The True Danger from 6 January 2021
The American elite’s reaction to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol Riot is frightening and disgusting.
One faction of the media portrays 6 January as a coup d’état. A coup d’état is an organized attempt to overthrow a government by force. For example, General Pinochet’s coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende on 11 September 1973.
January 6 was horrible and frightening, but it was not a coup. To explain, conspirators organize a coup d’état with the goal of seizing power. I do not think there was any goal on January 6 beyond keeping Trump in power.
January 6 was not a coup d’état
A coup such as Lenin’s Russian Revolution has an agenda. For example, both Lenin and Pinochet came to power with lists of enemies to kill. Additionally, coups usually involve the military or some armed force of outsiders. Pinochet’s coup utilized the Chilean Army, while Lenin had a force of mercenaries ready to storm the Winter Palace.
On 6 January 2021, Trump had no support in the military and no armed or organized forces available to back his followers, and no plans to eliminate enemies. Instead, there was a vague scheme to keep the president in office by challenging the election.
The mob that stormed the capitol was leaderless and had no strategy beyond attacking people they did not like. I suspect the mob’s goal was to lynch politicians they hate, rather than seize power. Moreover, there was no planning for the attack. Notably, the mob did not bring guns nor tried to fortify the Capitol against counterattack.
Indeed, I think the ease with which they entered the Capitol surprised mob members. My guess is that the mob members thought riot police or the military would turn them back. Instead, they found a handful of police and easily forced their way in.
January 6 was not a Soccer Riot
The other dangerous myth out there which is as widespread on both the left and the right, is that January 6 was the American equivalent of a soccer riot.
A European soccer riot is a beer-fueled brawl about a meaningless event. A soccer riot has no agenda or purpose beyond attacking the other team’s fans.
January 6 was a deliberate attack on our government and its officials. It was a disorganized and crude attack, but it was an attack. The mob members were out for blood. Some of them erected a gallows, an instrument of execution outside the Capitol. Many of the attackers brought handcuffs and Tazers to subdue politicians they hated.
Moreover, the mob was out to disrupt or prevent a constitutional process. The mob used violence to prevent government from functioning.
January 6 was not the equivalent of hippies trying to levitate the Pentagon. Instead, it was a violent attack on our government and its leaders. The attackers were there to hurt and perhaps kill political leaders.
The True Dangers from January 6
I think January 6 exposes three genuine dangers that our leaders refuse to acknowledge.
The first danger is the rising tide of anger, frustration, fear, and resentment in America. Notably, January 6 came after a year of violence across America. That violence includes the burning of police stations in Minneapolis and Seattle. Frighteningly, a Seattle mob tried to trap cops in a burning police station, KIRO 7 TV reports.
There were also brawls and shootouts between rival gangs of political thugs in several cities, including Portland, Oregon. The Portland clash left a rightwing protester dead. Additionally, federal agents killed the leftwing suspect in the Portland shooting with a thirty-round volley of gunshots.
Guillotines in America
Frighteningly, January 6 was just one of several occasions that mobs brought instruments of execution to “protests” in 2020. For example, on 28 August 2020, a mob beheaded a life-sized effigy of former President Donald J. Trump (R-Florida) with a guillotine outside the White House.
Similarly, on 17 September 2020, a Portland mob burned Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats and destroyed a teddy bear with a guillotine. Remember, the guillotine was the head-chopping machine French Revolutionaries used to kill King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, and others.
Guillotines are a popular meme in America. The falling blade is all over social media and it has even guest starred on the popular History Channel show Forged in Fire. Disturbingly, Forged in Fire even showed the folks at home how to build a guillotine.
Thus, January 6 was not an isolated event or a simple outburst. Instead, it was part of a cycle of escalating violence. The source of the rage and violence is all the misery, poverty, inequality, racism, abuse, and disrespect ordinary Americans are experiencing.
The violence is widespread, growing, and increasingly organized. I see no evidence the frustration is declining. Moreover, our leaders are intent on inflicting more and more misery on ordinary Americans. For example, the 30-hour traffic jam on I-95 in Virginia on 3 and 4 January 2022.
Hence, I predict the violence in America will increase and worsen. We will see more riots, more killings, more attacks, and more destruction. The violence will become more organized, and lead to open fighting between rival gangs of extremists.
A Gigantic Security Failure
Second, 6 January 2021 was an enormous security failure rivaling Pearl Harbor and September 11 in significance.
Fortunately, the death and destruction on 6 January was minimal. Frighteningly, a total breakdown of security, intelligence, law enforcement, and military leadership made the riot possible.
For example, intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies failed to detect the circumstances that led to the riot. For instance, authorities ignored the planning of attacks online and the presence of violent extremists in Washington, DC. Disturbingly, there are credible allegations of federal informants and agents among the rioters, so authorities had advance warnings but did nothing.
Moreover, the many 6 January videos show District of Columbia and Capitol Police lacked the training and equipment to deal with a riot. For example, cops lacked riot gear and there appeared to be nobody in charge at the Capitol. One popular claim is that the Capitol Police’s riot gear was locked in a van to which nobody had a key. Consequently, police were completely overwhelmed.
Furthermore, I think the pundits’ claims that a few more cops could have deterred the riot are wishful thinking. My guess is more police would have to led to more violence because the police were leaderless.
Dereliction of Duty
Worst of all the military was missing in action. They made no effort to mobilize or deploy the regular military, even though there is a major Marine base just outside Washington at Quantico, Virginia. Part of this was former President Trump’s fault he refused to authorize military deployment.
However, the top brass deserve condemnation too. Did any generals or admirals ask Trump to authorize military force? Instead, they eventually deployed the National Guard.
Hence, ordinary Americans had to take time away from their careers and families to do the regular military’s job. We have hundreds of thousands of active duty troops, some of whom have riot and military police training, at bases all over the country. Yet the Pentagon made no effort to use those forces.
Disgustingly, the US Marine Corps shut down all three of its active-duty law enforcement battalions in 2021, The Marine Times reports. The official reason for the battalions’ deactivation was to restructure the Corps for war-fighting.
I don’t believe that. Instead, I think they shut down the law-enforcement battalions so the Corps commanders could tell civilian authorities “sorry we don’t have the resources for riot control.” Hence, the Corps’ commanders would rather see our cities burn and Americans lynched than protect the American people.
To elaborate, the military doesn’t want the controversy of having to use its forces against other Americans. Hence, the sick thinking that kept President James Buchanan (D-Pennsylvania) from using the military against the Confederate leaders before the Civil War is present at the Pentagon. Worse, nobody in the White House or Congress seems willing to override the cowardly generals and order them to do their duty.
Lack of Accountability
Similarly, Congress and the President have made no effort to hold those responsible for the security, law enforcement, and military failures on 6 January 2021 accountable. Not a single agency director, general, or admiral was fired.
Worse, Congress is rewarding those responsible with more money. For example, the US House Appropriations Committee boosted the Capitol Police budget by over $100 million to $619.20 million. Even though the Capitol Police showed themselves completely useless on 6 January.
The rational move would be to abolish or reorganize the Capitol Police. Yet Congress rewards the agency with more money. Hence, no effort to fix the real security hole is being made.
Additionally, on 27 December 2021, President Joe Biden (D-Delaware) signed a $777.7 billion military budget. The budget included $24 billion more than the president requested. That budget represents a $37.7 billion increase over the last defense budget of $740 billion, Al Jazeera estimates.
Hence, we spend more money on a military that fails to do its duty. Thus, military commanders and law enforcement officials have no incentive to improve security.
A War on Ordinary Americans?
The lack of accountability extends far beyond the military and officials. Many observers note that none of the political leaders and wealthy campaign donors who sparked the violence by holding a Trump Rally in Washington on 6 January 2021 face charges or investigations.
Yet, prosecutors have charged 738 people with federal crimes on 6 January. Those people are ordinary Americans; real estate agents, military pensioners, the unemployed, small business owners, etc.
Meanwhile, Trump and his advisors live in luxury with little fear of arrest or accountability. In fact, Trump, who spoke at the rally and told proprietors to go to the Capitol has resumed his political career.
The prosecutions show how our leaders plan to address the January 6 problem, by blaming and punishing ordinary people. Prosecute and imprison the Trump followers, yet leave Trump unscathed.
Media coverage of January 6 mirrors this hypocrisy. For example, news reports focus on “extremists” while ignoring both the massive security failures and the behavior of Republican leaders. Frighteningly, the extremists the media exposes are all lower or middle-class whites in rural areas. The media vilifies poor white people while ignoring the true culprits.
My fear is that the federal crackdown on extremism will become a war on poor white people similar to the war on drugs. Remember, the war on drugs was a war on poor black people.
I predict a war on poor white people will drive more extremism and violence by giving people more reasons to lash out. Hence, we could be at the beginning of a cycle of violence and oppression.
The Danger Remains
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” Sir Winston S. Churchill.
I predict we will see more attacks on the government because 6 January demonstrates it is possible for extremists to seize our government buildings.
The only reason truly violent extremists such as Antifa and the Proud Boys were not present on 6 January is that they did not realize it was possible to get into the Capitol. Next time around, the most dangerous elements of the Far Left and Far Right will be there.
Worse, those extremists will have the firepower and organization to launch a coup or at least kill a few members of Congress. One nightmare is the Proud Boys and AntiFa shooting it out in the Capitol. Next time, the Marines may have to fight their way into the Capitol.
Remember, there is nothing to deter the Proud Boys or Antfa. The inept Capitol Police are still on the job. If the Capitol Police cannot stop Cosplayers they will be helpless, if armed extremists attack.
Similarly, foreign governments now have a reason to finance and arm American extremists. Those extremists have a chance of overthrowing or disrupting the US government. If Russian or Chinese leaders want to weaken America, all they will need to do is to provide a few million dollars’ worth of weaponry to a few hundred extremists.
Finally, the military showed it will do nothing to protect our government or leaders from extremist mobs. I think that makes another attack inevitable because the extremists think they can succeed next time.
Will we see Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-California) body hanging from a lamppost outside the Capitol or US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) being dragged to the guillotine on national TV? I imagine such images will force the generals to act.
The sorry truth is that America learned nothing from January 6 2021. Hence, we will repeat that tragedy and innocent people will die.