This weekend, I watched the new HBO documentary, Four Hours in the Capitol, about the insurrection of January 6. Combined with the news coming out of the investigations, any American patriot should be outraged. The perpetrators of the attack clearly intended to overthrow an election and were supported by powerful people close to the White House and, quite possibly, Members of Congress. The attention of the country should be focused on the Congressional hearings just like they were on Watergate.
The documentary is just footage of the attack, shown in chronological order as it unfolded, and interviews with people who were at the Capitol that day. The interviewees were insurrectionists, Members of Congress, Capitol police, and DC metropolitan police. There’s no narrator to influence viewers’ opinions.
Attackers who were interviewed included Proud Boys, Qanon conspiracists, right-wing “journalists” filming and taping the assault, and average Trump supporters who got swept up in the moment. None showed any regret for their actions and seemed almost giddy at reliving the experience. The Proud Boys clearly planned to march on the Capitol all along and started heading there before Trump’s speech was finished. They are still very much a threat to our government.
That day, our democracy was defended by cops. Police officers from various agencies took the brunt of the attack. They were brutally assaulted by the thugs who stormed the Capitol. They were sprayed with chemicals, tased, and beaten with clubs, fists, and anything else the rioters could grab. Despite being severely out-numbered, they held the line, protecting our Senators and Representatives and repelling the attackers. They should all be honored as heroes.
Members of Congress and their staff quite clearly feared for their lives. Once the Members were in a secure location, buses came to escort them out of the Capitol that, at the time, was in control of the rioters. Smart Members understood that if they left the Capitol, Trump would likely declare a state of emergency and that the transfer of power might never take place. So they stayed, and as one Members said, expected that certification would be unanimous as a show of strength that our democracy. Instead, Republicans in Congress tried to do what the insurrectionists could not: overthrow the election through legislative action.
Which brings us to the recent reports. According to Rolling Stone, the people who assaulted the Capitol were in “planning meetings” with Members of Congress, including Madison Cawthorn, and White House staff. Organizers say that Representative Paul Gosar offered pardons to the people planning the attack, implying that he was working with the White House. The only reason for pardons would be the knowledge that the actions would be illegal.
Other reports reveal that top Trump advisors set up a “command center” or “war room” to overturn the results of the election. They were pressuring Mike Pence to send the results back to the states to investigate the non-existent fraud that is central to the Big Lie. The evidence increasingly points to a coordinated effort to overthrow the government through numerous means.
The scariest part about the documentary and the new reports is the lack of remorse or contrition on anybody’s part. The insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol seemed proud of their actions and will be reliving those glory days the rest of their lives. The people in the Trump war room are now involved in preparing for the next opportunity to steal an election.
The common thread through all of this effort is adherence to a lie that mainstream Republicans have been parroting for over a decade. In the wake of Barack Obama’s historic victory, the GOP started shouting about voter fraud, despite no evidence of widespread fraud and the most notorious, but isolated cases, including the one in Bladen County, being directed by Republicans. More than ten years of screaming about election fraud and false accusations against Democrats has left the intellectually challenged populist right believing a lie and cynics, people like Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani, ready to exploit their ignorance and misinformation. It’s the makings of an insurrection.
A number of people have said that a failed attempted coup with no consequences is just a training exercise. Throughout history, authoritarians and insurrectionists have failed at their first attempts. The October Revolution in Russia in 1917 was preceded by the 1905 Revolution. The so-called Beer Hall Putsch led to the Nazi take over of Germany a decade later. And in Ireland, the 1916 Easter Rebellion preceded the War of Independence three years later. What happed on January 6 should not be taken lightly.
Democrats need to get through their Build Back Better bill and turn their focus on protecting our democracy. The SuperPACs sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars should be spending it to educate the public about the culpability of the Trumpist and expose their guilt in their own words. The middle of the country understands that undermining our democracy is more of a threat to United States than higher taxes, universal pre-K or single-payer health care. Republicans should be force to admit it, too.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Where is Phoenix coming from ? He thinks this was a joke!
What is almost as disturbing are the number of representatives and senators who voted to not certify the election. The insurrectionists can sit back and watch those in power in Congress do what they could not and destroy democracy. Both are very disturbing to me.
It should be disturbing to any patriotic American. A person would have to be mentally challenged to imply or suggest what occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington DC was not an armed insurrection against the lawfully constituted government of the United States. Carried out by a group of folks wearing red MAGA Hats and carrying Trump flags seeking to delay and disrupt the constitutionally mandated proceedings of the legislature. All the elements are present.
Insurrection is a violent attempt to take control of a government. The elements were all there. Violence in the form of fists, flag poles, hammers, and riot shields forcibly taken from the hands of Capital Police Officers utilized to force open doors, break windows, and batter cops assigned to the duty of protecting the lives of elected representatives and a historical site.
What has been characterized by the right-wing media and others as something like the Boston Tea Party, was nothing more than an excuse for obscure, socially challenged nobodies to beat up and injure over 140 cops and scratch obscenities on the furnishings and marble walls of congress. The only question I have with these dishonorable shenanigans is why is it taking so long to bring these folks into court?
There were no arms there. Except those the guards had. My point is If the American people REALLY WANTED to over throw anything. They could easily do it and would do a far better job. Like maybe have at least a rudimentary plan.
This was nothing and obviously not planned at all. Well except for the FBI instigators they had a plan.
You guys really. Stop wringing your hands. They never got close. They had no Means, or opportunity No chance they could ever pull it off because they were never there to even try. They didn’t even use the opportunity that fell in their laps. They could have occupied the capitol. etc.. at least for a few days etc. Nope, nothing They simply hung out a bit and went home. Whew! a real insurrection there! I hear they always end that way…lol Just take over a capitol and then get on the bus and go home!
Its fantasy only Liberals believe in. They just walked in stood around rummaged a few things and left. I watched on live stream. I mean they stayed in the ropes walking through the capitol like tourists! Whoa real fire crackers there! laughably really.
Nothing, they did nothing of consequence.
The politicians are embarrassed which is why they won’t let it go, and they have plenty of hysterical people to believe them. Like you guys
lol. Really. you guys quit clutching your pearls.
Its not going to win you elections. It just makes you sound stupid. Anyone with a brain knows it wasn’t an insurrection and repeating it over and over isn’t going to make it so. No one is listening.
Drop it and move on. But you won’t because you guys are hysterical. But I think circumstances are coming that going to FORCE you guys to think about something else.
Being in the minority will do that.
Good luck.
They were not guards; they were sworn police officers. There is a difference. Moreover, “23 people have been charged with having deadly or dangerous weapons during the assault — including a loaded handgun found on a man arrested on Capitol grounds”. You will not find that reported on Fox, try “Fact Check.Org”. The damage ranged from defecation in the congressional hallways to scratching four letter words into the marble in the senate, smashing out windows, doors and spray painting statutory. Man, you have really bought the big lie!
Really? Come on Man!
Calling January 6 an insurrection is an insult to the American people, and a joke really. Think about it. On Lobby day in 2019 two divisions of light infantry sprang up out of nowhere and occupied the state capitol grounds in Virginia to send a message to the newly minted leftist and anti-gun legislature.
If the gathered crowd had wanted, they could have easily taken over all of Virgina’s legislators and given the armament and sheer numbers it would have taken a real army (like to 101st airborne) to dislodge them. No authority there could have stopped them if they wanted to do anything. That would have been an insurrection.
When the American people are capable of that. Calling Jan 6th an insurrection is a complete joke.
The reason why Pelosi et. al. is all upset about Jan 6th is due to embarrassment because “the great unwashed” Ya know the people they believe they RULE OVER instead of work for, had the nerve to invade their sacred places. and did so with ease. They don’t like reminders of who really has they power, They simply choose not to use it.
Tyrants don’t like to feel vulnerable.