Debunking the coup attempt bullstuff
It was bad enough when Democrats and their media cronies used hyperbole to elevate a riot into an insurrection. Then it was an unsuccessful coup attempt to seize control of the government by force and install President Trump as some sort of dictator for life.
Realizing that even those claims were not getting millions of people (voters) from abandoning the Republican Party, the crazies on the left are now peddling an ongoing coup attempt that will take down the American Republic if Republicans gain control of Congress or a local school board.
First, allow me to describe what I saw on January 6, 2021 – and since.
I saw a very large crowd of people exercising their constitutional right to assemble and protest. I saw a number of Republican officials – including President Trump – encouraging the protestors to stay strong.
They used fighten’ words … in a political context. We often call on our people to “fight.” We “target” political adversaries. We tell people to kick our political adversaries in the ass. We even profess to get so angry we could kill another person. Of course, none of that is to be taken literally.
Perhaps Trump’s and others’ language was too bold in retrospect. That can be fairly debated.
From my armchair, I saw the protest get out of hand. I saw a riot develop – egged on by a small number of provocateurs. It appeared that there were some bad actors in the crowd promoting the breaching of a weak security perimeter.
It was obvious from the onset that there were not enough security forces to hold back the rioters. The inadequacy of the defense forces, in and of itself, seemed to be a major factor in the ability of the protestors-turned-rioters to push back the Capitol Hill police – or even find gaps in the security permitter – and enter the building. The lack of security arguably encourages the mob to seize the opportunity to enter the Capitol Building.
I saw throngs of rioters running upstairs and down hallways and one security guard ran away in retreat. I saw other rioters using flat polls and fists to break through doorways and windows to gain entrance – occasionally fighting back police. I saw rioters attacking the police.
The rioting, vandalism, theft, and attacks on police went on for four hours – by which time the riot was ended and most of the peaceful protestors outside the Capitol Building were heading home. It was over and the Congress went back to its business of certifying the election without incident.
I hold no brief for the rioters. They should be arrested and punished for the criminal behavior – especially those attacking and injuring police – that pitifully ill-equipped officer left without adequate support.
Yes, the rioting was outrageous and criminal – and there was universal condemnation and calls for punishment among Democrats, Republicans, and independents. No one was excusing the behavior of the rioters.
In many ways, the riot on Capitol Hill had all the indicators of a small group of troublemakers hellbent on using the larger protest as an excuse. And with the limited security, they found their opportunity. That is a lot like what we have seen in the scores of urban riots – although the rioters in those cases have been much more destructive and often had guns. There were looting, arson, and life-threatening attacks on police with rocks, urine, and Molotov cocktails, injuries – and occasional deaths.
Rioters in places like Seattle and Portland attacked, took over, and even occupied federal and local government buildings –and yet no accusations of insurrections or coup attempts. Actually, the left-wing establishment condoned the rioters. Vice President Harris even raised money for the bail of the few that were arrested. And there was no massive response by the FBI or ongoing coverage by an obsessed news media.
The only significant difference between those iconic urban riots and the events on Capitol Hill is that the former only destroyed the homes and businesses, further damaged the economic foundation of poor neighborhoods, and left scores of people injured or dead. It affected people the Washington elite do not give a damn about. As former Republican National Chairman and now MSNBC personality Michael Steele said after the January 6th riot. “This was in OUR backyard.” Yep! That is a significant difference.
While the crowd on Capitol Hill wanted to stop the certification of an election they believed to be illegitimate, there was no – as in zero – evidence of a widespread insurrection. Only a fraction of the demonstrators breached the security perimeter – and even fewer engaged in destructive or endangering activities once inside the Capitol. That is why so many of the arrested have been charged with minor crimes, such as trespassing – much to the chagrin of those on the left.
It is possible that some of the rioters were PLANNING to shut down the government by force. Of the thousands of demonstrators and hundreds of rioters, a handful of people have been charged with seditious conspiracy. At worst, they seem to have been playing out a homegrown fantasy scenario –like those on the left who called for revolution and bringing down the government as they rioted in the streets. We recall black leaders using terms like “burn, baby burn” during riots.
Even more ridiculous is the claim that January 6th was a failed coup attempt. That would mean that a significant force of individuals was attempting a complete takeover of the operations of government by force to install Trump as an unelected dictator-for-life.
There is nothing that day – or prior or since – that gives any validity to the coup attempt narrative. One only needs to look at what real coups and coup attempts look like. There are basically two varieties. One is known as a “palace coup” – occasionally bloodless. Basically, military leaders and others march into the president’s office and usher him out and declare Marshall Law.
Such coups require a major portion of the government – especially the military – to be on board. That was not the case with the January 6th riot. In fact, any hypothetical attempt by Trump to simply declare himself President-for-life would have been opposed by every component of the American government – the military, the Cabinet, the bipartisan members of the Congress, the federal courts, and the bureaucracy. Even Trump’s own family. The Republic was sound and safe.
That is why the hyperbolic claims that the American Republic was teetering on the brink of extinction was so shamefully nutty. The pillars of the Republic were solid – and even Trump, himself, was not pushing a forced takeover of the nation. He spent his efforts trying to find votes and highly technical constitutional procedures to change the outcome.
The other way a coup occurs is when the people rise in overwhelming numbers – well-armed. A popular coup is what we saw bring down the Tsar in Russia, and the King in France when the Bastille was stormed.
The key elements of a people’s coup … masses of people and lots of weapons. No one goes to a real coup attempt unarmed. The crowd outside and inside the Capitol Building was unarmed – and there was no one shooting at police or other protestors. The only use of a gun was Capitol Hill Officer Lt. Michael Byrd who shot and killed a protester, Ashli Babbitt. So far, that incident has not been explained by the Select Committee.
Pelosi’s kangaroo Select Committee tried to imply the presence of weapons by noting that a number of rioters had guns in their remotely parked vehicles. That suggests that they were NOT preparing for serious violence – and definitely not a real coup attempt.
To carry their fictitious narratives even further, Democrats and their media sycophants raised their theory of an ongoing coup attempt. According to them, January 6, 2021, was not a one-off, but just a steppingstone to a continuing attempt to seize control of the American government by force.
That does not hold up either. You will recall that those on the left alleged that there would be massive demonstrations in other cities on January 6th. That did not happen. They alleged that there would be nationwide street violence across the nation on the anniversary of the Capitol Hill riot. Those did not happen.
They said the anniversary would be marked by a massive assemblage at the Capitol Building. In fact, they put up miles of fencing and called out the National Guard. Instead, approximately 200 to 300 peaceful demonstrators appeared, heard some speeches, and went home. In the year and a half since the Capitol Hill riot, there has been not a single incident that suggests an attempt to overthrow the government. Not even any arrests of coup plotters planning such a takeover.
Failing to prove an insurrection and having the coup attempt claim go completely flat, the left is now claiming the reforms of election laws in more than half the states – and the election of Republicans in November – are evidence of a coup. They claim that requiring an ID is racist … that challenging the legitimacy of specific voters is wrong … that removing dead folks or those who moved away from the voting rolls is evidence of a coup. In fact, challenging the legitimacy of a voter or a ballot has been part of the electoral process for more than 200 years. It is one of the safeguards against vote fraud.
And finally, what about those attempts to have state legislatures overrule the vote and create a list of electors approved by the state legislature. That does not sound right, but it is perfectly legal and within the framework of the Constitution. It was at the heart of the controversy that resulted in the Compromise of 1877.
President Trump’s efforts to win the electoral college can be seen as ham-handed, shameful, and offensive – and inconsistent with the peaceful traditional transfer of power. But it may not have been illegal.
I have no doubt that President Trump went to extremes in trying to win the 2020 election. You can accuse him of sour grapes. You can say that he went too far in his attempt to win the election. I agree with that. The fact that he did not concede after his various court cases and recount challenges failed can be attributed to a pugnacious and egotistical nature – something I do not admire and have consistently criticized.
But there was no insurrection – and certainly no attempted coup. More importantly, there are no plans for any coup attempts in the future. The 2022 midterm elections will be played out without much controversy at hundreds of thousands of polling places across America. Votes will be cast and counted. There will be accusations of vote fraud here and there – as there always are – but for the most part, the will of the people will be manifest. Of course, to ensure the fairness of the elections, we will always have to be diligent.
America may be divided more than usual. The political discourse may be harsh. It is possible that some individuals have acted badly (on both sides) – even broke the law. But there was no grand coup planning. The Republic is not at risk. The American democracy is not endangered.
In the vast majority of the tens of thousands of elections for local, state, and federal candidates, the winner will be determined without controversy – even as stakeholders on both sides monitor the voting. The Republic will be as strong as ever. American democracy will be preserved.
Democrat fearmongering claims that there is a threat to the very foundation of the American democracy are a bunch of campaign bullstuff. And the work of Pelosi’s Select Committee is bullstuff on steroids.
So, there ‘tis.
The only threat to our Democracy comes from the left. Threatening the Justices of the Supreme Court coming from the leader of the Senate is a real threat to our Democracy. The left will get to see first hand how this Democracy is safe and strong. The midterms will give them a striking example of how are Democracy works.
Threatening judges is a crime. Why no arrests? Mobs showing up is a threat. And they remind us why we need guns
See 2000 mules and I am sure you will agree there was cheating. The FBI and other federal law enforcement cannot be trusted. The law enforcement agencies of the fed. government are al crooked and assist the demoncRATs and nancuy peelosi with the fake Russia hoax and the crooked election and fake impeachments. DO Not TRUST this crooked government and the thieves in it.
Remember, there is always “cheating,” if for you other reason that administrative errors.
Remember, the “cheating” needs to be at a level of changing the outcome.
Remember, for The Big Lie to be true, you will need so many votes that history says you are fooling yourselves if you expect cheating at a level of an overturn.
NOW: See Bill Barr mock 2,000 mules in his deposition, under oath, and penalty of law for lying.
I think he believes, like most experts believe, like the data shows, that it, like The Big Lie, is pure bunk.
Although $250,000,000 worth of belief is indeed out there.
There are suckers born every minute.
You are one of them.
Research and the truth may set you free.
And there’s swallowers born every minute. Like you.
Ben …. why do you also debate with an imaginary Larry Horist. You constantly accuse me of lying about the outcome of the election and even said I am inclined to believe Barr. But you argue with that straw man Larry. Of course, you will never be wrong in your mind if you create your opposition. You live with the narratives without being capable of dealing with complexity and nuances. That is why you cannot be taken seriously. And do not tell me you are responding to others since you are in my thread. Is creating straw men a form of lying. Hmmmm. Yep!
Sorry, talking to Jim.
But you know that.
But had to issue that meaningless treatise anyway.
It’s a familiar theme for you waged against many a comment by others too. Perhaps it’s your way of expressing yourself that gets misinterpreted.
Not this time though. . .
Damn it! “Our democracy” is a leftist lie. Our brilliant founders knew that de-mob-ocracy is a flawed form of government which failed the ancient Greeks. They mandated a republic in Article 4, Section 4 of our Constitution.
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democracy_vs_Republic
Larry, In your rambling tome above (you really need to learn how to write a concise tale!), you basically contradict the premise of your memo. In the opening of one of your earlier paragraphs you state “It is possible that some of the rioters were PLANNING to shut down the government by force. ” I would say it is more than possible, that was the intention of entering the Capitol, and by definition that is a “Coup Attempt”. Now, I would totally agree with you that due to the ignorance of these people, they were not likely to succeed, but the fact is they did attempt what they hoped would be a coup. You also state that Trump’s words about fighting were not to be taken literally-however, these are not the best and the brightest that we have to offer in these United States (recall they believed the election was stolen, despite no evidence to that effect). Bottom line, anyone with any sense, realizing they were talking to stupid people would realize their words would be taken literally… Later in your tome you state the following “And finally, what about those attempts to have state legislatures overrule the vote and create a list of electors approved by the state legislature. That does not sound right, but it is perfectly legal and within the framework of the Constitution”. Have to totally disagree with this statement, invalidating the votes of the electorate is not legal (although there are definitely some candidates that are attempting to make it legal). This is the activity that advisors such as John Eastman were recommending to Trump, telling him that various swing states could submit an alternate slate of electors. As the hearings have so far demonstrated (and prior media reports as well) there was extensive pushback within the administration that this was not a legal activity, so don’t know how you formed this opinion, perhaps just your age showing? (also showing your age is your statement “We recall black leaders using terms like “burn, baby burn” during riots.” Who were you trying to play to here? Words like that were used during the ’60’s when rioting occurred after Martin Luther KIng’s assassination, I don’t believe they have been used since….) So, just to recap, there was an attempted coup, however due to poor planning, it was never likely to be successful, despite you attempting to prove otherwise in your rambling treatise….
Larry, I didn’t really expect that you would want to respond to the inconsistencies in your tome, as I have said in an earlier writing, it is really hard to defend the indefensible….
OK, I admit. Not usually an afternoon coffee drinker. I think the following may by a caffeine aftereffect.
I like AG Barr 1.6 Larry’s explanation better. It’s like watching grass grow to see his mind at work… in this earlier piece, Larry-grass is still pretty short when he says: “From my armchair, I saw the protest get out of hand. I saw a riot develop – egged on by a small number of provocateurs. It appeared that there were some bad actors in the crowd promoting the breaching of a weak security perimeter.”
Bwhaaaaat? Maybe what you need is a 1.6 Select Committee Investigation to show you The Proud Boys meeting with the OathKeepers the night before in that garage, on tape you can hear some nasty stuff. The Proud Boys missed the rally, descended on the Capitol BEFORE Trump unleashed the Kraken-crowd and hit multiple entrances simultaneously for the breach. The “bad actors” were good party planners were already breaching when the crowed arrived, they weren’t egged on, they were already in action and the crowd took their lead. Perhaps that was the plan?
WAIT: Newsbreak: Loudermilk brought the OathKeepers in the day before to tour and take pictures of tunnels, access hallways and stairwells, cameras, not the “normal tour with a family” the Congressman touted —- the day before the attack. Sure makes “a peaceful demonstration that fell into the Capitol and then got a little excited” look like weaker tea every day.
Perhaps the words of that day were only incendiary, not a direct incitement to riot. Why bother, the riot was already underway when Trump released the Kraken. The man has spent a lifetime speaking in plausible deniability, I hardly gather this is the one public session he would fail. “I need a favor” can mean make up some votes illegally or illegally get me some dirt on my opponent, or even hey, can you stop the election certification from happening. Like you said, you be the judge.
To say it’s the security forces problem is the same as saying the gun is the problem. That dog don’t hunt, it’s pretzel logic.
“The rioting, vandalism, theft, and attacks on police went on for four hours – by which time the riot was ended and most of the peaceful protestors outside the Capitol Building were heading home. It was over and the Congress went back to its business of certifying the election without incident.”
Ah, just another day in sunny Donnybrook. Bwhaaaaat? The National Guard and State Police from Maryland, and Virginia, along with the Maryland State Police rush in staring around 4 pm. At 6 pm, they, along with the Capitol Police begin to clear the violent protestors from the building. A few minutes later, DC goes into curfew to clear the protestors from the streets too. TWO hours later, the Senate can reconvene. Peaceful my ass.
And then Larry goes back to the “it the weak defense” defense. I tire of the thought that we need to harden all aspects of our lives. What’s next, pillbox seats with machine guns at the movies lest someone does not like the show?
And then the deflection to the George Floyd protests, not one of which attempt to stop our election process, stop the election certification from proceeding, kill Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi, shit in the seat of our government. That’s just a deflection of the red herring variety. Nice trick if you can get away with it.
And then, for the second time, Larry seems to almost call for an investigation like a 9/11 Commission or a 1.6 Select Committee when he says: “While the crowd on Capitol Hill wanted to stop the certification of an election they believed to be illegitimate, there was no – as in zero – evidence of a widespread insurrection.” Gee Larry, you mean no one held up a sign stating: “get your insurrection evidence here?” There are 16 charged with seditious conspiracy, 3 are guilty of that crime, the others are heading to court. Let the prosecutors show you the evidence.
Now, imagine a different story than Larry’s. A cynical story. A conspiratorial story. There is no proof to this…….yet…..but…..it could have happened that:
THE PLAN
Step one —- find an elite team to breach the weak defenses at the Capitol with support from Congress inside. (well, the proud boys had been talking violence since Trump tweeted the “it will be wild” call to arms. Were there back channels between them and Rudy? Bannon?)
Step two — have the elite team tour the building the day before as tourists, on tour (somebody toured the untourable closed building with the GOP Congressman)
Step three: get useful idiots to DC on 1/6 for insurrection support. We need infantry. (well, that part is easy. Trump has been getting these idiots to give him their hard-earned $$$ for The Big Lie since November, over $2.5M worth. They will heed their masters voice, sheeples all)
Step four: stash arms in hotel safe deposits in Virginia for the OathKeepers Quick Reaction Force in case martial law is declared. The casual rioters apparently had contingency plans.
Perhaps Larry’s view is correct, although I doubt it. I hope my view is totally wrong, but what if:
The ProudBoys and OathKeepers were the tip of the spear. Just a few bad actors who do not rally but converge on the Capitol as the tip of the spear — the first wave of the Trump Coup.
The crowd is the shaft of the spear, intended to the tip home by providing a wave of confusion with a tsunami effect of thousands of “peaceful tourists run amuck,” creating the chaos the spear’s tip needed to complete the nefarious job.
Was the intent to stop Congress, Stop the Steal, overturn the election and our government. Hell no.
Trump waited and waited and waited. What for? Perhaps he was hoping for the entire US to call him to arms, to declare martial law via the insurrection act, retain power at least until the “emergency” was resolved and then move to the next plan to continue that forever…… Crazy? Trump knew the act, he asked for it before: https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2021/06/25/an-insurrection-act-proclamation-was-prepare-for-trump-by-his-aides-during-dc-protests/?sh=6b8ab4cf4d77
It wasn’t that Trump’s tip of the spear didn’t know his thinking:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/stewart-rhodes-insurrection-act-trump/2022/01/23/fa009626-7c47-11ec-bf02-f9e24ccef149_story.html
And if you think that’s cynical, what if Trump’s plan called for his specially assigned Insurrection forces to lock down the Capitol and remove as much evidence as possible. If you catch my meaning, if you get my drift. Perhaps the OathKeepers had the Martial Law gun stashes as their contingency for a Trump double-cross.
Good thing Hannity never gave Trump the go-ahead :>)
NO, I have no proof. But like Mueller said about the Russian Conspiracy smoke and fire: just because I can’t prove it, does not mean it’s not possible. And in what I have just made up above, there is nothing really that Larry, or anyone else, can disprove. And the underlying facts are available in the database for all to confirm.
There’s your Donnybrook Larry. Useful idiots or peaceful folks exercising their Constitutional rights by breaking, entering, shitting on, stealing, and destroying many of our National Treasures inside our Capitol. Bozo’s or par-military groups, not one, but a number, hell bent on “the plan.” And Trump to be the hero to save Amerika once again, for Trump.
Hey, LucyLarry, thin you gots some splainin to do.
You guys spin a good yarn in the press, maybe it’s time to do it under oath?
Bring on the Secret Service!!!!!
Where’s Pat?
Where’s Steve and Rudy and the rest of the boys……
Why so afraid of being under oath?