Two Theories About What Happened

The people who were supposed to be in charge of security at the Capitol on January 6th all said nearly the same thing: "We had no idea this group would be a problem." They said this even after weeks of social media postings and rally promotions declaring the intention of storming the Capitol and starting a civil war, among other things. They said this even though their own field offices had sent memos and notices warning of violence. The security people said they were caught totally by surprise.

So it seems like you have a choice of two theories. One, the heads of the Pentagon, the Capitol Police, Metro Police, House and Senate Sergeants at Arms, and every other police and security force were in on it. They may have been part of the planning process, with Trump and his entourage telling them to stand down and stay away and let the rightwing revolutionaries do their thing busting up the Capitol. Once the election was disrupted and the Vice President and a few Congresspeople had been executed, then they could send some cops and soldiers in to chase everybody out. Oh, and no arrests, please. We'll blame antifa afterwards, no problem.

This theory is entirely plausible. If you live around here you know how the government buildings are, you don't just stroll into them. Once you get through the lines, after the barricades, there are metal detectors, x-ray machines, pat-downs and wanding. And whenever there is a protest or parade the whole mall and surrounding area is flooded with cops. January Sixth there was none of that. All of Congress -- both chambers -- were meeting together, along with the Vice President, in one room, and there were a handful of Capitol Cops stationed outside, about the same as any pandemic Wednesday with tours canceled.

There are reasons to believe the theory that this attempted coup was a setup from top to bottom. We can be sure that Trump himself was in on it, refusing to authorize National Guard help from DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and we can be sure his idiotic Acting Secretary of Defense was in on it, and probably some generals who denied requests for support and made sure the military was not ready. There were plenty of mid-level officials who could have assigned security to the occasion, and all they had to do to make the plan a success was nuthin. Just sit there and let the crowd have its way. Memos sat on desks, requests and pleas went unanswered.

The second theory is that they really did not expect violence. Sometimes they express this by saying that they viewed it is a smallish political rally on the mall, happens every day. Some of them said they did not have any reason to believe that Trump followers would have bad intentions. The most-repeated reason was that they didn't like "the optics" of a bunch of uniformed troops outside the Capitol.

This is worse.

I can see if two political factions organize to oppose one another. One side wants democracy and the kind of government we have had for a couple hundred years with constant improvement and expansion of individual rights, and the other side wants to overthrow the US government and install their God-sent dictator to rule us in glory for life. We understand what is going on there. Antifa, and fa. Democrats and Republicans.

Remember when Trump wanted to hold up a Bible in front of a church? They loved the optics of a bunch of uniformed troops shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters in a public place. It was Trump's greatest moment, optically, you can still see the dramatic, photogenic clouds of gas, the scrambling, choking crowd, the cops in riot gear with their weapons out, beating citizens. Later one general apologized for stepping out of his role (the optics there were not so good); otherwise everyone understood, that is what this government does. Portland, Seattle, Kenosha, Kansas City, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Miami, Detroit, Port Huron, St. Louis, Buffalo, New York City, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Pearland Texas, Tacoma ... the federal government sent extra uniformed officers into American cities with military-grade technology to make sure the FOX-watching public could enjoy "the optics" of a repressive police state putting down an uppity minority.

"The optics" is Washington talk for how a show looks to a white audience, and armed-to-the-teeth police cracking down on Black people and hippie socialists is great optics. Those militarized police are rarely enforcing any law, the protesters have a right to be there, but if anybody breaks a window or starts at fire the networks play it over and over again and the optics are great when the cops show up at a protest, an army attacking its own citizens.

But January Sixth, this was white people, Republicans, and the optics of police actively controlling a crowd of insurgents would not look good to white people who normally sit at home and watch TV and the announcer tells them that "BLM and antifa" are looting and rioting and the police had to be called in, and they're dumb enough to believe it. Honey, aren't the police supposed to be on our side?

Two theories, both correct. This was a plot by the fascist right, from the President all the way down to the local police chiefs, to overthrow the federal government, and it was racist security professionals believing their own propaganda. Could it be that any police authority actually believes that "BLM and antifa" are a danger and white supremacists are not? Well, yes, that is exactly what they say. The police departments are infiltrated with white supremacists, including their leadership, definitely their unions. Local police and federal officers have been violently and increasingly suppressing Black people throughout this administration. It makes sense to them to gas and beat groups protesting for rights for Black people, and it just doesn't compute that their own side would cause any trouble beyond a little, y'know, boys-will-be-boys rowdiness, driving around shooting off guns and cracking skulls for fun.

Yes, of course this was planned. Trump has been firing and replacing people in his Cabinet Departments on the basis of loyalty alone for a couple of years. He knew that someday he would need them for this. He and his staff met with police and military leaders and made sure nobody would be around when his people decided to attack. Trump and his family and associates had been talking with violent rightwing groups, planning how they would pull it off, and were actively coordinating with them on the phone while the attack was underway. At the same time, profoundly biased police simply could not imagine any threat from racist Trump supporters. Simply. could. not. imagine. They favor white conservatives so much that they didn't think action was necessary when the mob started marching against our democratic government, breaking windows, smashing in the doors, when they set up a gallows and chanted "Hang Mike Pence" and "Where's Nancy Pelosi" and swarmed through the Capitol building. Their racism is so baked-in that they could not imagine any problem with a white, conservative crowd.

Joe Biden will be inaugurated the day after tomorrow and now the District of Columbia is wall-to-wall soldiers. Citizens will not be able to come into the city for the event, the bridges are blocked, roads are blocked, there are fences and barricades everywhere. There will be no celebration, no inaugural balls, no parade, no cheering crowds. It is a weird transition in a country under attack from within (and there is concern about traitors among the troops). At least these four years of overt, government-sanctioned fascism will be coming to an end.