The worst security failure in American history - or was it?
If it was malice, that's bad. If it was incompetence, that's worse.
As the Beer Gut Putsch (a name stolen from a Reddit thread, which I plan to use for the foreseeable future) engulfed the US Capitol on Wednesday, Allahpundit compared it to the 9/11 attacks. The death toll, thankfully, was much lower - but the symbolism, if anything, was much worse.
I saw someone on Twitter call this the worst terrorist attack in American history. That sentiment is hard to endorse because there’s no body count (yet); no skyscrapers have fallen, there’s barely any damage to the Capitol as far as I’m aware. But it is terrorism. It’s an attempt to intimidate the government of the United States into changing its policies by using violence. And the fact that the terrorists succeeded in capturing the seat of government, however briefly, makes it a singular humiliation in the country’s history — at least since the War of 1812, when the White House was torched. It’s not the “worst” attack if we’re measuring by deaths but it is arguably if we’re measuring by destabilizing intentions.
And it didn’t come from outsiders with different colored skin, speaking an unfamiliar language and practicing a different religion. This was carried out by mostly white Americans in support of the sitting President.
There’s a lot of talk on social media about how the Capitol Police were sympathetic to, if not in league with, the QAnon-drunk mob that stormed the building. (A bitter joke making the rounds: “Asking ‘where were the police?’ is like asking ‘where’s Miley?’ when Hannah Montana is on stage.”) And when you find out that some of the officers took the opportunity to take selfies with the insurrectionists, it certainly makes you wonder.
To be fair, there are other videos showing officers actually trying to keep the “protestors” out, but simply being overwhelmed. I suspect many of the people armchair-quarterbacking the police response would ruin their pants were they actually placed in this position.
David Ignatius, in The Washington Post, makes the point that in the moment, some of the tactics used by heavily outnumbered police might have been defensible. That there were so few officers, even though it was blatantly obvious that something like this might happen, is a shocking scandal:
As Justice and Defense department officials planned for the turmoil that was coming Wednesday, they knew that pro-Trump protesters — including some violent extremists — might try to storm the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers prepared to certify the election of Joe Biden. So why weren’t they better prepared for the catastrophic assault that took place?
That’s the riddle at the center of Wednesday’s spasm of violent anarchy: Officials saw the mob coming but weren’t ready or able to stop it — and they allowed hundreds to invade the Capitol, threaten lawmakers and, for a time, foment a coup inside the most precious symbol of U.S. democracy.
The answer is surprisingly simple, if unsatisfying: Senior officials believed that the force they were assembling of 6,000 to 8,000 police and law enforcement officers — drawn from the D.C. police, the Capitol Police, the FBI and various federal agencies — would be sufficient to contain the protests. For backup, the D.C. National Guard would be available, but those troops are useful for assisting with crowd control; they’re not a SWAT team.
To deal with the expected march from the Ellipse to the Capitol, the Capitol Police planned to expand the normal perimeter around the building and arrest anyone who tried to breach it. As it turned out, they were utterly unprepared for the assault that came. When asked why the Capitol Police hadn’t taken more aggressive action or called in backup more quickly, one senior official responded only: “That’s a good question.”
[…]
…The “protesters” were seen for what they were: a lawless mob bent on breaking windows, trashing the Capitol and threatening the integrity of the government. The pictures of smug, would-be freedom fighters luxuriating in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office and in the Senate chamber disgusted even hard-core Trump supporters.
The law enforcement approach may have looked timid and allowed the horrifying invasion of the Capitol. But the low-key response avoided any Tiananmen Square scenes of armed military or paramilitary forces attacking citizens. The mob must have been hoping for such a propaganda moment. At this writing, they don’t have it. Instead, they have public revulsion.
Although the insurgents managed to delay the final certification of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory, they did so at a cost of shattering their movement to challenge the election result. Even the most craven Trump supporters, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), seemed embarrassed that their challenge to Biden had produced this alarming spectacle.
They’re also on camera and presumably very online, so they shouldn’t be too hard to track down. They’ll soon wish they’d taken the risk of Bill Gates 5G secret microchips embedded in masks and chosen to wear them.
(Incidentally, I’m seeing some people argue that federal charges shouldn’t be laid until Trump is out of office, in case he tries to pardon them. Do you really think Donald Trump would lift a finger to actually help these dirtbags?)
Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter activists quite reasonably wonder why these terrorists got off relatively easy compared to the heavy-handed response directed at their own protests this past summer:
When Chanelle Helm helped organize protests after the March 13 killing of Breonna Taylor, Louisville police responded with batons, stun grenades and tear gas. The 40-year-old Black Lives Matter activist still bears scars from rubber bullets fired at close range.
So Helm was startled and frustrated Wednesday to see a White, pro-Trump mob storm the U.S. Capitol — breaking down barricades, smashing windows and striking police officers — without obvious consequence.
“Our activists are still to this day met with hyper-police violence,” Helm said. “And today you see this full-on riot — literally a coup — with people toting guns, which the police knew was coming and they just let it happen. I don’t understand where the ‘law and order’ is. This is what white supremacy looks like.”
[…]
For veteran social justice demonstrators, the images of men and women wearing red Trump 2020 hats and clutching American and Confederate flags walking through the Capitol largely unmolested came as shocking yet predictable evidence of their long-held suspicions that conservative, White protesters intent on violence would not be met with any of the strong-arm tactics that police brutality protesters faced.
Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, who died at age 18 in a 2014 police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., which launched the Black Lives Matter movement, said in an interview that the lack of a police response was stunning. “There was no shooting, no rubber bullets, no tear gas,” she said. “It was nothing like what we have seen. Nothing like what we have seen.”
Actually, tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang grenades were used, and later in the evening some “Proud Boys” did finally meet the business end of police batons.
Elizabeth Nolan Brown, at Reason:
The group of people who supported Black Lives Matter and anti-police-abuse protests generally but did not oppose violence and destruction is actually fairly small. While many opponents of the protests insisted that support for any of the protests equated to support for everything that took place during them, the vast majority of people (at protests and commenting from afar) did disapprove of, speak out about, and even try to stop those who were using the protests as an excuse to smash shit up, steal, and start chaos. So while this sort of gotcha isn't exactly aimed at strawmen, it does describe a rather small group.
But we needn't sort all that out for this line of logic to be lacking. A mass break-in to the U.S. Capitol to interrupt presidential certification on behalf of a man who did not win is quite a bit beyond a few trash can fires and spray-painted monuments, or even whatever more serious violence did break out in isolated patches at summer protests. The MAGA hordes yesterday sent the entirety of Congress and the vice president into hiding. They forced Capitol police to barricade the House chamber to stop them from storming in. They broke Capitol windows and rifled through lawmakers' offices. You have to be willfully obtuse to see that as on par with some localized acts of vandalism.
So, was all of this just a product of incompetence, or something more sinister? Frankly, I think it might be better if the Trump Administration had planned this all along. At least he’s been voted out and the rats are already fleeing the sinking ship.
If a federal police force larger than that of some cities was just plain unable to do the job of keeping America’s seat of government safe, I’m not sure where you even begin to start fixing that.
When the BLM protests were at their height this summer, and sometimes turned violent, we were told that much of the demonstrators’ rage was understandable and that instead of condemning it out of hand, we should make some attempt to see things from their perspective.
Mike Ford of Red State makes the same argument about the Beer Belly Putschists, only instead of protesting against long-standing racism and police brutality, they’ve been driven to desperate measures because, um, the other guys won an election. (Sorry, stole an election with the help of China and Stacey Abrams and the reverse vampires and the body double who took over for Avril Lavigne after the real Avril died in 2003.)
Here is my question for every American (remember my opening statements); What did you think would happen?!
What did you think would happen when you impeached, under false pretenses, a President who was the choice of close to half of America?
What did you think would happen when you spent each and every day denigrating 73 million Trump supporters, calling them “bitter clingers,” “deplorables,” who live in “flyover country,” who go to work, pay their taxes and just want to be left alone?
What did you think would happen when you stole an election, right out in broad daylight…with the help of folks who are supposed to be on our side…I’m talking about the Georgia Secretary of State here. Then did it again two days ago, with the help of the very same SECSTATE.
What did you think would happen when the Supreme Court of these United States refused to hear us on a case in which they have primary jurisdiction?
What did you think would happen when 74 million Americans watched the folks supposedly on their own team, tell them to roll over and suck it up?
Going forward…Knowing that 74 million Republican, Independent, along with a few million Democrat voters did NOT vote for stacking the Supreme Court, the admission of Puerto Rico & DC as states, the “Green New Deal,” massive wealth redistribution, gun confiscation or national lockdowns or mask mandates…What do you think will happen when a totally leftist controlled government tries to ram those policies down our collective throats?
I am very afraid. And you should be too. Rather than decry the brave patriots in DC today (minus actual criminals) we should take today as a cautionary pause. But we won’t. Y’all better Buckle Up.
Nice constitutional republic you got there. Shame if something happened to it.
Note that this isn’t InfoWars or some other fringe conspiracy outfit. Red State has long been a relatively mainstream Republican website whose writers speak for many GOP supporters.
And it’s very clear that many of them have abandoned the give and take of democracy for a divine right to rule indefinitely. Even after Trump is finally tossed aside, that attitude won’t just go away with him.
Of course, the same people making excuses for storming the Capitol Building also insist that it was actually Antifa running a false-flag operation. (To be sure, Antifa really does suck, especially in Portland.)
This is all very depressing, but as we examine the damage these scumbags did - to peoples’ lives, to the historic Capitol building, and to America’s reputation itself - there is one thing to keep in mind.
They failed.
They absolutely, spectacularly, failed.
Congress reconvened later that evening, held their sessions about the Electoral College results, let Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz spew their bullshit, and certified Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the winners of the 2020 Presidential Election.
A lot can happen between now and January 20. These last 48 hours in 2021 have been a roller-coaster worthy of 2020. And whatever happens with Trump himself, we will be stuck with the QAnon cultists and white nationalists for years to come. Stay on guard.
But they are losers. In every sense of the word. Remember that.
They are losers who need to be very closely watched. Until they come together like this, one doesn’t fully realize how many there are...and that’s probably a small share of the actual numbers...