technique. I’ve seen APs all over the world. APs are easier to spot than alligators. After all, APs have to draw attention to create compliance. By their very nature, APs tend to be loud. “FOLLOW ME!” I saw numerous people either leading and shouting things like, “FOLLOW ME,” or “THERE IS PLENTY OF ROOM! MOVE FORWARD. MOVE FORWARD! TAKE BACK YOUR CAPITAL.”


Video shows people in police uniforms encouraging people forward. "




Just as I suspected. False flags,... fake Maga. -- leftists and antifa spoiling it all.

gspencer said...

AA, haven't you noticed the left media is throwing anything out there that might stick to the wall?

MayBee said...

I don't know if there were Antifa there or not, but if there was no Antifa, it would be the first rally from the right where Anifa didn't show up.

Openidname said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Known Unknown said...

"office is to eliminate any chance he has of being elected again."

Does she even know what she's doing? It would prohibit him from holding appointed office, not elected office. Unless they've changed the rules in the past whatever years.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More YON...

Up near the fighting, Hong Kong tactics were being used. I spent about seven months in Hong Kong fighting and know their tactics. Those tactics spring off the page. Notice the shields at times. ANTIFA constantly uses shields. I’ve never seen Trump supporters with shields. When the policeman was being crushed, shields are clearly visible in videos.


A lady was up front calling for people to send masks forward. Who is this lady? That is Hong Kong tactic I have never seen outside of Hong Kong other than by ANTIFA. Some ANTIFA flew to Hong Kong to help and learn tactics. Public knowledge. ANTIFA has been very public that they studied Hong Kong tactics.



This is what real journalism is about.

Bilwick said...

"Insurrection" has now joined "sedition," "racism" and "fascism" in the Newspeak lexicon for "opposition to the Hive."

Mr Wibble said...

On the lefty side, that support is constant and pretty generous. It’s one of the foundation stones of the left’s paramilitary recruitment and organization... creating effective propaganda.

The right really has its head up its ass here.


The alt-right's dominance when it comes to memes was a first attempt to push back against that.

Achilles said...

Left Bank of the Charles said...
The plan was to gather the raging collection of grievances and disillusionment and send it down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. But that was only the second part of the plan, the first part was to stir up the grievances and disillusionment into a pot ready to boil over through repeated false statements.

If they were actually false statements you would not have to resort to censorship and open corporate fascism.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More YON...

"I have been watching ANTIFA and Trump supporters up close and personal coast-to-coast. I just left Portland again. ANTIFA and Trump supporters are as different to me as are alligators and turtles."


Most people seemed to be there alone or just in tiny groups such as family or friends who could not accurately be called “cells.” Just people together. Affinity groups of some sort.


I will go into this later in another more detailed analysis. Many groups were involved. Some cells seemed to have military or similar training. People with skilled eyes will be able to review video and begin to spot cells.


Some cells appear to be Trump supporters. Some appear to be ANTIFA. Most— I do not know who they are other than they were there."



This is exactly what I suspected.

Kevin said...

why did they bring zipties to a protest?

To keep the bumper from falling off the car while they drove back home.

Seriously, you people need to get out of your bubble.

wild chicken said...

Just...don't do demonstrations. You can't control who shows up and what they do. The vanguard goes mad and starts to improvise.

JaydenX who shot all that good video was a BLM guy but he was all "fuck yeah!" like it didn't matter, let's break things.

Funny that antiwar demonstration of the boomer era is the new model.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Antifa did infiltrate. They were there.

YON..

"Many of the Trump supporters I saw — many on videos — were angry for anyone entering the Capitol Building or causing damage. You will see in many videos Trump supporters saying things like, “There is ANTIFA here dressed like us! They are making us look bad!” (The ANTIFACIST Handbook, available on Amazon, lays out this AP and false flag business.)


Browndog said...

Emma Kinery

Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino’s employer, Cumulus Media, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or face termination “immediately”

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

again...

YON..

"Many of the Trump supporters I saw — many on videos — were angry for anyone entering the Capitol Building or causing damage. You will see in many videos Trump supporters saying things like, “There is ANTIFA here dressed like us! They are making us look bad!” (The ANTIFACIST Handbook, available on Amazon, lays out this AP and false flag business.)

hombre said...

“This article is making the lockdown seem more central to the protest than the idea that Trump won the election.”

Gee, really? Discerning the reason for this is a three on a scale of 10 in terms of difficulty. The perception of the hive mind is that protesters are better presented as cretins who are insensitive to science and issues of life and death than as citizens concerned with the integrity of our election.

Everything, everything, must point away from election fraud.

stevew said...

Spontaneous and ad-hoc actions are, by definition, not a plan.

If it is true that the people of the US are majority white, ~13% black, then it makes sense that the majority of the folks at these events are white. And a non-random sample of 100 people is insufficient to draw broad conclusions about the tens of thousands of people that were at the event.

References to Trump's speech as reckless and dangerous are political propaganda; I've read his speech and there is nothing reckless or dangerous in what he said.

Joe Smith said...

BLM and Antifa = Peaceful protestors...only a few bad apples, and those are surely Trump supporters infiltrating and causing violence.

Any conservative protestors = A mob.

Good to know.

Joe Smith said...

"If the plans were to fake MAGA, and destroy stuff - that was probably antifa. If proven true, We will never hear about that from the press."

I'd put big money on Antifa types showing up wearing MAGA hats and trying to do a lot of damage on inauguration day.

If they don't then they're poor strategists.

effinayright said...

Ajnal said...
why did they bring zipties to a protest?
*****************

How many "theys" are you talking about?

Have you seem pics of the zipties or the "theys"?

Matt Sablan said...

I imagine any protesters/rioters/insurrectionists at the Biden inauguration will be dealt with quite differently from the Trump inauguration protesters/rioters/insurrectionists.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Democrats absolutely love fascism and we should do all we can to give it to them good and hard.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Everyone - please read Michael Yon's article linked by Temujin @9:38


He has been traveling around the nation and watching the Antifa riots. He understands what they are doing.

Leland said...

Spontaneous and ad-hoc actions are, by definition, not a plan.

Indeed. That sentence suggests the writer is ignorant as to what the word "plan", "spontaneous", "ad-hoc", and "inconceivable" mean. Certainly, I see lots of doubt in regards to an organized and intentional insurrection, which means there was no insurrection.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'd put big money on Antifa types showing up wearing MAGA hats and trying to do a lot of damage on inauguration day.

I do too.

Matt Sablan said...

I don't think Antifa will try anything in DC, especially now that there's talk of letting the National Guard and other security use live rounds instead of non-lethals. Antifa has other cities they can go to where they won't risk dealing with live fire.

Mikey NTH said...

Matt Sablan said...
I don't think Antifa will try anything in DC, especially now that there's talk of letting the National Guard and other security use live rounds instead of non-lethals. Antifa has other cities they can go to where they won't risk dealing with live fire.

1/11/21, 10:16 AM


There you go, applying common sense and reason to a grouping of individual humans...

Leland said...

It's interesting to see how many people have no issue with a few tech companies acting like a cartel to prevent market place competition. Imagine if other industries behaved this way; "You can't sell food unless you adopt our preferences on acceptable agricultural methods."

Michael K said...

I'd put big money on Antifa types showing up wearing MAGA hats and trying to do a lot of damage on inauguration day.

I agree. There are a number of eyewitness accounts of the rally describing Antifa types. Here is Michael Yon's account.

On 01 July 2019, I was in Hong Kong when the Legislative Council was stormed and I went inside. Many times I compared this to storming the U.S. Capitol Building. I wrongly said many times that nobody would be allowed to make this happen in the United States.



Boy was that wrong.



The lack of barriers, police, and National Guard. Everyone should have been on the line in full kit that day.



Approaching the Capitol Building was like landing at Atlanta airport. Total clear runway. Flashing lights. Beacons. People were guiding Trump supporters in.



From my experience, I recognized some were likely APs. Agent Provocateurs.



APs hijack portions of crowds do to their bidding. Mind hacking. Instead of inserting the program via USB stick, the AP uses megaphone, symbols, and other arts and methods of persuasion.



Those who controls the megaphones can cleave off some portion of any crowd and direct it to do work. Old tactic. Anyone can learn AP tactics and run a crowd. Basic carnival work. “Step right up! You there! Come here!” Take social media, as example. The APs are the owners.


I case the paywall blocks the whole thing.

He also commented on seeing 150 people in line for the few Porta Potties, a gift from the DC Mayor, I'm sure. Other eyewitnesses described the same thing.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The left's offical fascist mob did us in.

Quayle said...

Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now

Nonapod said...

I used to derive a fair amount of satisfaction ruminating on politics, what happened in the past, and speculating about what may happen in the future. But these days though, I only seem to depress myself when I think about the future. Every time I try to imagine what might happen based on where we are today I usually end up envisioning a very bleak future, at least in the near term. I can't imagine how things are going to possibly get better under our regime of repressive billionaire tech oligarchs, Beijing bullies, and corrupt DC grifters.

When I think about the near future I'm only able to imagine things like a huge devaluation of our currency leading to economic catastrophe, increasingly severe suppression of all Conservative speech, a gradual erosion of many civil liberties in the name of some notion of fairness, more riots, and (perhaps worst of all) that most of these events will most likely be met with apathy from the general public as any voices of dissent will be dismissed or suppressed by our media and tech overlords (not to mention that most people will be far more interested in whatever hot new show is streaming on Netflix/Disney+/Apple TV/Amazon Prime) .

I can only say that I hope I'm wrong. And of course, congratulations Universe, you win. You turned an optimist into a pessimist

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Leland - The left needed total domination to rid the nation of Trump and install their corrupt leaders. Antifa did the dirty work.
We are bothered by it. What can be done?
Billionaire Tech oligarchs do their masters bidding.

iowan2 said...

Of topic, this one has done anyway.

Can congress impeach any private citizen. Democrats are advocating holding this over for 100 days to allow Harris time to implement their agenda. That would mean the House will vote to impeach, but not deliver the Bill to the Senate.

On the wildly improbable notion the Senate would convict, does that prevent him from running for office? I think the constitution uses the term Officers. SCOTUS opinions have defined officers as appointed officers, ie, cabinet level positions. It is so frustrating the media reports stuff like this and intentionally pass along information they know to be wrong.

It is an accumulation of crap like this that is responsible of the the breach at the capital, Not President Trump.

Francisco D said...

MayBee said...I agree that Trump 2020 became too much about Trump adulation. Which is fine for people, but I think it went to Trump's head. They needed to focus on other things other than Trump as a man.

A few points of disagreement:

!. Trump is no more or less of an egomaniac than the leading politicians. His self-adulation is based on being very successful in business and TV. Theirs is based on being successful political manipulators. Trump was always going to be outclassed in that regard.

2. The adulation for Trump was more of an appreciation for his willingness to say things that other politicians are afraid to say, particularly when it comes prominent Democrats and the media, but I repeat myself. The fact that he was a successful POTUS despite the multiple coup attempts is the cherry atop the sundae.

3. The focus on Trump as a man was a natural result of the Democrat media focus on Trump as a man. That it was taken up by people who thought he was a good POTUS was secondary.

The duopoly needs to focus on Trump and destroy him. He threatens their rice bowls. Trump was the deeply flawed vessel by which people frustrated by the self-serving lies, manipulations and overreach of the political class expressed their desire to clean things up.

Ann Althouse said...

"why did they bring zipties to a protest?"

Answer.

Roughcoat said...

Listen, and understand. The Progressives are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until we're dead.

Mark said...

Parler got hacked over the weekend and the hackers retrieved deleted posts (Parler did not actually delete them).

It might take a while as they plan a wikileaks type dump of the material, but this could get interesting.

MayBee said...

Francisco D - I agree in many many ways, but I think the Trump team lost out on strategy. I obviously don't know everything they did, but I hope they were working with Republican legislatures across the country to get the vote tightened up. I don't think they did that. Voting was a mess, and the combination of Democrats and the Media way overwhelmed the Trump team.
Remember when celebrities were actually going around taking pictures of mailboxes that were out of operation?
It was insane, an insane conspiracy that Nancy Pelosi even held a hearing about.

But the Trump team should have been looking into how to stop fraud then and I think they were relying too much on telling people not to vote by mail. Then afterward, the fraud became all about him. He could have appointed a commission to investigate voting practices across the country. I don't know. I'm unhappy with him since the election, and now really mad about how he's treated Pence.

Matt Sablan said...

"It might take a while as they plan a wikileaks type dump of the material, but this could get interesting."

-- Too bad "hacked" material isn't allowed to be reported on Twitter, Facebook or most other social media or traditional news media, as we learned after the Hunter Biden laptop information. So, shame this will never get reported.

iowan2 said...

Billionaire Tech oligarchs do their masters bidding.

In my opinion, you have the power structure between the two backwards

The three that shutdown Parler, have to power to make every politician march to their orders.

Annnddd we are back at why President Trump had to go. He was uncontrollable. Possibly the only person in America that could not be cowed into submission. That was the super power they feared. Democrats blinded by their desire to accumulate power, sold their soul to big tech, to eliminate the President, never believing they themselves would soon be the main course of big techs insatiable appetite.

Nonapod said...

I imagine Parler will be fully shut down soon. They'll be blacklisted and won't be able to find a provider. The Tech oligarchs have deemed it too extremist and disruptive.

mikee said...

Why punish yourself struggling to decode and interpret and translate WaPo into English? Just remember, "ORANGE MAN BAD!"

YOUR THINKING IS DONE FOR YOU.

Yancey Ward said...

Next time, it burns to the ground. If people are going to write hyperbole about an event, then reality will have to catch up.

MayBee said...

Ann Althouse said...
"why did they bring zipties to a protest?"

Answer.


Ha!!

Why do people think this is such a gotcha anyway? You think of one reason that the guy brought zipties, and think your one reason is proof of what he had in mind.
But there are lots of reasons for zip ties. They are really handy. I have zip ties all over my house and I've never once used them to tie someone up.

He could have wanted to hang up a sign or a flag, to keep a door open, to keep a door closed, he could have taken them away from Capitol Hill police, he could have wanted to zip tie himself to a railing or a fence, to zip tie himself to other protesters like Occupy used to do, to make it hard to remove protesters. He could have wanted to zip tie Antifa people.

So many reasons, both benign and bad, before you get to zip tying congress people for execution.

DarigoldVanilla said...

When they came for the MAGAt rioters, I didn’t say anything because they are vile and motivated by murderous rage.

Yancey Ward said...

And, of course, WaPo is collecting names and diligently sending them to the authorities.

The time is coming for killing journolists and editors- mark my words well here- when you play this game of doxxing, there will be a price.

stlcdr said...

Temujin said...
From someone who was actually there. Michael Yon

1/11/21, 9:38 AM

Thanks for this.

Michael Yon, a war correspondent, does know his stuff, and is as unbiased as I have ever seen a reporter, especially in such 'heated' situations.

Browndog said...

"why did they bring zipties to a protest?"

Who, exactly, is "they"?

Browndog said...

Nonapod said...

I imagine Parler will be fully shut down soon. They'll be blacklisted and won't be able to find a provider. The Tech oligarchs have deemed it too extremist and disruptive.


Parler was shut down last night. Didn't you hear?

stlcdr said...

Matt Sablan said...
"It might take a while as they plan a wikileaks type dump of the material, but this could get interesting."

-- Too bad "hacked" material isn't allowed to be reported on Twitter, Facebook or most other social media or traditional news media, as we learned after the Hunter Biden laptop information. So, shame this will never get reported.

1/11/21, 10:35 AM

Well played, Matt, well played.

Achilles said...

My travel pack has an inverter, knives, a lensatic compass, and extension cord, 5 types of batteries, baby wipes, many useful things and...

zip ties.

Yeah I must be planning something nefarious.

Or I was in the army and I like to carry things that are useful.

These people must justify their fascism. They are evil and they know what they are doing is evil.

rehajm said...

In my opinion, you have the power structure between the two backwards The three that shutdown Parler, have to power to make every politician march to their orders.

That's a bingo. We're not being ruled by Democrats but by a lifelike cutout from a civil war photo and the pasty kid that still carries a D20

Achilles said...

Don’t forget the strap cutter.

Those are definitely nefarious. Being able to cut someone out of a seat belt. Nefarious.

rcocean said...

First,200,000 protesters. 200 broke into the Capital Building. 1 out of a Thousand.
I repeat: 1 out of 1,000.

Second, More details on the five deaths:

1 Ashli, the AF veteran murdered by a Capital Hill Policeman
1 Policeman hit on the head by a fire extiguisher, details unknown.
2 Middle aged men NOT IN THE CAPTIAL BUILDING died of unrelated strokes/heart attacks. These two men shouldn't even be included since there deaths had ZERO to do with any "riot".
1 34 y/o woman died INSIDE the Capital Building. She was NOT trampled to death as previously reported, and her sister stated she was a "lookie lou" who wanted to see what was going on.

when the MSM says Trump killed 5 people they are LYING!

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Matt Sablan said...

Antifa has other cities they can go to where they won't risk dealing with live fire.

That may be changing. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler reportedly punched by social justice activist Also, not widely reported in the MSM, but last week Wheeler requested Federal help in dealing with the on-going riots in Portland.

Bob Boyd said...

@ Maybee

In one picture I saw, a guy had flexi-cuffs, not zip ties. Flexi-cuffs are tightened kind of like zip ties, but they're not the same thing. Flexi-cuffs are designed to restrain people.

Having said that, I think you're right that too much is being made of it. Even if that guy had pictured himself capturing a Congressman or whatever, it was one guy out of thousands. It doesn't indicate an organized coup was underway. If they were going to take over, where were the guns?
And who knows where he got them? Maybe he found them somewhere in the capital or swiped them from police officer who had them tucked in his belt.
I guess we'll have to wait until somebody asks the guy why he had flexi-cuffs.

wild chicken said...

Trump supporters did much better with drive-bys and boat parades.

They should stick with that.

Michael K said...

But the Trump team should have been looking into how to stop fraud then and I think they were relying too much on telling people not to vote by mail. Then afterward, the fraud became all about him.

This, like so many other failures attributed to Trump, was the result of him having no loyal staff. Yes, they should have been anticipating the fraud but some of the fraudsters were GOP officials like Kemp and the SOS of GA. The uniparty united to stop Trump. My God ! He could even have stoped their graft ! Kemp, for example, sold the Senate seat to Loeffler's husband. Blago must be envious. He got 15 years for even talking about it.

rcocean said...

The media and the Democrats - just like Charlottesville - are screeching at the top of the voices about RIOTS, TRAITORS, INSURRECTION, DEATHS and VIOLENCE.

It'd be nice if people would acknowledge the FACTS and repeat the FACTS instead of accepting the Left's premise and assumption that this was some horrible, incredible act to TERRORISM.

It wasn't. And people want feelings and stories and NOT FACTS, go watch the video of the "Rioters" tearing down a barrier to the Capital building. its a flimsy fence, and about 12 young guys just push it over. And when it topples over a female police gets knocked down by the fence and 2 or 3 or more RIOTERS rush over, see if she's OK, and help her up! What ANIMALS! WHAT TERRORISTS!

Mr Wibble said...

This, like so many other failures attributed to Trump, was the result of him having no loyal staff. Yes, they should have been anticipating the fraud but some of the fraudsters were GOP officials like Kemp and the SOS of GA. The uniparty united to stop Trump. My God ! He could even have stoped their graft ! Kemp, for example, sold the Senate seat to Loeffler's husband. Blago must be envious. He got 15 years for even talking about it.

This. The whole point of a party is to provide the kind of personnel and experience to actually fight these battles. The GOP instead chose to stab Trump in the back. They're going to pay a steep price for that decision.

Nonapod said...

Parler was shut down last night. Didn't you hear?

No. But in fariness I've been paying less and less attention to daily events due to my afformentioned disillusionment. I suppose there's some effort to get it back up? But I doubt it will be successful, or at least successful for very long.

Lucien said...

Joe Scarborough states as a matter of fact that the goal was to kill Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Pence.

DarigoldVanilla said...



1 Ashli, the AF veteran murdered by a Capital Hill Policeman

That’s a boldface lie, You incredibly obedient tool.
Thug was killed as she was breaching the inner chamber of the citidel of our democracy.
She would be alive had she not believed the lies she was fed and acted on them.

Browndog said...

The GOP instead chose to stab Trump in the back. They're going to pay a steep price for that decision.

Trump himself kept never-Trumpers in the West Wing while Trump loyalists were blacklisted.

Stop giving him a pass.

rcocean said...

Again, this whole thing is Charlottesville Part II. The left and Joe Biden who supports antifa and NEVER denounced the riots that killed over 60 people, are now blaming Trump for this acto of "terrorism". And again, as at Charlottesville, all of Conservative Inc. and the gutless DC Republicans fall over themselves, in screeching and tearing their hair out.

Some of these so-called Conservatives were yelling "Kill em all and let God sort em out" during and after the Capital Hill occupation. No wonder we always lose!

Does any remember that Susan Rosenberg planted a bomb in the Senate designed to assassinate Republican Senators in 1983? OR that she was pardoned by Clinton? Does anyone Remember The left wing Democrat who tried to murder 9 Republican congressman in 2017? where was the talk about "DOmestic Terrorism" then?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

There is only so much a party can do when it's up against a corrupt apparatus like the modern left. Antifa and the tech oligarchs removed our freedoms.

rcocean said...

"Joe Scarborough states as a matter of fact that the goal was to kill Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Pence"

Joe Scarborogh has lied about so many things its hard to keep track.

rhhardin said...

The whole thing is to get you to forget about the election fraud question. Talking past the sale.

rcocean said...

I see a left-wing troll - who just joined Blogger in Jan 2021 - has joined us. Go fuck yourself, Mr. sock puppett.

Skippy Tisdale said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Smith said...

"I imagine Parler will be fully shut down soon."

If you find my post from 2 nights ago, I talk about how the RNC needs to own their own servers and build there own communications apps.

Social media right now is full-on DNC.

RNC must own the means of communications.

It's come to that.

YoungHegelian said...

@Darigold,

Thug was killed as she was breaching the inner chamber of the citidel of our democracy.

Oh, Good Lord, you putz!

She was shot as she perched herself up in a door where the window had been broken out. You nor I nor the guy who shot her had no idea what she intended to do from there. This is all in the video which has been posted in the forum multiple times.

citidel of our democracy.

Who decided the Capitol is the "citadel of our democracy". I always thought that the conscience of every citizen was the citadel of our democracy.

rcocean said...

"The whole thing is to get you to forget about the election fraud question. Talking past the sale."

Mission accomplished, although the media were going to suppress that news in any case. Coons - mr. moderate - jabbered about expelling Cruz and Hawley because they voted against the vote fraud. Pelosi's Democrats censored the couple of House R's who did the same thing.

Of course, the gutless R leaders are AWOL. Mitch doesn't care unless the Big Donors give him some $$$.

Skippy Tisdale said...

Every aspect of this is media theater. We are all now citizens of the United States of Media Theater.

rcocean said...

"The whole thing is to get you to forget about the election fraud question. Talking past the sale."

Mission accomplished, although the media were going to suppress that news in any case. Coons - mr. moderate - jabbered about expelling Cruz and Hawley because they voted against the vote fraud. Pelosi's Democrats censored the couple of House R's who did the same thing.

Of course, the gutless R leaders are AWOL. Mitch doesn't care unless the Big Donors give him some $$$.

Leland said...

I suppose there's some effort to get it back up?

Maybe, but it doesn't seem like a possibility at the moment as multiple contractors have now refused to offer services to the company. I think an anti-trust lawsuit will be the only means for investors to recoup some of their money. If ever in my lifetime there was an example of monopolistic behavior, this is it. When a few companies demand you operate with their corporate principles or else, and then collude together to remove your ability to be a business; it fits my definition of a cartel. I'm trying to figure out why people are not more disturbed by this behavior than they are with people walking through open doors.

rhhardin said...

The courts declined jurisdiction over the election, saying that the problem belongs to congress, and the congress decided Trump is a prick and didn't decide it either.

The fox was outfoxed.

Skeptical Voter said...

Ah "White"--glad to know that the WaPoo and NYT stylebook has finally put me on a par with the Black folks. Sort of like getting your first pair of big boy pants.

And while Leland--the initial commenter--can recall someone saying that it was "the White vote that put Biden over the top", Nancy Pelosi is saying that Whiteness was behind the "riot". But then the old girl will babble on and spout nonsense. It's what she does, and that's not going to change.

I dunno--the progressives are becoming as obsessed with "race" as dear old Senator Bilbo (if I recall the Mississippi senator's name correctly) or any of the many Grand Kleagles of the Klan.

rcocean said...

Quit feeding the troll, you idiot! you're such a gullible rube.

Francisco D said...

MayBee said...Francisco D - I agree in many many ways, but I think the Trump team lost out on strategy.

I agree completely. They were totally outclassed at the political game.

Hopefully those of us who think America would be better off without the thieving duopoly will learn from these experiences.

rcocean said...

Adios. I have better things to do.

DarigoldVanilla said...

I see a Trumpian zombie with no argument and no leg to stand on in defensive his big lie.

Amadeus 48 said...

Just a few observations:

1. A Stop the Steal rally is highly suggestive of action.
2. Team Trump would have saved themselves a lot of grief if they had gone nowhere near the Capitol on Wednesday.
3. While others may disagree, a low point in Trump's entire political career was attacking Mike Pence (a sober, thoughtful, loyal, stable figure in the Trump administration) as a coward for carrying out his ministerial duties under the US Constitution. That was really, really bad.

Joe Smith said...

"Trump himself kept never-Trumpers in the West Wing while Trump loyalists were blacklisted."

I will give you this one...he made terrible hiring choices and was reticent to fire (ironically) those who turned out to be squishy.

That is the downside to being an outsider in the political game. He didn't have a built-in ecosystem of loyalists as a 'normal' politician would.

He had no wingmen.

And he trusted the word of people he thought he could trust, who gave him bad advice.

Nonapod said...

Ultimately Trump was a bizaare fluke, an aberation. For a brief moment certain things that seemed impossible suddenly seemed possible.

But our system has its own inertia that no one man has much of a hope of stopping or reversing for any great length of time. Because of Trump's odd, unorthodox, and mercurial nature it took the system a bit longer to crush him. But now that he's being removed, the next goal will be to punish him and all those who dared support him. A message needs to be sent. This must never happen again. And of course mechanisms will be set up to ensure that no true political outsider will ever achieve the presidency again.

tommyesq said...

All of this talk about "breaching the Capital building" or it being a crime to have entered the building - it is open to the public Mon.-Sat. from 8:30-4:30 - i.e. when these people entered.

Howard said...

Shorter Joe Smith: Trump was in over his head.

I agree!

Joe Smith said...

"But our system has its own inertia that no one man has much of a hope of stopping or reversing for any great length of time."

There's a reason it's call the swamp...nobody gets out alive.

Skippy Tisdale said...

I'm not certain of the source but...


WASHINGTON, District of Corruption—Ignorant Republicans rioted yesterday but didn't even snag any free big-screen TVs out of the deal, sources at the Capitol Building reported.

The short-sighted protesters stormed the Capitol without stealing a bunch of stuff, prompting many to question whether they really understand the purpose of a peaceful protest at all.

"Look at these morons, rioting at the Capitol when there's a perfectly good Target just down the street," said one CNN reporter. "If they'd looted a bunch of local businesses in the name of social justice or whatever, we'd be covering this protest a heck of a lot differently, I'll tell you that."

The rioters were condemned by people on both sides of the aisle, with critics slamming them for disrupting congressional proceedings, breaking through police barricades, and not even stealing a single Lego set, cheesecake, or Nike shoe in the name of justice. No footage emerged of the Capitol occupiers lighting cop cars on fire or throwing bricks through restaurant windows, causing the protesters to lose support from people of all political persuasions.

"One thing is clear," said one political analyst. "These people obviously don't know the sweet, sweet justice of lugging a 60-inch TV back to your apartment to show how much you care about your cause."

YoungHegelian said...

@Amadeus 48,

While others may disagree, a low point in Trump's entire political career was attacking Mike Pence (a sober, thoughtful, loyal, stable figure in the Trump administration) as a coward for carrying out his ministerial duties under the US Constitution. That was really, really bad.

I'm not sure I agree with you on that. There seems to have been some genuine surprise among the Trumpians at Pence's behavior on Wednesday. Some have even suggested that Pence's "turnabout" was the trigger for the riot. I don't know.

If Pence had no intention of going through with the Senate protest of the electors, did he make this clear to all involved before? Seemingly, and once again, we don't yet know the answer to this, the answer is no. If Pence was playing coy on this, that was a yuuuuge moral failure on his part.

Joe Smith said...

"I agree!

I wouldn't describe it that way.

The presidency is a huge job and he had huge distractions.

I think it's sad that to be successful as president, a person must have thousands of bootlickers already in place in every crevice of government and tech and media.

Right now, only democrat functionaries are ready and willing to suck the cocks of their masters on-demand.

That kind of obsequiousness is found only in those whose natural home is the DC swamp.

DarigoldVanilla said...

Krugman sums the new GOP cult:

The basic story of the GOP is that it was taken over by plutocrats, who invited racists and conspiracy theorists into the tent because they thought it would help them cut taxes. Then they woke up one day and realized that the crazies were in charge.

Howard said...

Trump just needed more bootlickers.

Okay, then

Leland said...

Coons - mr. moderate - jabbered about expelling Cruz and Hawley because they voted against the vote fraud. Pelosi's Democrats censored the couple of House R's who did the same thing.

I decided to look this up, because it seems absurd. Yet it is true. Democrats now claim the simply asking for an audit of the election results to build trust in the system is inciting violence and should be punishable with removal from office.

We are asked how we can defend "they, who carry zipties". What we should be doing is demanding the left defend attempts to remove dutifully elected representatives from office for daring to request the government be audited.

For clarity, here is a CNN recap of what happened in on 6 Jan 2017:
"Donald Trump was formally certified as the winner of the presidential election Friday, after handful of congressman tried to object during the tally of Electoral College votes, a desperate gambit quickly squashed by Vice President Joe Biden."...
"At least three protestors were swiftly removed by security when shouting during the certification. US Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki told CNN they arrested two males and one female and says they are being processed at U.S. Capitol Police Headquarters."

You'll see then VP Biden behaving as did now VP Pence, yet the supposedly unhinged and dangerous President-elect Trump never referred to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee as a Joseph Goebbels. I can't say Republicans never asked for Sheila Jackson Lee to be removed from office, but I feel safe in saying they didn't suggest it because of her support of Capitol Hill protesters in January 2017.

Deb said...

The saddest thing I've ever seen was a a photo of a woman standing outside, looking at her dying mother through a hospital window. Had I watched my aged mother die through her hospital/nursing home/hospice window, unable to speak to her, hold her hand, touch her, I might have been slightly angry.

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