Many people remain stunned at the events of Wednesday, January 6, when thousands of MAGA Maniacs, fresh from a rally on The Mall where their president and Exalted Leader whipped them into a near-frenzy, first descended on the Capitol building, then climbed the walls, then forced their way in during a Congressional hearing, then engaged in looting, pursuit of congressmembers and open warfare against building security and Capitol police. Early speculation that the massive crowd was made up simply of “disaffected regular Americans” who simply feared that they would once again become the country’s “forgotten people” under a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration have been effectively debunked with the reports that the mob included several dozen known White supremacists and suspected domestic terrorists (The Terrorism and Extremist Violence in the United States (TEVUS) Database | START.umd.edu; Domestic terrorism database of the Trump years shows how the radical right has gone on a rampage (dailykos.com); The Capitol Hill Building Rioters Included White Supremacists and Conspiracy Theorists – The New York Times (nytimes.com)).
We’re compiling some commentaries from a variety of Maryland-area Pan-Afrikan and leftist organizations, as well as links to a number of news pieces that were released in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol Siege. We’re also sharing a couple of commentaries by Atlanta-based organization Justice Initiative about the January 6 riot and some historical perspective. I’ll start with a few observations of my own in this article, and then go on to the weightier analysis of others in a companion piece that should be released in a couple of days.
White Folks Gone Wild
It didn’t take a defenseless citizen being choked to death by a police officer, or being shot while asleep in their bed, or some other act of violence committed against a MAGA Minion. All it took was an unhinged president to address his adoring crowds, who he had taken the last four years to whip into a frenzy with “fake news”, “build the wall”, “enemy of the people”, “COVID hoax” and “impeachment hoax” conspiracy theories and lies, and insist to them that their rights were being violated by “socialist radical left-wingers” who sought to “take away the voice of the people”. After Don Jr. exhorted the crowd to “fight for Trump!!”, representative Mo Brooks said “we’ll be takin’ names and kickin’ ass” and Rudolph Giuliani called for “trial by combat”, Trump reiterated the imperative that the people “fight … you’ve got to show strength, and you’ve got to be strong,” and then announced a massive march to the Capitol to “cheer on” their champions who would (unconstitutionally) overturn the November election results. Armed with flags that read “Trump 2020, Making America Great”, “Don’t Tread On Me”, “Trump 2020, No More Bullshit” and “Come And Take It” under an AR-15 assault rifle with the Stars and Bars as a backdrop, the crowd descended on the Capitol. Some of those flagpoles would be used to assault Capitol police officers who tried to prevent the massive crowd from overrunning the building. Of course, flags were not the only props people brought with them. Two pipe bombs were later found on the premises, and some people were clearly armed.
Meanwhile, Trump, the man who incited this madness, was safely ensconced in his (very temporary) home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, watching the spectacle unfold on television, reportedly celebrating the course of events. As the violence increased, he would release a video statement calling for peace and even criticizing the violence, even as he told his followers “we love you”. He would never accept responsibility for riling up the crowd with his remarks that day or his continued efforts to invalidate the November 2020 election. But soon, his ability to say anything would be abruptly, and for him cruelly, constrained.
The Voice of Unreason Loses Its Bullhorn
Poor Donald Trump. As MSNBC show host Joy Reed said, Twitter “stripped him of The Precious.” His @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account was deleted, and later so were the other accounts he attempted to use to access his MAGA Marauders on the Web. Supporters of course screamed bloody murder, citing the First Amendment and insisting that his sacred Constitutional rights to free speech were being violated. No matter that his frequent anti-masking tweets (“Liberate Michigan!”), public statements which led to armed militias threatening the lives of lawmakers like Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the bombastic comments from him, his son Don Jr. and Rudolph Giuliani amounted to incitements to riot and thus were equivalent to yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater, which is still illegal despite the First Amendment.
Add to that the fact that his rallies, culminating in his January 6 pre-riot frenzy at the White House, inspired his zealots to parade to and later inside the Capitol carrying Confederate flags (the flag of those who had declared war against the United States–who else gets away with that?), wearing hoodies emblazoned with genocidal anti-Semitic slogans like “Camp Auschwitz” and “6MWE” (“6 Million Weren’t Enough”) and toting zip ties on an apparent “Congress hunt” that has led to six deaths, threats of further armed assaults on the Capitol and signs at the rally threatening to “bring DC to its knees”, and you have what must be interpreted as a clear and present danger to the public, not just to the government.
So, I Guess Blue Lives Really Don’t Matter?
Aside from the provocateurs who occasionally disrupted the anti-police-brutality protests that roiled the streets of America’s major cities in the summer of 2020, the much-maligned Black Lives Matter protests that stoked so much fear among the White Right consistently emphasized that what they were protesting was unwarranted police violence. The marches for Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and other victims consistently stressed the need for police to root out the violent officers in their midst and to implement procedures based less on fear and more on human concern. Even the calls to “defund the police” did not gain momentum until 2020, when it became apparent with the cases of George Floyd, Laquan McDonald, Breonna Taylor and others that police departments were refusing to moderate the violence they used against unarmed Black civilians, and that prosecutors would decline to press charges against the most egregious offenders, even when those prosecutors were Black, as in the Breonna Taylor case. And yet, defenders of the wanton violence carried out on January 6 have taken to using the “violence” of the Black Lives Matter protests to defend the sacking of the Capitol by their right-wing zealots, and the six deaths that resulted and included a Capitol police officer who was beaten with a fire extinguisher by MAGA Maniacs and later died from his injuries.
It seems tragically ironic that police spend so much energy “fearing for their lives” from unarmed or complying Black motorists, or pedestrians selling loose cigarettes, or teenagers walking down the middle of the street, or 12-year-old boys playing in the park, or middle aged men gasping for breath, or women asleep in their beds, but they wind up being killed by some of the “very fine people” wielding fire extinguishers as they wave Trump flags, chant “Blue Lives Matter” and storm the Capitol building.
Coming Back For Seconds
January 13 saw the US House of Representatives debate the Article of Impeachment against Trump. The end result was that Trump made history by being the only president to ever be impeached twice.
H. RES. ll
Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for highcrimes and misdemeanors.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
RESOLUTION
Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the UnitedStates, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Resolved,
That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following article of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:
Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.
ARTICLE I: INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION
The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives ‘‘shall have the sole Power of Impeachment’’ and that the President ‘‘shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors’’. In his conduct of the office of President of the United States—and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States, in that:
On January 6, 2021, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. Shortly before the Joint Session commenced, President Trump addressed a crowd of his political supporters nearby. There, he reiterated false claims that ‘‘we won this election, and we won it by a landslide’’.
He also willfully made statements that encouraged—and foreseeably resulted in—imminent lawless action at the Capitol. Incited by President Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol, injured law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress and the Vice President, interfered with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.
President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021 was consistent with his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election. Those prior efforts include, but are not limited to, a phone call on January 2, 2021, in which President Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to ‘‘find’’ enough votes to overturn the Georgia presidential election results and threatened Mr. Raffensperger if he failed to do so.
In all of this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coordinate branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
The debate around this impeachment mirrored the debate that was carried on last year for his first impeachment. Democrats hammered away at the concrete and documented deeds of Trump that, in their view, corruptly sought to force his re-election (in 2020, pressure on foreign heads of state to launch investigations into Joe Biden; in 2021, Trump’s repeated efforts to overturn the November 2020 election results, including pressuring vice president Mike Pence to unilaterally overturn the election result and culminating in the incitement of a group of his supporters on The Mall to march to the Capitol and lay siege). Republicans constantly stressed what they insisted was unfair treatment of the president based on partisan political motives, and repeatedly called for “healing of the wounds” that Trump’s and, often, their own behavior had originally helped stoke. One curious aspect of the debate was regular pronouncements from Republican representatives that the rioting that resulted was a criminal act and that those who participated would be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law”, except, of course, for the person who instigated the behavior through the spreading of repeated lies and in whose name the protest degenerated into a riot inside the Capitol building.
Some of the Republican congressmembers even attempted to draw false comparisons to the anti-police-brutality protests and demonstrations that roiled the nation over the summer. One after another, GOP lawmakers sought to minimize the violence of the January 6 insurrectionists in the Capitol Building, who chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” and “Where’s Nancy?”, by comparing them to the cities that were “on fire” after the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings and attempting to discredit Democratic representatives who had described those protests as “mostly peaceful”. (Even in those cases, the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Minneapolis, Kenosha, Washington DC and other cities actually were peaceful until nightfall, when White right-wing provocateurs hit the streets and storefronts became the target of looters, many of whom had come from groups like the Boogaloo Boyz, whose announced intention was to exploit public anger about police brutality to commit acts of mayhem. Still, several Republican lawmakers would use these protests in an effort to minimize the violence of the January 6 rioters.)
In the end, ten Republican congressmembers voted with the Democrats to officially submit the Article of Impeachment to the Senate for trial, even though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Tennessee) has stated that the trial itself would not occur until after Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20.
This One Is Gonna Co$t You Money
Becoming the first US president to be impeached twice was not even the unkindest cut for The Donald. The PGA moved its golf championship from his Bedminster Golf Course, and other prestigious tournaments are now leaning toward leaving Trump golf courses around the world. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick chose to decline the Medal of Freedom that Trump had announced would be awarded to him. Deutsche Bank ignited an exodus of international financial institutions that have decided to disassociate themselves from Trump and his money (such as it is). And fans of the “Home Alone” movies have launched a campaign to have his cameo edited out of the “Home Alone 2” sequel.
Trump Loyalists Abandon Ship
Over the last five years, we have been treated to the spectacle of hypocrisy brought to us by such moral stalwarts as former Texas governor Rick Perry, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and others who “warned” the public about the dangers of Trump during the 2015-2016 Republican presidential primaries, but who would go on to kneel at his feet once he won the US presidency.
Some of Trump’s erstwhile allies are now backing away from Trump as a result of the riot he incited at the Capitol. Even some of the most recent strident supporters of Trump, like outgoing Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia), former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos suddenly found religion (of a sort) after Trump’s Mindless MAGA Minions were unleashed in their “Congress Hunt” complete with zip ties (presumably to take hostages) and a gallows (perhaps to “hang Mike Pence” as the crowds repeatedly exhorted) constructed on the Capitol grounds. How long before the remaining believers, such as Representative Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), become rats abandoning the sinking ship of Trump? But not former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, or former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, or Trump quasi-lawyer Sidney Powell, or the Trump children (including Jared Kushner). They are probably a lost cause.
A few GOP lawmakers, however, in the tradition of the late John McCain, have been reasonably consistent critics of Trump. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) seems to have been the first GOP Senator to show guts with his statement during the January 6 session, and that may have inspired some courage from the ten Republican Representatives who voted to impeach Trump again and the GOP Senators who have since spoken out in favor of impeachment, including Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
The Enemy Without, And Within
While social-media chatter makes increasing reference to planned armed protests up to and including the January 20 inauguration of Biden and Harris at perhaps every state capitol in the US, Congressmembers are increasingly reporting the receipt of death threats from White supremacist militia groups and angry Trump supporters for their choice not to support Trump’s attempt to overturn the presidential election (with the most virulent threats apparently aimed at Republican legislators deemed to be “traitors” to Trump).
There is also increasing indication that assistance may have been given to the January 6 rioters by some of the Congressmembers themselves. Reports that unexpected groups of visitors to the Capitol just the day before had been invited by some members of Congress and that these same groups were identified as probable participants in the insurrection have fueled accusations among some of the legislators. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has expressed fears that GOP lawmakers would lead the rioters to her (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she thought she was going to die in Capitol riots and feared GOP would reveal her location – The Washington Post), and the “panic buttons” in the offices of Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) were mysteriously disabled. Some of the more right-wing Republican members, who, like freshman member and QAnon adherent Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), have bragged about bringing their guns to the Capitol, then refused to pass through the metal detectors that had been placed outside the meeting hall. Combine that with the upcoming impeachment hearings, the threats that have been made against Representatives Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Rashida Tlaib (D-Mishigan), Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington State), and complaints from Democratic members that several Republicans refused to wear masks while they all sheltered in place together, despite the continuing and increasing danger of infection by COVID-19, and an extremely contentious and even dangerous Congressional session seems to be in the works. Sadly, Michigan lawmakers are not the only ones investing in bullet-proof vests now.
Articles from the Web about the Capitol Siege of January 6, 2021
Below are links to several news and analysis articles concerning the Capuitol Siege which we found interesting. Also, check out the commentaries by Justice Initiative that are also linked below:
Trump Supporters Take Protests to Statehouses Across U.S., By Reuters, Wire Service Content Jan. 6, 2021, at 5:46 p.m., U.S. News & World Report (https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-01-06/protests-spring-up-at-several-statehouses-as-siege-at-us-capitol-unfolds?fbclid=IwAR2JmYBuFZ22CO8flWHFOhAaituDzmYo7xjV2yo0uiPZiXjypW3fajvMatQ)
Check out the on-camera words of participants in the Capitol Riot (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/see-what-trump-supporters-had-to-say-after-chaos-at-capitol-hill/vi-BB1cxsmD?ocid=msedgntp)
Bret Stephens: GOP ‘walking to the edge of moral irredeemability’ (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bret-stephens-gop-walking-to-the-edge-of-moral-irredeemability/ar-BB1cyyLf?ocid=msedgntp)
Off-duty police officers among rioters, one Capitol officer says: The officers are accused of covertly flashing their badges, by Blue Telusma (https://thegrio.com/2021/01/08/off-duty-police-officers-allegedly-rioters/?fbclid=IwAR1HZ5oOiMHRtZREq4AOgErM2K0tX-KE7K7HSo2C8qJYhkEtxGEq2Y8wF1k)
Republicans warned this day would come. Then they forgot, by Benjy Sarlin (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-warned-this-day-would-come-then-they-forgot/ar-BB1czip6?ocid=msedgntp)
Inflammatory Trump tweets on day of Capitol breach were final straw for loyal White House staffers, by Rob Crilly (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/inflammatory-trump-tweets-on-day-of-capitol-breach-were-final-straw-for-loyal-white-house-staffers/ar-BB1cyLor?ocid=msedgntp)
The Putsch of January 6, 2021, by JamesD. Zirin, January 8, 2021 (https://billmoyers.com/story/the-putsch-of-january-6-2021/?fbclid=IwAR1UES_8yAQ2MtuyrMjcrA9Dyw7HpyJzqNnwKWF-iQvM6X2AQUgWE9JDzMM#.X_os9czczlI.facebook)