Coup in the USA?

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I have my own theory about what was supposed to happen yesterday.

Trump was inciting his Magats for violence, with the expectation that they would clash with BLM and anti-Trump protestors. The ensuing warfare would be his excuse to declare martial law and take control of the government.

It didn't unfold that way because the DC mayor and others worked hard to defuse the situation. The anti-Trump forces stayed away, leaving the riled up Magats with no opposition. They boiled over anyway, losing the illusion of the ethical high ground, and Trump & Co lost their excuse for martial law.

Maybe, but I don't think it's a coincidence that Trump told them specifically to go to the Capitol at the end of his rally, and I don't think it's a coincidence that he did it when Congress was in joint session to certify Biden's win. It had already been known since the day before that BLM wasn't in town.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[bubblesort]

One thing I've noticed nobody seems to be really talking too much about is the two bombs the terrorists planted. One was outside the RNC office, and one was outside the DNC office. The police found them and disposed of them, but you know... these people did try to bomb the place. They are clearly terrorists.

If no arrests are made for the bombs, then we definitely know the DC legal system was at least complicit in this, if not actually an important collaborator. DC is one of the most surveilled places in the country, and that goes double for places like the DNC and RNC headquarters. If they don't find anybody, it means they don't want to find anybody.

'Hazardous' suspected explosive devices found outside RNC and DNC

ABC News has obtained a photo of one of two suspected explosive devices discovered in Washington, D.C., Wednesday.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Allied officials: This was clearly a failed coup

While they did not furnish evidence that federal agency officials facilitated the chaos, Insider is reporting this information because it illustrates the scale and seriousness of Wednesday's events: America's international military and security allies are now willing to give serious credence to the idea that Trump deliberately tried to violently overturn an election and that some federal law-enforcement agents — by omission or otherwise — facilitated the attempt.

One NATO source set the stage, using terms more commonly used to describe unrest in developing countries.

"The defeated president gives a speech to a group of supporters where he tells them he was robbed of the election, denounces his own administration's members and party as traitors, and tells his supporters to storm the building where the voting is being held," the NATO intelligence official said.

"The supporters, many dressed in military attire and waving revolutionary-style flags, then storm the building where the federal law-enforcement agencies controlled by the current president do not establish a security cordon, and the protesters quickly overwhelm the last line of police.

"The president then makes a public statement to the supporters attacking the Capitol that he loves them but doesn't really tell them to stop," the official said. "Today I am briefing my government that we believe with a reasonable level of certainty that Donald Trump attempted a coup that failed when the system did not buckle.

"I can't believe this happened."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Pancake]

I imagine this list will grow.

https://mpdc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mpdc/publication/attachments/POIs%20of%20Interest_1.7.21.pdf

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Funny how in the last day it's been turning out that the whole situation was only 6 or 7 actual rioters and 1500 "freelance TikTok and Periscope journalists".

 

[bubblesort]

The videos I've seen so far are pretty conclusive that they did open the barricades to allow the terrorists in. Here are two examples, where the police literally opened barricades and waived them in. These police officers are terrorists, and should be prosecuted just as much as any member of the mob. They were working together.

 

[Pancake]

There must be multiple entrances or gates. Or perhaps different times.
This one didn’t look at all like they were being let in. The police retreated, once they were overwhelmed, but they fought hard to hold the line.

 

[bubblesort]

There must be multiple entrances or gates. Or perhaps different times.
This one didn’t look at all like they were being let in. The police retreated, once they were overwhelmed, but they fought hard to hold the line.

Yeah, with that video, I can at least see the cops trying to put up a fight.

To be clear, I'm not totally unsympathetic to the guards. I used to be a rent a cop at a truck yard, myself. I was paid $6.25 an hour, and had no weapon. For that money, I'll log the truck and trailer numbers, tell truckers to sleep somewhere else, and that's about it. If somebody wanted to burn the place down I'd just shrug and leave, and maybe call 911 afterwards, maybe... if somebody was actually in there (nobody was ever there).

They should have better security than a minimum wage lot guard at the nation's capitol, though.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I've had some experience of trying to make sense of security CCTV footage of fast moving situations (large city centre drunken brawls) and I'll wait until there's a proper frame-by-frame analysis available.

I say that simply because I know from experience I'm not very good at understanding what I'm seeing unless someone talks me through it.

That is, while I know what I think those videos show, I don't really trust my ability to interpret the footage so much that I'd rely on it, particularly when I know that what I've seen is only a fragment of what must be available.

ETA Though I am aware of this aspect, of course

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Free]

I will say whether any of the police willingly played ball with the crowd, or they were so overwhelmed they had to for fear of their lives, the police were obviously and purposefully underprepared for what happened yesterday.

Now whether that was due to (criminal) negligence on the part of their superiors, or a more conspiratorial explanation is behind it, that's something I want to find out.

 

[Monica Dream]

Now whether that was due to (criminal) negligence on the part of their superiors, or a more conspiratorial explanation is behind it, that's something I want to find out.

I have a very hard time believing that it was anything other than conspiratorial -deliberate.

We know the anwer; the real question is if there is any kind of political will to hold people accountable and fix the problems.

I don't believe that there is.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Now whether that was due to (criminal) negligence on the part of their superiors, or a more conspiratorial explanation is behind it, that's something I want to find out.

Why not both?

 

[Free]

Why not both?

Normally I'd be all in, but it's hard to be infuriated and looking for justice when it's the Keystone Cops.

 

[Free]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Also expected

House, Senate sergeants-at-arms resign

"Today I requested and received the resignation of Michael Stenger, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper, effective immediately," McConnell said in a statement.

Deputy sergeant-at-arms Jennifer Hemingway will become the acting SAA. The Senate sergeant-at-ams office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"I thank Jennifer in advance for her service as we begin to examine the serious failures that transpired yesterday and continue and strengthen our preparations for a safe and successful inauguration on January 20th," McConnell added.

In addition to Stenger, Capitol Police chief Steven Sund is resigning later this month, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced earlier Thursday that the House sergeant-at-arms, Paul Irving, had also tendered his resignation.

McConnell in a statement earlier Thursday thanked frontline police officers but pledged a "painstaking investigation and thorough review" of the incident.

"The ultimate blame for yesterday lies with the unhinged criminals who broke down doors, trampled our nation's flag, fought with law enforcement, and tried to disrupt our democracy, and with those who incited them," he said in a statement earlier Thursday. "But this fact does not and will not preclude our addressing the shocking failures in the Capitol's security posture and protocols."

Even if McConnell hadn't asked for Stenger's resignation, his days in his position were numbered after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed to fire him if hadn't resigned by the time Democrats take control of the majority on Jan. 20.

And calls for his ousting had bipartisan support with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) telling reporters during a press conference that he backed Schumer's decision.

 

[bubblesort]

DeVos resigned, which I'd normally be happy about, but this might be more complicated than it looks. Chao also left. She's transportation secretary, and Mitch McConnell's wife. That's two cabinet members gone since yesterday.

I think the cabinet might be in the middle of a power struggle to remove Trump with the 25th amendment. I think DeVos might be a true believer in Trump, who was disillusioned by the coup, and wants nothing to do with any of this any more. I think Chao knows the coup attempt was wrong, but wants Trump to serve out his term, and then be forced to quietly fade away after inauguration day, in order to try to stop the Republican party from splintering into a million factions and destroying her husband's power. Chao might have been forced out by somebody who wants to invoke the 25th, maybe? IDK, I'm obviously in the realm of wild conjecture here...

It looks like all this was planned well in advance. When the 10 former secretaries of defense sent that letter a couple of days ago, it looked kind of crazy, right? Clearly, they knew about the plan for the coup ahead of time. That means it must have been in the works for a long time. Hell, maybe this is why Kellyanne Conway left in November. That sounds crazy, but you never know, it's possible.

If things have all been planned out, and people are getting their ducks in a row... I think the conservative news is telegraphing to their audiences that Trump's cabinet is going to betray him. I live with an elderly religious conservative, who has Fox and OAN running all the time in the background (it's maddening). They keep throwing in here and there that Trump maybe trusted some people that he shouldn't. That could mean Pence, but maybe it's more than that. Maybe they are priming the audience to be ready for Trump to be removed by his own cabinet, under the 25th?

That's all wild conjecture, of course, but you know... that's where my mind goes when I try to predict where things will be next week.