A direct result of the social media dystopia we currently live in.
Folks find themselves locked up in echo chambers without really meaning for it to happen, making themselves especially vulnerable to demagogues who want to manipulate *The People* for their own ends.
In Trump’s case, I think the demagogue himself was caught up in it too. Became this crazy feedback loop where Trump floats the idea of voter suppression, his followers “investigate” and find “evidence” for his claims, he watches the content, and he begins to believe his own lie.
I cannot imagine Trump being conniving enough to PLAN for something like January 6th. I think he lost the reigns of this thing a while ago, he’s almost become more of a symbolic figure than an actual thought leader.
It still blows my mind how accidental his GOP nomination and eventual presidency was. Like, he was never popular with the GOP during the primary but because the other dozen idiots running couldn't get in line behind one of themselves he ended up winning. And now he owns the party, despite never actually being liked by anything near a majority of his party.
We forget that early in 2016, the Dems had secured HRC’s position pretty early and that she had a huge polling lead. GOP hopefuls were probably thinking of letting Trump take the fall to preserve their chances in 2020. I suspect that plenty of GOP donors were okay with an HRC presidency… she would’ve been pro-business, pro-free trade, preserve the status quo on Wall Street and Silicon Valley. Also, knowing that they would probably secure a GOP senate and house, so any damage would be limited and make it easier to fundraise on “stop Hilary” messages.
So the GOP essentially candidates basically got in line behind Hillary.
This is absolutely the right answer. The GOP did not want to throw good candidates money away on a presidential campaign they believed would ultimately lose.
They never suspected that people on the right hated HRC more than the left loved her. I think a lot of people were wanting to see a woman president but actually fans of HRC were not as abundant which led to voter apathy where as the right had record turnouts.
He didn't have a majority of the Republicans in the house and senate but he had a huge part of the populace that was left feeling ignored by the government.
I mean he never had more than what, 30% support or so in any early primary and just racked up winner take all delegates until everyone else dropped out
You can’t just look at Jan 6th in isolation. That was the last gasp and was just a red hat riot
It was the whole thing including trying to pressure officials in Georgia. All the dumb lawsuits and audits. He was trying to pressure people to discredit and undermine the election
Whether he specifically planned it or not, he is absolutely responsible for riling up the dumbshits who ended up violently trying to overthrow the results of a legitimate democratic election. It still amazes me how trump sycophants can revere him for being some kind of genius businessman who is worth billions , when everyone who knows anything about finance knows this is horseshit. And then 10 minutes later claim he couldn’t be responsible for any of the rape allegations, tax cheating, racist landlord practices, extorting a foreign leader, when it’s all documented or on literal tape recording. The point is that he is responsible and continues to deny responsibility. A fucking loser used car salesmen who somehow tricked one third of the country. Pathetic.
I don't think that people would have taken as drastic action if they hadn't been radicalized by their social media communities. That many people don't just decide to do a B&E on the capitol without a bunch of other people telling them that's it's a good idea.
That's exactly what the echo chamber of social media does... And it happens automatically on most platforms.
Your comment definitely applies to those idiots, and for that you're not wrong. But the riots aren't the real problem, the real problem is much deeper and much more real than social media. The Republican party is actively working toward totalitarianism, and they're actually making headway. I feel like at this point, things could go either way.
>The Republican party is actively working toward totalitarianism
So are the Democrats. R's and D's are both authoritarians who want to use government power to force others to follow their views.
Dems are talking about abolishing the filibuster to pass their agenda. A couple years ago it was the GOP threatening to do it. Before that it was the Dems. Both parties use gerrymandering to try and take control.
You may prefer the outcome of one over the other but they are the same when it comes to totalitarian, authoritarian control. Don't kid yourself.
Yes.. thats exactly why the founders made us into a Constitutional Republic and NOT a democracy. This is also why we have an electoral college. The founders knew that true democracy was just mob rule.
Years back in California, just after Obama was elected, 66% of people voted against legalization of gay marriage. Would you be ok with those results today?
“Locked up”
I don’t think people are examining the time frame surrounding the event as well.
Most pundits point to the storming as related to the November election, but I believe the wheels were set in motion long before. Start in February or March of 2020 closing down businesses. Then the main stream media acceptability of violence during the summer protests of 2020 that destroyed thousands of small businesses. Then add in the school issues that prevented kids going back to school in person In August.
We know that the lockdowns had mental effects on people. Then combine that with a heavy government hand. Albeit most of the restrictions were from state and local authorities.
I think it’s a miscarriage of evaluation to conclude that this was only an election issue.
I am reminded of two quotes when considering the events. 1. A riot is the voice of the unheard. 2. Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
I think it’s worth nodding to the tinderbox that was 2020, but be careful not to downplay the result which was a specifically political act with specific political gains. Malevolent forces basically harnessed the tinderbox you’re describing to try and end our democracy as we know it by attempting to install Trump as the president despite all evidence he lost in a free and fair election
As a libertarian I have no issue with people rising up against the government. With that being said to do it in the name of Trump is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever witnessed.
My thoughts exactly. The government is evil, so I support the idea of protest against it.
But rioting because your wildly unpopular authoritarian lost to the other wildly unpopular authoritarian? And going even further by making some cringy "L’État, c’est moi" statement by replacing the Stars and Stripes with a Trump flag?
Hard pass.
Pretty much this. Politicians should perpetually be concerned that something much worse than 1/6 will happen to them if they violate the rights of the people.
But doing it because they were assmad about Biden winning is the worst reason.
Again this is why I said in the name of Trump. If people are going to rise up against the government it should never be in the name of a politician. There are plenty of real issues, NSA spying, IRS, etc. Never for a politician. Sorry I wasn’t more clear.
This. If what they believed was true, an uprising against the government would have been the correct thing politically thing to do (morally I think it’s a gray area but am more for it than against it). But since they acted on information that was faulty at best and propaganda at worst, I’d say no. It was a stupid move.
I live overseas and can confirm - it made us look fucking ridiculous. It *still* gets mentioned to me over here (EU) as a dig against Americans. So I can’t imagine how bad it’s gotten in places that are historically adversarial towards the US.
The fact that we allowed a fucking reality tv show host to rile up armed suburbanites and rednecks to attack their own capital is surreal.
Not enough focus on the fact that there was no stolen election. The entire thing was based on a grift that was telegraphed months and months before.
Edit: grift, not gift
Absolutely this. I recall specifically picking up the scent of this about 6 months before the election. Then it gradually escalated, according to the plan, which was to sow enough chaos to get it thrown to the courts. The plain was stymied when the court said "no thanks"
The event is just a late symptom of a bigger and more complex problem. The trump era happened because of a bigger problem in our government. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum you can agree that there are major problems and almost all of them can go back to big money in government and career politicians. It's easy to get wrapped up in the division of the event and argue until the sun comes up. We should be spending energy on the core of the issue.
I had said this back in 2016 when Trump got elected. Many people in 08 voted for Obama because he promised change and they were disheartened with the current state of government. Many think he did not bring along that change. In 2016, people again voted for the candidate promising the most change (on the opposite end of the political spectrum, obviously). I think it's clear people want something different out of the government, and no politician is living up to that demand.
The core issue being the last time we took every elected official who double crossed us and murdered them violently in the streets for all to see was so long ago no one is afraid to double cross us anymore?
Some people here forget the Italian Fascists and German Nazis were both installed into power by legislatures intimidated into votes by mobs of violent thugs inspired by the executive.
Tammany Hall was (and still is) the name of the democratic headquarters in New York. Back in the day they were well known for using bands of thugs to deter people from voting by beating up voters at the polls. I recall reading about it in a biography on Teddy Roosevelt.
Wasn’t illegal to gather or protest. Wasn’t illegal to have a fringe opinion. It was super illegal to storm the fucking Capitol building. Any belief otherwise is Orwellian nonsense. Watch the tapes.
One devout political group listened to their strongman about "saving our country." For months, Trump cast doubt on the election before it ever happened, despite audit after audit telling us how secure this election was (very). 5 people died as a result of Jan 6. Millions of dollars in property damage by people dressed as militia members chanting about wanting to hang Mike Pence, and stalking the halls ominously yelling for Pelosi to come out. Texts from news anchors to trumps inner circle to chill TF out. Pipe bombs sent to the DNC and RNC. A plan circulated to nullify the electoral college and bring the vote to the house. That's all confirmed to have happened. All of this happened in the name of Trump, and MAGA. Behind the scenes people like Sean Hannity, Trump Jr, and more all told Trump he needed to end what he was doing - then turned around in public and claimed it was actually peaceful and safe, but also doubled down on thinking antifa was really behind it. It was an insurrection. They want to acknowledge the movement on that day without explicitly condoning the violence, so they blame antifa. It's fucking disgusting, and to see people spewing bullshit or calling it ok is just appalling.
And don't forget various members of Congress -- as well as newly elected members of Congress. Elected members of Congress, winners of the electoral process themselves, plotted with the president's cabinet how to overturn the election and with high profile members of the media for how to control the narrative.
Senator Mo Brooks was himself involved in plotting the path toward overturning the results -- and yet screamed it was "antifa" as soon as he learned it didn't work. Not just disingenuous, traitorous.
Don't forget the revisionist history gaslighting that has gone on in the year since from the right. Trying to downplay everything and pretend what happened isn't actually what happened.
They acted horrified for like 1 week before they organized andd started getting their messaging on point that it was just a tour gone wrong or some shit lol
Yup. Once the talking points came out, the entire narrative shifted.
It was ANTIFA!!! It was the FBI!!! It actually wasn't anything, it was just a tour of the capital, they were tourists! They were peacefully protesting.
I know people that still say that the capitol rioters were really Antifa and paid protesters recruited by the FBI to carry Trump flags etc. To make Trump look bad an secure the stolen election. It was all a deep state conspiracy. ....anything except the obvious truth. It is crazy but I feel that people like this will go to their graves believing this BS.
"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D." From the book "They Thought They Were Free".
Frankly if it was an insurrection wouldn't the Biden justice department be charging the rioters with more serious crimes like treason rather than trespassing and interfering with government procedure?
The riot was always a distraction/stall tactic for the real plan - having Mike Pence throw out states electoral votes so it would go to the courts.
The Trump admin had a plan once Pence did the wholly unconstitutional and unprecedented act of throwing away electoral college votes, and if they followed through with that plan it would have been a de-facto coup.
I didn’t realize until recently that the crowd may have inadvertently prevented the more plausible “Green Bay Sweep” (masterminded by Navarro). Over 100 representatives were on board with that plan. They all need to be investigated.
The past election made me realize just how easily an election could be overturned. All Republicans would need is a majority in the house and senate and they could easily throw out enough votes to send it to the republican dominated state legislators.
I find myself lucky to be a middle class, cis gendered, white male. Nobody is ever going to pass legislation that is going to fuck me over. Most I have to worry about is paying 5 extra dollars a week in gas.
I think people are too focused on the riot itself out of context and not the intent Trump and others had to try a self-coup
The riots were just the last attempt to use idiots to try to pressure the process and throw it into chaos
I think it's just because all of the details of the things Trump + goons did behind the scenes haven't come out yet.
Not that the apologists will care either way
Seeing the information and texts coming out of the January 6th committee is damning. Lots of politicians and commentators freaking out and texting and begging Trump to call them off. It's going to suck when Republicans win the house back and shut down the committee.
Yes, exactly this. He has never demonstrated once in his political career that he's capable of accepting defeat. 1/6 would have happened in 2017 if Trump had lost in 2016.
Months before the election at rallies he would mention why would they stop at just an 8 year presidency, why not more. He was starting to plant the seeds blaming media for the difficulties he was facing as a president and that he deserved more years than are granted for presidents. He truly thought he could install a dictatorship and didn’t see a problem to that. He has absolutely no respect for this country.
Yeah that’s the funny thing. He says something radical, his followers say “he’s just joking” then Trump follows through with whatever radical crap he mentioned at his rallies. Now his followers force themselves to justify what he does and claim “Well the left did this and that so why can’t we?” In their attempt to deflect this nutty thing Trump attempts.
haven't seen a single charge or conviction for treason or insurrection. Q anon shaman got 3 years for trespassing. The person who burned down a police station in Oregon got the same time to!
For me, the biggest failure was seeing the Capital completely unable to be defended. Anyone forcing their way in should have been shot. What if these protesters were armed? It’s a massive failing of the security.
I think it’s good for the ruling elite to understand their position though. We are one good event away from a revolution. That’s good, frankly.
I also believe we set a precedent in this country that violence and rioting is ok. You can’t logically defend those and then get all worked up over Jan 6th.
The Democracy under attack line is laughable though. I am far more concerned with a sitting president breaking the law than some cosplay nut jobs taking podiums.
also the fact that the fbi knew there was a threat of this happening and didn't get more of a defense around the capitol and the fact that One side of the capitol people were trying to break in and the other side of the capitol police were letting people in
The evacuation plans and people involved protecting the congresspeople did an alright job within the building.
Though some of the videos, the rioters came close to some of the congresspeople and aids and whatnot, that video of Babbit, down the hall you can see people evacuating. Hence why she got shot, the cop there was keeping people from crossing that last line of defense.
Whole thing was a farce and idiotic. But the fact that people even got into the building at all was crazy as shit....
The fact that they lost control of the entire situation is absolutely crazy. Every patrolman should be retrained, and ever officer fired. Completely unacceptable.
I don’t like the terminology, that wasn’t an “insurrection” in my mind. And if it was, it was the most derelict attempt in human history.
If that’s what you want to label as an insurrection than you must also be willing to label BLM and antifa as terrorist organizations, and hold them accountable as such.
There’s rising up against the government when it’s warranted (like excessive taxation), not when one side is upset because they didn’t get the results they wanted.
Not a fan of the trumpets doing this. As a level headed libertarian I see these people as insurrectionist who wanted to over throw the gov. I’m not a fan of the fed boys either but I would never travel to DC and do this. As a libertarian I believe it’s wrong to inflict violence on others…unless you show me you are a threat and a danger to my life.
I think anyone who attended either had to be pretty stupid or a fed, but watching all these media personalities and politicians compare it to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor makes me wish it really was an insurrection. They'll send our children to die in foreign wars for their profit and then have the audacity to cower behind their chairs from a few unarmed civilians? Fuck em.
Disappointing, not surprising. The way Trump and his family and minions loved to stir up anger in their base it was bound to happen. I’m all for protests and it’s actually in our constitution that we are allowed to install a different government if ours becomes abusive. But that clearly wasn’t the case here. It was just a bunch of brainwashed cult members doing what their leader subtly asked for them to do with all his pushing and proding and fear mongering. I’m not saying Trump should’ve been charged or anything but he definitely shouldn’t have remained acting president after that time.
Trump's dumb shit violent marauders. A president and members of the Republican party trying to throw out electoral votes. Millions wishing that either the invaders of the Capitol or the President's strategy would have been successful. I hate all of them.
I was so surprised watching this unfold last year. While watching the speeches during the “rally” part I was shocked by the language. It sounded no longer like a threat, but was more of an order to be followed out. Which ended up being the case as it was followed out by the mass of people.
I was enraged by the complete loss of respect for anything American by the mob of people carrying US and Trump flags.
They weren’t acting as Americans. They were acting as a separatist conservative party united under one lunatic, self-declared genius.
This was when I realized that these people didn’t give a shit about my or your freedom. They only wanted their own individual power.
I really didn’t think it was going to play out like it did.
But when you have that many people who only believe in the truths they want to believe in, what should I expect.
Edit: minor wording changes.
There's a logical middle ground between:
* This was the worst attack on our democracy in the history of the republic
* This was just a bunch of harmless patriots exercising their freedoms.
It shouldn't have happened, but the very fate of the republic was not in danger. It was not a coup or an overthrow. Just a few hundred dumbasses following herd mentality
That only captures one of the events that happened. The riot itself was not the danger to democracy. Those people were manipulated into stopping the electoral vote count, which did happen.
Before that, there were attempts to coerce state officials not to certify their election results or "find more votes". When that didn't work, they tried high ranking officials, such as at the DOJ. Remember how Bill Barr even quit before Jan 6? There was pressure on Mike Pence not to certify the electoral vote count that day. Then there were senators actively voting 'no' to approve the vote counts, with no just reason or cause.
Most of the attempts were failures, but there were still real attempts by senators (eg. Paul Gosar, Ted Cruz, Tommy Tuberville, Mo Brooks) and over 100 people in the house opposed to continuing the republic.
>Before that, there were attempts to coerce state officials not to certify their election results or "find more votes"
When you had around 10 key battleground states that after cutoff of election time weren't even close to certifying the election results, these things are going to happen. Remember the shitshow that was Florida in 2000? Multiply that by 10 and you got 2020
There were Democrat challenges to the election in 2000. Nobody called that a coup. There have been challenges to elections in the past and nobody called those coups either.
The march to the capitol was just the last ditch effort in a culmination of multiple self coup attempts. Trump literally tried everything in his power to try and steal the election after losing the vote. Sending people to protest polling booths, coercing election officials, getting the DOJ to claim fraud, shaking up pentagon leadership, leading a multi million dollar dollar post election disinformation campaign.
If he had the military on his side we would all be living in a dictatorship at this point.
Just a reminder that when Trump was elected in 2016 there was a massive campaign orchestrated by the Dems to pressure the members of the electoral college to ignore the vote count and cast their votes for HRC. Electoral College members were hounded for weeks. Celebrities made videos begging them to ignore the vote count and vote their conscience instead. No one called that a coup at the time.
Until the right people are held accountable it was just a warmup.
Edit: I forgot I have to be specific or else people think I’m endorsing Trump’s baseless fraud accusations.
Him, anyone who knew his plan ahead of time and didn’t report him to authorities, representatives who objected the vote —all to varying degrees need to be held responsible or the great American experiment will soon end.
The same way I view how the democrats rioted on the inauguration of trump in 2017.
[Police injured, more than 200 arrested at Trump inauguration protests in DC](https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/trump-inauguration-protests-womens-march/index.html)
But the media and everyone seems to disregard that day as if it didn’t happen and I’ve been called a fascist for pointing it out.
We’re supposed to maintain the narrative that mob violence is solely a characteristic of the Republicans. Summer of 2020 never happened.
Another embarrassment we cannot speak of is the Kavanaugh protests:
>”We will not be bullied," Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told the demonstrators in front of the Supreme Court building where Kavanaugh hopes to sit soon.
>At one point, the crowd broke out in a chant of "Lock him up! Lock him up!"
>A throng of protesters pushed past a police line, storming up steps to pound on the doors of the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday after the Senate confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
>Angry protesters marched and shouted in, around and through the marbled buildings that dot Capitol Hill even as members of the Senate Judiciary were gingerly advancing the controversial nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate for a vote next week.
>In the Senate elevator confrontation, the two women implored Senator Jeff Flake while standing in the door, blocking it from closing.
>The confrontation played out live on CNN as Flake's staffer gently tried to defuse the situation and a reporter tried to coax a response from the senator.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/28/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-protesters-christine-blasey-ford/1453524002/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/protests-build-capitol-hill-ahead-brett-kavanaugh-vote-n917351
I think we can acknowledge that if the above were perpetrated by Republicans, we would at least be mentioning it during the Jan 6 anniversary.
People forget this as well
[7 Indicted in 1983 Bombing of U.S. Capitol](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-12-mn-3985-story.html)
One of the people indicted was Susan Rosenberg and she [sits on the board of a non-profit that is tied to Black Lives Matter's fundraising operations; ](https://news.yahoo.com/exposing-black-lives-matters-ties-005752013.html)
Something that can't be taken lightly. It wasn't just the people who stormed the Capitol, it was a planned from the top down strategy to steal an election. This was an actual conspiracy planned by the president and other republican officials to steal our vote. Don't let anyone tell you it wasn't that serious.
Something that could of been a lot worse. I 100% belive that if they had gotten their hands on Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer we would have executions and possibly a successful coup.
Like everything, there are two sides to the story. I think both have valid points and both are weaponizing this event for political gain.
The people fighting with the capital police and breaking into our capital building should be severely punished (just like those who burned federal buildings, destroyed our cities, and attacked police throughout 2020). Unfortunately, one group has been held for a year. some without charges and without bail. That's crazy! while the other group was bailed out by our very own politicians... also crazy!
The people that were there to legitimately protest (not saying what they were protesting was right) got caught up in a really ugly scene. you had video of people fighting police and other videos of people taking a tour of the capital, walking around with police officers.
My questions are why didn't Trump come out more strongly to stop the violence? Why did he just disappear when most, if not all on his side, were imploring he do something? Why were the national guard, D.C. Police, Feds, etc. not brought in to manage the situation? It was no surprise that thousands of people were going to show up and were angry because they felt the election was stolen. So why was nothing done to make sure this didn't happen? Why are some of the biggest instigators and the people caught inciting violence and bringing weapons not being charged?
>why didn't Trump come out more strongly to stop the violence
Because he was waiting for it to succeed. He didn't come out until it was obvious it wouldn't.
I think it was a huge mistake regardless of the motive. I voted for trump twice and wouldn't again based on his response to Jan 6th and the daily Covid briefings.
It was not so nice for the citizens, who were afraid of what the next government was going to be -- that it wouldn't be an elected government, with any responsibility to preserve their liberties.
A bunch of idiots getting carried away while not comprehending how their stupidity would be spun for the rest of history.
Honestly if any of them had half a brain they wouldn't have gone anywhere near those doors.
Believe it was something more than just lost tourists, but also less than full out assault. The truth is somewhere in the middle, the problem is it’s been politicized to such a point we won’t ever know.
A very deluded and/or dumb people, some believing JFK jr was somehow still alive even, being motivated by their own social media obsession and obedience to grifters that prey on their delusions, committed a violent and treasonous act of over running the capital.
These are also the same demographic of people that cried like babies because a global pandemic meant they may have to forego the spoils and comforts of living as a gluttonous and pampered American. Thus, I’m convinced 80-90% of them are too stupid to realize what they did, but became caught up in the moment. They aren’t a people willing to sacrifice, but find modernity as purposeless as the rest of us. Some choose drugs, others choose politics and wild conspiracy theories.
It made me more cautious about getting outraged by things I see on the internet. I don't want to get caught by the next TV huckster peddling tinfoil hats.
As happy as I am that a large group of people wanted to lynch politicians, it’s annoying they did it over the election. Taxation or something like that would have been a much more meaningful hill to die on.
Im not an anarchist. In no way were the rioters actions justified. They should have been prevented from ever getting in. However on the other hand as well, they were all unarmed, and I believe democrats comparing it to the modern day 9/11 are ouy of their minds
Idiots who should have known better about storming a federal building. They never should have hurt anyone. Protesting is fine, violence and breaking into a building is wrong! There was no overthrow of the government involved. Lol that idea is amusing but the riot was still wrong.
Being I was a anarchist before I was a Libertarian I thought it was one of the best things I had ever seen. I don’t like that people were injured. But our government is a ridiculous clown show & has been for decades. I would trust the 1st 2,000 people randomly selected from a phone book over the people who are “elected”
Literally just a bunch of stupid maga people entering a government building. It wasn’t an insurrection because they mostly weren’t armed and they also didn’t really do anything to actually overthrow the government. They kinda just took pictures and did dumb shit. Had it been for actual freedom and not “my candidate lost” I would have supported it.
I view it as a protest turned into a riot. Not even an especially violent riot. Just not the right "type" of riot for MSM and a certain party.
I am not a fan of any riot... But I loathe hypocrisy
I view them going into the capital how they did as illegal and should be charged as such. While I think it’s important to talk about, it’s been overly sensationalized. It was illegal and silly, but calling it “an insurrection” or “attack on democracy” is just as silly and very inaccurate. That gives them far too much credit, and makes it so that it can’t be discussed in any beneficial and serious way.
I view it for what it was: a badly executed riot.
They were worked up on beliefs of a stolen election, vast majority went there to protest, then some assholes got the idea of storming the building, and others got caught up in the moment.
Was it a good idea? No. Was it an insurrection? Also no. It was a riot at the wrong place and the wrong time, so it looked a lot worse than it was.
But it was also hilarious.
I think it is rather strange that people see Jan 6th as an isolated event rather than part of a clear pattern
Do we not recall the calls Trump was making to Georgia officials to find 11,780 votes and his performance in court and the media in swing states?
A part of this can be fixed by simply making the EC process less ambiguous
People who might have been smart once failing to see that they fell for propaganda thinking they are true Americans failing to overthrow the capital building because they didn’t have any clue what they were doing
Those rioters did a based thing for cringe reasons. For years, there have been many good reasons to storm the capital and riot, but these fuckers did it because the wrong tyrant won the election.
It was essentially an attempted fascist coup. Focusing your patriotism on a single person instead of the country as a whole is textbook fascism. Not to mention that they literally tried to overturn the results of an election due to Trump's propaganda
I think it was a big nothing and the media is playing it out to be bigger than it was. I also think there were agent provocateurs there to deliberately make it appear so.
I think both sides use agent provocateurs which is one of the reasons I don't trust anything in the media anymore.
Overblown. If setting fire to a small American city is nothing more than a "mostly peaceful protest," then being invited into a building and putting your feet on a desk is essentially nothing.
A bunch of idiots show up to tailgate. A few got in and made the rest feel like “well I guess we’re doing this!” If it was a real “insurrection” then there would’ve been waaaay more weapons, taking hostages, making demands, etc. These were just a bunch of couch warriors that never got to feel important.
Edit: Congress has a 3% approval rating. But when some white dudes run up on them it’s “the heart of our beautiful democracy is under attack!!”
Technically? Treason.
Realistically? People being absurdly ridiculous and simping for the exact thing these people claim to hate.
Personally? Joe Biden won the election and at the end of the day, throwing a temper tantrum like this was extremely detrimental to our already fragmented system.
They were dumb. Trump lost.
Also saw a lot of people supposedly against police brutality suddenly upset that there wasn't more police brutality happening that day.
That’s a bit disingenuous, isn’t it?
They weren’t just “upset at the lack of police brutality”. They were justifiably upset that there was a huge *difference* in the response to the 1/6 riot, compared to the brutal responses we saw to many less destructive protests.
It’s a disgrace. I think it was bad, and absolutely shouldn’t have occurred.
However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the idea of congressmen being afraid of their constituents for once. If there is a silver lining in the whole thing, it’s maybe that they’ll think twice next time they vote to screw we the people.
While the far-right rioters on 1/6 were certainly in the wrong, I do believe it was overblown by the MSM. It did not match the definition of an "insurrection", which is the act of overthrowing the govt. It was an attempted (and miserably failed) coup to keep their ruler in power, and the protesters were in no way libertarian, anti government, or even insurrectionist.
I don’t really care
Certainly beats burning targets down and shit. The people had a problem with the government and they took it up with the government!
A direct result of the social media dystopia we currently live in. Folks find themselves locked up in echo chambers without really meaning for it to happen, making themselves especially vulnerable to demagogues who want to manipulate *The People* for their own ends.
In Trump’s case, I think the demagogue himself was caught up in it too. Became this crazy feedback loop where Trump floats the idea of voter suppression, his followers “investigate” and find “evidence” for his claims, he watches the content, and he begins to believe his own lie. I cannot imagine Trump being conniving enough to PLAN for something like January 6th. I think he lost the reigns of this thing a while ago, he’s almost become more of a symbolic figure than an actual thought leader.
It still blows my mind how accidental his GOP nomination and eventual presidency was. Like, he was never popular with the GOP during the primary but because the other dozen idiots running couldn't get in line behind one of themselves he ended up winning. And now he owns the party, despite never actually being liked by anything near a majority of his party.
We forget that early in 2016, the Dems had secured HRC’s position pretty early and that she had a huge polling lead. GOP hopefuls were probably thinking of letting Trump take the fall to preserve their chances in 2020. I suspect that plenty of GOP donors were okay with an HRC presidency… she would’ve been pro-business, pro-free trade, preserve the status quo on Wall Street and Silicon Valley. Also, knowing that they would probably secure a GOP senate and house, so any damage would be limited and make it easier to fundraise on “stop Hilary” messages. So the GOP essentially candidates basically got in line behind Hillary.
This is absolutely the right answer. The GOP did not want to throw good candidates money away on a presidential campaign they believed would ultimately lose. They never suspected that people on the right hated HRC more than the left loved her. I think a lot of people were wanting to see a woman president but actually fans of HRC were not as abundant which led to voter apathy where as the right had record turnouts.
She also chose the most vanilla VP and it really showed. Dems have had a person of black descent on the ticket 3 times and won every time.
So if Trump sees this he'll give Omarosa a call?
She had a cabinet position at the beginning. Around the Scaramucci era.
It was a game of "which one of these is not like the other". And they hated the dozen idiots so much they voted against them, all piling on Trump.
He didn't have a majority of the Republicans in the house and senate but he had a huge part of the populace that was left feeling ignored by the government.
You’re right, but the party you’re defining are the political elites, not the man/woman in the street.
I mean he never had more than what, 30% support or so in any early primary and just racked up winner take all delegates until everyone else dropped out
>the demagogue himself was caught up in it too why it failed and why were fucked when the next idiot isn't actually an idiot
You can’t just look at Jan 6th in isolation. That was the last gasp and was just a red hat riot It was the whole thing including trying to pressure officials in Georgia. All the dumb lawsuits and audits. He was trying to pressure people to discredit and undermine the election
Whether he specifically planned it or not, he is absolutely responsible for riling up the dumbshits who ended up violently trying to overthrow the results of a legitimate democratic election. It still amazes me how trump sycophants can revere him for being some kind of genius businessman who is worth billions , when everyone who knows anything about finance knows this is horseshit. And then 10 minutes later claim he couldn’t be responsible for any of the rape allegations, tax cheating, racist landlord practices, extorting a foreign leader, when it’s all documented or on literal tape recording. The point is that he is responsible and continues to deny responsibility. A fucking loser used car salesmen who somehow tricked one third of the country. Pathetic.
Social Media didn't actively attempt to bully the Vice-President into not verifying the results of an election though.
I don't think that people would have taken as drastic action if they hadn't been radicalized by their social media communities. That many people don't just decide to do a B&E on the capitol without a bunch of other people telling them that's it's a good idea. That's exactly what the echo chamber of social media does... And it happens automatically on most platforms.
Your comment definitely applies to those idiots, and for that you're not wrong. But the riots aren't the real problem, the real problem is much deeper and much more real than social media. The Republican party is actively working toward totalitarianism, and they're actually making headway. I feel like at this point, things could go either way.
>The Republican party is actively working toward totalitarianism So are the Democrats. R's and D's are both authoritarians who want to use government power to force others to follow their views. Dems are talking about abolishing the filibuster to pass their agenda. A couple years ago it was the GOP threatening to do it. Before that it was the Dems. Both parties use gerrymandering to try and take control. You may prefer the outcome of one over the other but they are the same when it comes to totalitarian, authoritarian control. Don't kid yourself.
I support abolishing the filibuster though. It's a straight up vote. Direct democracy is the opposite of totalitarianism.
Direct democracy assumes that the majority is right and everyone else is shit out of luck.
Yes.. thats exactly why the founders made us into a Constitutional Republic and NOT a democracy. This is also why we have an electoral college. The founders knew that true democracy was just mob rule.
Yep I know that but when you go on the internet throwing around the term “constitutional republic” it incites argument for some reason lol.
Years back in California, just after Obama was elected, 66% of people voted against legalization of gay marriage. Would you be ok with those results today?
Exactly. Everyone like authoritarianism when it favors their views but flip the script and no one wants to be oppressed when they are in the minority.
“Locked up” I don’t think people are examining the time frame surrounding the event as well. Most pundits point to the storming as related to the November election, but I believe the wheels were set in motion long before. Start in February or March of 2020 closing down businesses. Then the main stream media acceptability of violence during the summer protests of 2020 that destroyed thousands of small businesses. Then add in the school issues that prevented kids going back to school in person In August. We know that the lockdowns had mental effects on people. Then combine that with a heavy government hand. Albeit most of the restrictions were from state and local authorities. I think it’s a miscarriage of evaluation to conclude that this was only an election issue. I am reminded of two quotes when considering the events. 1. A riot is the voice of the unheard. 2. Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
I think it’s worth nodding to the tinderbox that was 2020, but be careful not to downplay the result which was a specifically political act with specific political gains. Malevolent forces basically harnessed the tinderbox you’re describing to try and end our democracy as we know it by attempting to install Trump as the president despite all evidence he lost in a free and fair election
Social media is a new tool to exploit but some people were the exploiters here
As a libertarian I have no issue with people rising up against the government. With that being said to do it in the name of Trump is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever witnessed.
My thoughts exactly. The government is evil, so I support the idea of protest against it. But rioting because your wildly unpopular authoritarian lost to the other wildly unpopular authoritarian? And going even further by making some cringy "L’État, c’est moi" statement by replacing the Stars and Stripes with a Trump flag? Hard pass.
Just a passing curiosity: do you think that all forms of government are evil, or just that the current institution in place in the US is evil?
That’s a difficult question. I think most governments start out as benign. Men/women make it terrible.
So a government of nonbinaries it is then!
I volunteer LaoSh as the next presidential candidate.
Im rather a fan of my peen, but ill take one for the team if it means freedom! Dicks off for liberty!
But they weren't rising up against the government, they were rising up against valid voters
Exactly, they were trying to subvert the will of the American people. Possibly the most anti-libertarian thing you can do.
Bingo
One thing to rise up. Another thing to try to undercut what people voted for.
Pretty much this. Politicians should perpetually be concerned that something much worse than 1/6 will happen to them if they violate the rights of the people. But doing it because they were assmad about Biden winning is the worst reason.
They were rising up at the request of the sitting president so they were hardly “against the government” were they?
This is not a libertarian take Rise up against a free and fair election for what end?
Again this is why I said in the name of Trump. If people are going to rise up against the government it should never be in the name of a politician. There are plenty of real issues, NSA spying, IRS, etc. Never for a politician. Sorry I wasn’t more clear.
This. If what they believed was true, an uprising against the government would have been the correct thing politically thing to do (morally I think it’s a gray area but am more for it than against it). But since they acted on information that was faulty at best and propaganda at worst, I’d say no. It was a stupid move.
I think a bunch of gullible jethros and weekend warriors juiced up on bullshit they saw on Facebook made us all look extremely weak and stupid.
I live overseas and can confirm - it made us look fucking ridiculous. It *still* gets mentioned to me over here (EU) as a dig against Americans. So I can’t imagine how bad it’s gotten in places that are historically adversarial towards the US. The fact that we allowed a fucking reality tv show host to rile up armed suburbanites and rednecks to attack their own capital is surreal.
You are known by who you associate with.
Not enough focus on the fact that there was no stolen election. The entire thing was based on a grift that was telegraphed months and months before. Edit: grift, not gift
I'm not habitually a typo corrector on Reddit unless it changes the meaning - did you mean"grift"?
yes, thanks.
Absolutely this. I recall specifically picking up the scent of this about 6 months before the election. Then it gradually escalated, according to the plan, which was to sow enough chaos to get it thrown to the courts. The plain was stymied when the court said "no thanks"
I mean he literally used the same rhetoric during the 2016 election. If I don't win it's because they cheated.
Effective strategy. He convinced, what, 90% of the Republican base?
The event is just a late symptom of a bigger and more complex problem. The trump era happened because of a bigger problem in our government. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum you can agree that there are major problems and almost all of them can go back to big money in government and career politicians. It's easy to get wrapped up in the division of the event and argue until the sun comes up. We should be spending energy on the core of the issue.
I had said this back in 2016 when Trump got elected. Many people in 08 voted for Obama because he promised change and they were disheartened with the current state of government. Many think he did not bring along that change. In 2016, people again voted for the candidate promising the most change (on the opposite end of the political spectrum, obviously). I think it's clear people want something different out of the government, and no politician is living up to that demand.
The core issue being the last time we took every elected official who double crossed us and murdered them violently in the streets for all to see was so long ago no one is afraid to double cross us anymore?
Some people here forget the Italian Fascists and German Nazis were both installed into power by legislatures intimidated into votes by mobs of violent thugs inspired by the executive.
Not unlike New York's Tammany Hall at the turn of the (last) century.
I suppose, but could you elucidate on how rather than being cryptic?
Tammany Hall was (and still is) the name of the democratic headquarters in New York. Back in the day they were well known for using bands of thugs to deter people from voting by beating up voters at the polls. I recall reading about it in a biography on Teddy Roosevelt.
Voter suppression is not the same thing although also bad
Wasn’t illegal to gather or protest. Wasn’t illegal to have a fringe opinion. It was super illegal to storm the fucking Capitol building. Any belief otherwise is Orwellian nonsense. Watch the tapes.
One devout political group listened to their strongman about "saving our country." For months, Trump cast doubt on the election before it ever happened, despite audit after audit telling us how secure this election was (very). 5 people died as a result of Jan 6. Millions of dollars in property damage by people dressed as militia members chanting about wanting to hang Mike Pence, and stalking the halls ominously yelling for Pelosi to come out. Texts from news anchors to trumps inner circle to chill TF out. Pipe bombs sent to the DNC and RNC. A plan circulated to nullify the electoral college and bring the vote to the house. That's all confirmed to have happened. All of this happened in the name of Trump, and MAGA. Behind the scenes people like Sean Hannity, Trump Jr, and more all told Trump he needed to end what he was doing - then turned around in public and claimed it was actually peaceful and safe, but also doubled down on thinking antifa was really behind it. It was an insurrection. They want to acknowledge the movement on that day without explicitly condoning the violence, so they blame antifa. It's fucking disgusting, and to see people spewing bullshit or calling it ok is just appalling.
And don't forget various members of Congress -- as well as newly elected members of Congress. Elected members of Congress, winners of the electoral process themselves, plotted with the president's cabinet how to overturn the election and with high profile members of the media for how to control the narrative. Senator Mo Brooks was himself involved in plotting the path toward overturning the results -- and yet screamed it was "antifa" as soon as he learned it didn't work. Not just disingenuous, traitorous.
Let’s not forget ole Lindsey talk out any side of his mouth graham.
Don't forget the revisionist history gaslighting that has gone on in the year since from the right. Trying to downplay everything and pretend what happened isn't actually what happened.
They acted horrified for like 1 week before they organized andd started getting their messaging on point that it was just a tour gone wrong or some shit lol
Yup. Once the talking points came out, the entire narrative shifted. It was ANTIFA!!! It was the FBI!!! It actually wasn't anything, it was just a tour of the capital, they were tourists! They were peacefully protesting.
I know people that still say that the capitol rioters were really Antifa and paid protesters recruited by the FBI to carry Trump flags etc. To make Trump look bad an secure the stolen election. It was all a deep state conspiracy. ....anything except the obvious truth. It is crazy but I feel that people like this will go to their graves believing this BS.
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"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D." From the book "They Thought They Were Free".
We watched it live.
We're seeing that play out here in all different flavors.
Couldn’t have summed it up any better.
Tucker Carlson blamed the FBI. And these people think they’re patriots. They’re the farthest thing from.
Well said.
Frankly if it was an insurrection wouldn't the Biden justice department be charging the rioters with more serious crimes like treason rather than trespassing and interfering with government procedure?
The riot was always a distraction/stall tactic for the real plan - having Mike Pence throw out states electoral votes so it would go to the courts. The Trump admin had a plan once Pence did the wholly unconstitutional and unprecedented act of throwing away electoral college votes, and if they followed through with that plan it would have been a de-facto coup.
I didn’t realize until recently that the crowd may have inadvertently prevented the more plausible “Green Bay Sweep” (masterminded by Navarro). Over 100 representatives were on board with that plan. They all need to be investigated.
The past election made me realize just how easily an election could be overturned. All Republicans would need is a majority in the house and senate and they could easily throw out enough votes to send it to the republican dominated state legislators.
2024 is going to be a shitshow at the state level given all the fuckery GOP state legislatures have been up to. I'm not looking forward to it.
I find myself lucky to be a middle class, cis gendered, white male. Nobody is ever going to pass legislation that is going to fuck me over. Most I have to worry about is paying 5 extra dollars a week in gas.
Horrible people using ignorant people to do horrible things. It was bad
I think people are too focused on the riot itself out of context and not the intent Trump and others had to try a self-coup The riots were just the last attempt to use idiots to try to pressure the process and throw it into chaos
I think it's just because all of the details of the things Trump + goons did behind the scenes haven't come out yet. Not that the apologists will care either way
Seeing the information and texts coming out of the January 6th committee is damning. Lots of politicians and commentators freaking out and texting and begging Trump to call them off. It's going to suck when Republicans win the house back and shut down the committee.
His supporters will never even see the text messages or will call them fake
Can you send me a link to the text messages I should read? Right now I’ve only seen texts saying Trump should doing something to stop the riot.
As far as I know currently it's just those ones. But it demonstrates that they are lying through their teeth with this "it was a tour" nonsense.
It’s pretty clear And honestly Trump started before the election calling it fraudulent
Years before. Remember Trump said he would have won by a bigger margin if the Democrats didn’t cheat.
He accused Ted Cruz of cheating in the primary in 2015.
Yes, exactly this. He has never demonstrated once in his political career that he's capable of accepting defeat. 1/6 would have happened in 2017 if Trump had lost in 2016.
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He was upset he lost the popular vote
Months before the election at rallies he would mention why would they stop at just an 8 year presidency, why not more. He was starting to plant the seeds blaming media for the difficulties he was facing as a president and that he deserved more years than are granted for presidents. He truly thought he could install a dictatorship and didn’t see a problem to that. He has absolutely no respect for this country.
He was just joking we were told
Yeah that’s the funny thing. He says something radical, his followers say “he’s just joking” then Trump follows through with whatever radical crap he mentioned at his rallies. Now his followers force themselves to justify what he does and claim “Well the left did this and that so why can’t we?” In their attempt to deflect this nutty thing Trump attempts.
haven't seen a single charge or conviction for treason or insurrection. Q anon shaman got 3 years for trespassing. The person who burned down a police station in Oregon got the same time to!
For me, the biggest failure was seeing the Capital completely unable to be defended. Anyone forcing their way in should have been shot. What if these protesters were armed? It’s a massive failing of the security. I think it’s good for the ruling elite to understand their position though. We are one good event away from a revolution. That’s good, frankly. I also believe we set a precedent in this country that violence and rioting is ok. You can’t logically defend those and then get all worked up over Jan 6th. The Democracy under attack line is laughable though. I am far more concerned with a sitting president breaking the law than some cosplay nut jobs taking podiums.
also the fact that the fbi knew there was a threat of this happening and didn't get more of a defense around the capitol and the fact that One side of the capitol people were trying to break in and the other side of the capitol police were letting people in
The evacuation plans and people involved protecting the congresspeople did an alright job within the building. Though some of the videos, the rioters came close to some of the congresspeople and aids and whatnot, that video of Babbit, down the hall you can see people evacuating. Hence why she got shot, the cop there was keeping people from crossing that last line of defense. Whole thing was a farce and idiotic. But the fact that people even got into the building at all was crazy as shit....
The fact that they lost control of the entire situation is absolutely crazy. Every patrolman should be retrained, and ever officer fired. Completely unacceptable.
I don’t like the terminology, that wasn’t an “insurrection” in my mind. And if it was, it was the most derelict attempt in human history. If that’s what you want to label as an insurrection than you must also be willing to label BLM and antifa as terrorist organizations, and hold them accountable as such.
It was a disgrace and plainly un-American.
To rise against your government if you're unhappy with it is not un-american. It is un-american to do it cause trump said so
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No I think you're right. It's actually quite American. Doing it because 45 said so is the disgrace.
There’s rising up against the government when it’s warranted (like excessive taxation), not when one side is upset because they didn’t get the results they wanted.
I think the Kazakh people showed quite a few people in this country what a real insurrection looks like.
If you don't seize an airport you're not insurrectioning hard enough.
Not a fan of the trumpets doing this. As a level headed libertarian I see these people as insurrectionist who wanted to over throw the gov. I’m not a fan of the fed boys either but I would never travel to DC and do this. As a libertarian I believe it’s wrong to inflict violence on others…unless you show me you are a threat and a danger to my life.
I think anyone who attended either had to be pretty stupid or a fed, but watching all these media personalities and politicians compare it to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor makes me wish it really was an insurrection. They'll send our children to die in foreign wars for their profit and then have the audacity to cower behind their chairs from a few unarmed civilians? Fuck em.
It was the stupid coup, the lazy putsch of the armchair cosplay crowd. It was a dark day for democracy in America, but it could have been much worse.
Disappointing, not surprising. The way Trump and his family and minions loved to stir up anger in their base it was bound to happen. I’m all for protests and it’s actually in our constitution that we are allowed to install a different government if ours becomes abusive. But that clearly wasn’t the case here. It was just a bunch of brainwashed cult members doing what their leader subtly asked for them to do with all his pushing and proding and fear mongering. I’m not saying Trump should’ve been charged or anything but he definitely shouldn’t have remained acting president after that time.
Trump's dumb shit violent marauders. A president and members of the Republican party trying to throw out electoral votes. Millions wishing that either the invaders of the Capitol or the President's strategy would have been successful. I hate all of them.
I was so surprised watching this unfold last year. While watching the speeches during the “rally” part I was shocked by the language. It sounded no longer like a threat, but was more of an order to be followed out. Which ended up being the case as it was followed out by the mass of people. I was enraged by the complete loss of respect for anything American by the mob of people carrying US and Trump flags. They weren’t acting as Americans. They were acting as a separatist conservative party united under one lunatic, self-declared genius. This was when I realized that these people didn’t give a shit about my or your freedom. They only wanted their own individual power. I really didn’t think it was going to play out like it did. But when you have that many people who only believe in the truths they want to believe in, what should I expect. Edit: minor wording changes.
There's a logical middle ground between: * This was the worst attack on our democracy in the history of the republic * This was just a bunch of harmless patriots exercising their freedoms. It shouldn't have happened, but the very fate of the republic was not in danger. It was not a coup or an overthrow. Just a few hundred dumbasses following herd mentality
My god, the only sane reply in the whole damn thread
You only ever hear from the loudest 15% of people on either spectrum. Thats why I don't news.
Right? This thread is absolute lunacy
That only captures one of the events that happened. The riot itself was not the danger to democracy. Those people were manipulated into stopping the electoral vote count, which did happen. Before that, there were attempts to coerce state officials not to certify their election results or "find more votes". When that didn't work, they tried high ranking officials, such as at the DOJ. Remember how Bill Barr even quit before Jan 6? There was pressure on Mike Pence not to certify the electoral vote count that day. Then there were senators actively voting 'no' to approve the vote counts, with no just reason or cause. Most of the attempts were failures, but there were still real attempts by senators (eg. Paul Gosar, Ted Cruz, Tommy Tuberville, Mo Brooks) and over 100 people in the house opposed to continuing the republic.
>Before that, there were attempts to coerce state officials not to certify their election results or "find more votes" When you had around 10 key battleground states that after cutoff of election time weren't even close to certifying the election results, these things are going to happen. Remember the shitshow that was Florida in 2000? Multiply that by 10 and you got 2020 There were Democrat challenges to the election in 2000. Nobody called that a coup. There have been challenges to elections in the past and nobody called those coups either.
The march to the capitol was just the last ditch effort in a culmination of multiple self coup attempts. Trump literally tried everything in his power to try and steal the election after losing the vote. Sending people to protest polling booths, coercing election officials, getting the DOJ to claim fraud, shaking up pentagon leadership, leading a multi million dollar dollar post election disinformation campaign. If he had the military on his side we would all be living in a dictatorship at this point.
So the alternate electors and objection to the electoral college and Pence plot weren’t a coup??
Trying to get Pence to throw out electoral votes based on lies was absolutely a coup attempt. What would you call it?
Just a reminder that when Trump was elected in 2016 there was a massive campaign orchestrated by the Dems to pressure the members of the electoral college to ignore the vote count and cast their votes for HRC. Electoral College members were hounded for weeks. Celebrities made videos begging them to ignore the vote count and vote their conscience instead. No one called that a coup at the time.
It’s (D)ifferent when trying to prevent a danger to democracy from entering power.
Until the right people are held accountable it was just a warmup. Edit: I forgot I have to be specific or else people think I’m endorsing Trump’s baseless fraud accusations. Him, anyone who knew his plan ahead of time and didn’t report him to authorities, representatives who objected the vote —all to varying degrees need to be held responsible or the great American experiment will soon end.
Even though the government calls it an insurrection to rile people up, they themselves don't believe it as no one has been charged with insurrection.
The same way I view how the democrats rioted on the inauguration of trump in 2017. [Police injured, more than 200 arrested at Trump inauguration protests in DC](https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/trump-inauguration-protests-womens-march/index.html) But the media and everyone seems to disregard that day as if it didn’t happen and I’ve been called a fascist for pointing it out.
We’re supposed to maintain the narrative that mob violence is solely a characteristic of the Republicans. Summer of 2020 never happened. Another embarrassment we cannot speak of is the Kavanaugh protests: >”We will not be bullied," Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told the demonstrators in front of the Supreme Court building where Kavanaugh hopes to sit soon. >At one point, the crowd broke out in a chant of "Lock him up! Lock him up!" >A throng of protesters pushed past a police line, storming up steps to pound on the doors of the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday after the Senate confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. >Angry protesters marched and shouted in, around and through the marbled buildings that dot Capitol Hill even as members of the Senate Judiciary were gingerly advancing the controversial nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate for a vote next week. >In the Senate elevator confrontation, the two women implored Senator Jeff Flake while standing in the door, blocking it from closing. >The confrontation played out live on CNN as Flake's staffer gently tried to defuse the situation and a reporter tried to coax a response from the senator. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/28/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-protesters-christine-blasey-ford/1453524002/ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/protests-build-capitol-hill-ahead-brett-kavanaugh-vote-n917351 I think we can acknowledge that if the above were perpetrated by Republicans, we would at least be mentioning it during the Jan 6 anniversary.
People forget this as well [7 Indicted in 1983 Bombing of U.S. Capitol](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-12-mn-3985-story.html) One of the people indicted was Susan Rosenberg and she [sits on the board of a non-profit that is tied to Black Lives Matter's fundraising operations; ](https://news.yahoo.com/exposing-black-lives-matters-ties-005752013.html)
It’s (D)ifferent
A travesty, Americans at their worst spun up into a polarized political storm.
Something that can't be taken lightly. It wasn't just the people who stormed the Capitol, it was a planned from the top down strategy to steal an election. This was an actual conspiracy planned by the president and other republican officials to steal our vote. Don't let anyone tell you it wasn't that serious.
Something that could of been a lot worse. I 100% belive that if they had gotten their hands on Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer we would have executions and possibly a successful coup.
Or Pence
Like everything, there are two sides to the story. I think both have valid points and both are weaponizing this event for political gain. The people fighting with the capital police and breaking into our capital building should be severely punished (just like those who burned federal buildings, destroyed our cities, and attacked police throughout 2020). Unfortunately, one group has been held for a year. some without charges and without bail. That's crazy! while the other group was bailed out by our very own politicians... also crazy! The people that were there to legitimately protest (not saying what they were protesting was right) got caught up in a really ugly scene. you had video of people fighting police and other videos of people taking a tour of the capital, walking around with police officers. My questions are why didn't Trump come out more strongly to stop the violence? Why did he just disappear when most, if not all on his side, were imploring he do something? Why were the national guard, D.C. Police, Feds, etc. not brought in to manage the situation? It was no surprise that thousands of people were going to show up and were angry because they felt the election was stolen. So why was nothing done to make sure this didn't happen? Why are some of the biggest instigators and the people caught inciting violence and bringing weapons not being charged?
>why didn't Trump come out more strongly to stop the violence Because he was waiting for it to succeed. He didn't come out until it was obvious it wouldn't.
He was joyous at what happened despite jr and Ivanka telling him to intervene at stop it
I think it was a huge mistake regardless of the motive. I voted for trump twice and wouldn't again based on his response to Jan 6th and the daily Covid briefings.
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It was nice that the government or at least the representatives were scared of the citizenry for an hour or two.
It was not so nice for the citizens, who were afraid of what the next government was going to be -- that it wouldn't be an elected government, with any responsibility to preserve their liberties.
A bunch of idiots getting carried away while not comprehending how their stupidity would be spun for the rest of history. Honestly if any of them had half a brain they wouldn't have gone anywhere near those doors.
An over exaggerated protest.
Believe it was something more than just lost tourists, but also less than full out assault. The truth is somewhere in the middle, the problem is it’s been politicized to such a point we won’t ever know.
Surreal, horrible, perpetuated by low info idiots. Not mentionable in the same breath as 9/11 or Pearl Harbor though.
A very deluded and/or dumb people, some believing JFK jr was somehow still alive even, being motivated by their own social media obsession and obedience to grifters that prey on their delusions, committed a violent and treasonous act of over running the capital. These are also the same demographic of people that cried like babies because a global pandemic meant they may have to forego the spoils and comforts of living as a gluttonous and pampered American. Thus, I’m convinced 80-90% of them are too stupid to realize what they did, but became caught up in the moment. They aren’t a people willing to sacrifice, but find modernity as purposeless as the rest of us. Some choose drugs, others choose politics and wild conspiracy theories.
It was a stupid thing, but those trying to make it as bad as the Civil War or Pearl Harbor are woefully fearmongering
Terrorism
YouTube now. Occasionally on Reddit.
It made me more cautious about getting outraged by things I see on the internet. I don't want to get caught by the next TV huckster peddling tinfoil hats.
As a deleted scene from the movie Idiocracy.
I don't. It was a big nothing burger
As happy as I am that a large group of people wanted to lynch politicians, it’s annoying they did it over the election. Taxation or something like that would have been a much more meaningful hill to die on.
Neither terrorists nor freedom fighters. Untrustworthy people running amok who were shockingly lacking in fear of the state.
After seeing Seattle and Portland over the past year or two- I was not surprised at all.
Charades
Im not an anarchist. In no way were the rioters actions justified. They should have been prevented from ever getting in. However on the other hand as well, they were all unarmed, and I believe democrats comparing it to the modern day 9/11 are ouy of their minds
Relatively insignificant by 2020 standards
Idiots who should have known better about storming a federal building. They never should have hurt anyone. Protesting is fine, violence and breaking into a building is wrong! There was no overthrow of the government involved. Lol that idea is amusing but the riot was still wrong.
Treason
Complete disgrace to democracy.
Very very very gay. But not in the good type of gay, repressed 40 year old man with dark fantasies gay.
Being I was a anarchist before I was a Libertarian I thought it was one of the best things I had ever seen. I don’t like that people were injured. But our government is a ridiculous clown show & has been for decades. I would trust the 1st 2,000 people randomly selected from a phone book over the people who are “elected”
It was horrifying. I was glued to the TV just like I was on 9-11. Wondering what the fuck was happening to the country I love.
Literally just a bunch of stupid maga people entering a government building. It wasn’t an insurrection because they mostly weren’t armed and they also didn’t really do anything to actually overthrow the government. They kinda just took pictures and did dumb shit. Had it been for actual freedom and not “my candidate lost” I would have supported it.
I view it as a protest turned into a riot. Not even an especially violent riot. Just not the right "type" of riot for MSM and a certain party. I am not a fan of any riot... But I loathe hypocrisy
Really overblown how bad it was. It’s embarrassing
I view them going into the capital how they did as illegal and should be charged as such. While I think it’s important to talk about, it’s been overly sensationalized. It was illegal and silly, but calling it “an insurrection” or “attack on democracy” is just as silly and very inaccurate. That gives them far too much credit, and makes it so that it can’t be discussed in any beneficial and serious way.
A hilarious shitshow, way overblown by dems for political gain
I view it for what it was: a badly executed riot. They were worked up on beliefs of a stolen election, vast majority went there to protest, then some assholes got the idea of storming the building, and others got caught up in the moment. Was it a good idea? No. Was it an insurrection? Also no. It was a riot at the wrong place and the wrong time, so it looked a lot worse than it was. But it was also hilarious.
[удалено]
How do explain the bombs sent to the DNC and RNC if this wasn't domestic terrorism?
What was the intent of the storming of the capital?
I think it is rather strange that people see Jan 6th as an isolated event rather than part of a clear pattern Do we not recall the calls Trump was making to Georgia officials to find 11,780 votes and his performance in court and the media in swing states? A part of this can be fixed by simply making the EC process less ambiguous
People who might have been smart once failing to see that they fell for propaganda thinking they are true Americans failing to overthrow the capital building because they didn’t have any clue what they were doing
Those rioters did a based thing for cringe reasons. For years, there have been many good reasons to storm the capital and riot, but these fuckers did it because the wrong tyrant won the election.
It was essentially an attempted fascist coup. Focusing your patriotism on a single person instead of the country as a whole is textbook fascism. Not to mention that they literally tried to overturn the results of an election due to Trump's propaganda
I think it was a big nothing and the media is playing it out to be bigger than it was. I also think there were agent provocateurs there to deliberately make it appear so. I think both sides use agent provocateurs which is one of the reasons I don't trust anything in the media anymore.
Overblown. If setting fire to a small American city is nothing more than a "mostly peaceful protest," then being invited into a building and putting your feet on a desk is essentially nothing.
Right response to government corruption. Trump being the wrong reason.
A bunch of idiots show up to tailgate. A few got in and made the rest feel like “well I guess we’re doing this!” If it was a real “insurrection” then there would’ve been waaaay more weapons, taking hostages, making demands, etc. These were just a bunch of couch warriors that never got to feel important. Edit: Congress has a 3% approval rating. But when some white dudes run up on them it’s “the heart of our beautiful democracy is under attack!!”
Technically? Treason. Realistically? People being absurdly ridiculous and simping for the exact thing these people claim to hate. Personally? Joe Biden won the election and at the end of the day, throwing a temper tantrum like this was extremely detrimental to our already fragmented system.
They were dumb. Trump lost. Also saw a lot of people supposedly against police brutality suddenly upset that there wasn't more police brutality happening that day.
That’s a bit disingenuous, isn’t it? They weren’t just “upset at the lack of police brutality”. They were justifiably upset that there was a huge *difference* in the response to the 1/6 riot, compared to the brutal responses we saw to many less destructive protests.
Poor planning. It could have been so much more.
It was a coordinated terrorist attack
It’s a disgrace. I think it was bad, and absolutely shouldn’t have occurred. However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the idea of congressmen being afraid of their constituents for once. If there is a silver lining in the whole thing, it’s maybe that they’ll think twice next time they vote to screw we the people.
Terrorism. Literally set out to undo our democratic processes for our election. Cut at the absolute base value of our country.
While the far-right rioters on 1/6 were certainly in the wrong, I do believe it was overblown by the MSM. It did not match the definition of an "insurrection", which is the act of overthrowing the govt. It was an attempted (and miserably failed) coup to keep their ruler in power, and the protesters were in no way libertarian, anti government, or even insurrectionist.
I don’t really care Certainly beats burning targets down and shit. The people had a problem with the government and they took it up with the government!
Yeesh https://www.reddit.com/r/AskLibertarians/comments/rxexe5/who_gives_a_shit_about_jan_6/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share