Many conservatives are deeply embarrassed by what happened on January 6. They are right to be embarrassed because it was an attempted coup by mob action which luckily failed completely. However they aren't ready to do the soul searching. Instead they are searching for scapegoats, and are looking almost exclusively outside the conservative movement. It's more circle the wagons than circular firing squad or clean house.
Steve Baker is a conservative independent journalist. It makes sense that he went to DC on Jan. 6, that he walked to the Capitol, and also followed the rioters in to document the historic event. I applaud the journalists who went there.
Some of his ideas though are shit. He thinks that the police should have fired on protesters:
... to some of you this will not be a popular statement — only one officer actually did his job on the 6th. The officer who shot Ashli Babbitt.
They didn't fire, and that indicates that the fix was in. The demonstrators were allowed to run riot by those 'up the chain' who hoped to score a public relations victory from making MAGA folks and all GOPers look bad.
It's just so cute to blame the people who let you make a complete fool of yourself, as though they have a duty to stop you from showing who you are. I don't think they have that duty in the political arena. Their duty is to present their case and let you present yours. Their duty is to have good faith discussions. Their duty is not to be underhanded, use illegal or unethical tactics. I don't even expect 100% honesty from them because 100% honesty is often punished in elections. Frankly, if the opposition wants to be foolish, that's their free choice.
He contends that they knew how violent the protests would be and didn't exercise their ability to stop it:
I know they knew what potential existed and that they carefully orchestrated, by command-and-control actions, each step of the events that transpired. National Guard presence was not wanted on-site, too early, to not scare off the militant groups and thwart their intentions. Once it was determined the militant factions would not use overtly deadly force, (firearms), they were gradually allowed access to the Capitol grounds, steps, and then the building... The presence of riot-geared photographers, with press badges — already on site long before the conclusion of Trump’s speech — was a dead giveaway that "up the chain" officials both knew and had tipped off the media about what was to come. (Same link.)
Well, I don't agree that photographers ready for a riot was a clear indication that The Powers That Be hoped for a riot and planned for it. Instead it was simply paying attention to the general trends in rallies in the previous weeks. As I've written, I thought there would be many people attending with a high likelihood of skirmishes with counterprotesters and/or police. So it wasn't rocket science to gear up for riot situations.
Operational Teams and Undercover Presence
Steve Baker believes that there were many special ops teams or individuals at the Capitol that day. His sources are extremely thin though. The most detail comes from his twitter thread, where he states that he saw a spec ops team involved in evacuating Ashli Babbitt. It's worth reading both of those links.
... which led me to a more detailed twitter thread, but still closely related. Jeff Rosen, the acting Attorney General, had activated a bunch of special teams that he had at his disposal. They mustered at Quantico during the weekend before 1/6, but were closer in on 1/6. This was smart, especially if he didn't tell anyone who was loyal to Trump. We obviously needed to have a lot of national guard and special ops ready for whatever might erupt on that day, and also the day/night before it. So if this is true, good on Rosen.
If the FBI was doing its job, there would have been informants and even agents at the Capitol that day. It's nuts to think that they should have stayed completely away. It's also nuts to think that they were directing the decisions. The FBI certainly didn't choose the date of the rally. Nor did they choose the slogan Stop the Steal. The message was clear at the top, the bottom, and in between. Find a way to stop the electoral college vote count.
Storm was coming, very clearly
Nearly everyone saw this storm on the horizon, unless they didn't look. I personally expected a lot of confrontation. Hopefully it wouldn't include kidnapping, hostages, torture, or assassinations, and my hopes were on-target. This twitter thread shows some of the sentiments being expressed in the runup. They are violent, so that was a reasonable expectation. There are more quotes here, along with a helpful timeline.
Even with all the evidence that the MAGAs planned this themselves, egged on by Trump and his cohort, some of them are still in denial. They think they were suckered by a deep conspiracy instead of by obvious conmen (to the rest of us) like Trump. This one doesn't even believe Ashli Babbitt was shot. Ashli's mother tells him to go fuck himself, and something in that vein.
Extras. The GOP state attorneys general organization behaved very poorly during and after election period, and this piece pummels them.
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