It Takes A Village
Photo credit of above detail, Jan 6 at the Capitol to CNN. Posted with thanks.
He lost the election. He knew he lost the election, and that culminated in unleashing an armed mob to the Capitol to prevent the count from occurring, that’s the truth . - Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) and is a committee member of the Select Committee to Investigate January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
When it is said that Donald J. Trump is responsible fo the attack on the Capitol it may bring different responses from different people. The more one knows about the days events, the more one understands the danger and threat to the Capitol, all people within it as well as knowing the point of the attack, to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Trump flexed every muscle at his disposal in an attempt to do that, and failed. The failure was only by slim degrees, again, the more you read and know, the slimmer that margin seems.
So, one man with the megaphone for the day simply gathered a political demonstration and directed them to the Capitol? Yes. The preparation for this event however took months of planning. Years, actually, but let’s look at the short game first.
Tom Fitton, a lawyer of a particular type (frivolous), also head of the conservative group called Judicial Watch, helped twice impeached, one term, former president by leaning in his direction, hard and often promoting the lie with unfounded speculation about changed ballots and rigged machines. Voting for the 2020 election hadn’t yet begun as Fitton emailed a draft of an election day speech to TFG. The speech was to claim victory as the republican rich moment of counting mail in ballots showed Trump as the winner. The idea was to stop the count at midnight and claim the rest as stealing. Imagine that. Anyone who has been interested in a presidential election knows that’s just silly. But the email was written and received and the idea was tried although failed. Failure is not a release from culpability legally but anyway, Fitton wasn’t the only helper.
It’s clear the stop the steal idea had found a home in the heads of MAGA but how did that happen? Here’s a Fox news site featuring Stone in prep for the Fall election. Roger Stone in July of 2020 There was more than one voice in Orange Mango’s ear saying "we got this, here’s how it can be done”.
Coup d’état. It is French and means an illegal seizure of power or removal of government by force, usually by a political faction, sometimes a dictator. A hair raising idea for us in the United States but an all too frequent event. Wikipedia says over 400 coups from 1950 through 2010 although, these mostly occur in the Americas and Africa. Not for us until now.
To hold or take power in a coup, one needs military might. As sitting president, every POTUS is commander and chief of the US military. Arguably the biggest and mightiest military machine in the world. So, how do you take the country when you already command the army? Have them stand down. Which was taken care of with Trumps orders at the pentagon as well as the orders to Capitol police. They were told, ordered, not use aggressive tactics. Although the secret service was told of possible violence, and it’s now reported the FBI tip lines were also dismissed. All planned important details and not unfortunate gaffs. A coup must be planed with cunning and executed with “nerves” of brass. Also a small ruthless army. Enter the second amendment and it’s 30 year or more right wing support, (more specifics about the NRA and the county and the coup in future stories of how we got here) for the small ruthless army.
Loosning laws around gun ownership allow for the development of The Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and more. Predominately (all) male, white, far right also called alt-right, they are political violence groups. They specifically, have been around since 2016. Interesting timing there. The groups generally have been labeled legally and considered terrorists (Proud Boys specifically) by Canada and New Zealand.
How were they recruited? How were they focused and made to feel allegiance to the 45th president? They are outlaws. How did it become their thing to support, defend and be on trial for and likely go to jail for a lie? They were inspired. They were lied to. Repeatedly and convincingly. How is where Flynn comes in with psychological operations - psyops. It’s a dark place and we will go there more deeply, to understand, not now though.
The previous One Small Voice offering spoke of Mike Flynn. If you watched the 10-13-22 hearing, Flynn’s name was mentioned but far less than I would have thought. If you like Steve Colbert and his revelatory political monologues, you may have also heard Colbert talk, on 10-13-22 of Flynn, Stone and Bannon. These three guys were able to produce and deliver important pieces of the coup to the beneficiary. Trump would then call for action, which he did in his Ellipse speech. The assembled crowd that was part angry mob and part waiting armed, deadly civilian army, actively looking for members of the house.
Steve Colbert has a particularly terrific monologue usually devoted to politics, where his comedic talents shine. If you haven't seen it, Colbert's take on the hearing.
When your house is on fire, you must have priorities to put it out. It’s my personal belief that the Department of Justice will be putting out the fires and cleaning up behind themselves. There will be more in the news and here about Flynn, Stone and Bannon. The Select Committee’s specific agenda is not to make recommendations to the DOJ but primarily to make changes to laws that would protect the Capitol in the future from any such attacks.
So much is on the election ballot. The balance of the political make up of lawmakers at the federal level is on the ballot first and foremost. Nothing is more important this year than voting to keep the United States a representative democracy. Vote. November 8, 2022. It’s a Tuesday.