In the Spirit of Jefferson Davis (part ten)

 

Part ten.

 

It was past 3 p.m. Ashli Babbitt was already dead, and others were either dead or dying. The Terroristic mob still raged through the building, though most of those whom the would’ve hurt, except Police, had been evacuated. The National Guard still hadn’t arrived. The so-called President was still having childish tantrums and refusing to lift a finger. The peaceful processes of Democracy had been stalled, but the Traitors had, in fact, already lost, though they didn’t know it.

 

They were plenty brutal, but not brutal enough to achieve their goals. One simply can’t suddenly overthrow the most Government of the most powerful Nation on Earth without completely decapitating that Government, and by decapitating, I don’t mean making the Leadership run scared to same safe place where they can regroup, I mean literally decapitating, like with a guillotine.

 

Babbitt, dressed like a Superhero, charged, weaponless, at a man pointing a gun at her and telling her to stop. What was she thinking?

 

The simple answer was, she was not. She was only playing at being a Confederate, and probably would’ve stayed home took the time to consider the true price of starting a Civil War: The last one killed about 620,000 US men, or a full 2% of the US population at that time. There were also food storages, massacres of civilians, and other collateral horrors. On January 6^th, most of the Mob were playing fancy-dress so that the more serious among them as camouflage, as cannon fodder, as useful idiots, and worst of all, the idiots volunteered for the job.

 

So yes, by 3 p.m. they had already lost, but they also showed the whole world how easy destroying the USA could be. As I said above, January 6^th was only practice.

 

And we were watching this all on TV as it happened.

 

3:09 p.m. former White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, also an advocate of the Big Lie, texts the current Chief Meadows, "TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!"

 

3:13 p.m. Trump finally Tweeted, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!” But importantly, even then, he doesn’t tell them to withdraw.

 

At the same time, Trump's former Health Secretary, Tom Price, texted Chief of Staff Meadows, "POTUS should go on air and defuse this.”

 

3:15 p.m. Trump’s daughter Ivanka Tweeted that the Terrorists "patriots" but also says "the violence must stop." Even she doesn’t insist they leave the Capitol.

 

3:31 p.m. another FOX News Host Sean Hannity, who also had promoted the Big Lie, texted Meadows, "Can he make a statement. I saw the tweet. Ask people to peacefully leave the capital." Meadows replies, "on it."

 

3:36 p.m. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Tweeted, “At President @realDonaldTrump’s direction, the National Guard is on the way along with other federal protective services. We reiterate President Trump’s call against violence and to remain peaceful.” Again, no demand that the Traitors withdraw.

 

4:03 p.m. Trump finally moves to the Rose Garden to record a message to end the violence. His prepared script included the words, "no one should be using violence or threats ... Let's respect our institutions, let's all do better," but Trump, as usual, went off-script.

 

At 4:15 p.m. before Trump’s largely improvised speech was aired, President-Elect Biden delivered his own televised address, saying Capitol attack "borders on sedition," and calling on Trump to tell his supporters to put "an end to this siege."

 

Finally, at 4:17 p.m. Trump posted his video on Twitter. He asked mob inside the Capitol to depart in peace. "So go home. We love you. You're very special … I know your pain. I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.”

 

The sun set less-than twenty-minutes later. The battle still raged.

 

At 4:41 p.m. acting Sectary of Defense Miller finally approves the deployment of the National Guard to the Capitol.

 

4:45 p.m. Senate Majority Leader McConnell and House Speaker Pelosi share a conference call with acting Defense Secretary Miller. Both sought assurances that the National Guard would restore order so they could resume the Electoral College proceedings. He made those assurances.

 

But there were additional, unexplained delays, before the too-long delayed order was finally executed. It is not until 5:40 p.m. that the first members of the National Guard, 154 of them, arrived. Sund later wrote, “I still cannot fathom why in the midst of an armed insurrection, which was broadcast worldwide on television, it took the Department of Defense over three hours to approve an urgent request for National Guard support.” (He misspoke, it was closer to five hours).

 

Eventually, the Capital was protected by 17,000 Officers and Agents from eighteen Federal Agencies and array of local Law Enforcement from a multi-State region, but many of those arrived after the violence had already been quelled, and even that number still had an about an eight-to-one numerical disadvantage to the Insurrectionists when mayhem had been at its height. 

 

The city of D.C. had a 6p.m. curfew and as it approached, the crowd thinned out, but many were still milling about after that deadline passed.

 

Trump tweeted 6:01 p.m. “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

 

6:27 p.m. Trump ended his work-day, though he’ll be on the phone with his people for hours more. He tells a White House employee, “Mike Pence let me down.”

 

By 7 p.m. the FBI and ATF had completed their room-by-room search of the Capitol for Terrorists.

 

7:02 p.m. Giuliani left a voicemail for Senator Tuberville. Giuliani asks him to "slow it down," meaning don’t resume the interrupted Electoral College proceedings. Giuliani wants the delay "so we can get these legislators to get more information to you," meaning more evidence to be used to support blocking the Certification of the Biden win.

 

7:14 p.m. Trump's former Campaign Manager Brad Parscale texted Campaign Adviser Katrina Pierson and stated that Trump was "asking for civil war" and "I feel guilty for helping him win." Trump's rhetoric "killed someone" that day, but as we now know, it was more than one. Pierson replies that "it wasn't the rhetoric" Parscale insists "Katrina. Yes it was."

 

Around 8 p.m. the Capital Police announces that the Capitol building is secure. The Senate reconvenes, and Pence returns to the dais, saying, “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house, and as we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy, for even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this Capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

 

After 9 p.m. the House reconvened.

 

9:23 p.m. Communication Strategist for Trump, Jason Miller, called him and proposed a statement about the transfer of power once as the Congressional Session is wrapped. "Trump wanted to say 'peaceful transition,' and I said, 'that ship's kind of already sailed, so we're going to say 'orderly transition.'"

 

10:11 p.m. the Senate votes to reject the objections regarding Arizona's count.

 

11:10 p.m. the House similarly votes to reject objections to Arizona's count.

 

In the early minutes of January 7^th, the Senate the votes to reject objections raised regarding Pennsylvania's count.

 

3:10 a.m. the House does the same.

 

So, ultimately, all State Electors were accepted by both houses of Congress, and with them Biden’s majority. The legitimacy of Biden’s win could’ve never been challenged by any rational person, but 147 Republicans did just that, right up to bitter end. 147 is a huge number, but still a minority even within their own party. And ten Republican Representatives and Senators reversed their earlier-stated challenges after they saw what the violence had wrought.

 

3:42 a.m. Pence officially accepted the Certification of Biden’s win. Closing the ceremony, the Senate Chaplain Barry Black spoke this prayer, “These tragedies have reminded us that words matter, and that the power of life and death is in the tongue. We have been warned that eternal vigilance continues to be freedom’s price.”

 

Trump was still awake, and less than ten minutes later, Tweeted the same old Big Lie. "Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th."

 

And that was how the long day ended, just four hours shy of the sunrising on the next day. But before moving past the sunrise of January 8^th, we need to stop and count our dead, and a few other tragedies.

 

As mob violence and mass Insurrection often does, there was a death toll.

 

Officer Brian Sicknick had been felled by pepper spray during the attack, then returned home the evening of January 6th, telling family members he felt fine. But, by 10 p.m. he felt unwell enough to go to the hospital. It turned out he suffered two strokes, and died during the day of the 7^th. Blunt trauma or allergic reaction to the chemical agents were originally suspected/reported, but the autopsy found no evidence of either, so his official Cause of Death was written up as “Natural Causes.” The Capitol Police put out a statement, “This does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty.” Terrorists Julian Khater and George Tanios were ultimately charged with nine felonies including Assault with a Deadly Weapon of Sicknick and others, and Prosecutors are considering up-grading the charges to include Sicknick’s homicide.

 

Over the next seven months, four Officers who defended the Capital would die by suicide: Howard Liebengood of the Capital Police, Kyle DeFreytag, Gunther Hashida, and Jeffrey Smith of the local Police.

 

Another 140 Capitol and local Police Officers were injured. The most serious injuries were concussions, rib fractures, smashed spinal discs, burns and a mild heart attack.

 

I spoke of Ashli Babbit above. Also, that day, three other Trump supporters died. Ironically, two of those three appeared not to have engaged in violence/criminal behavior. Kevin Greeson collapsed on the sidewalk and died of natural causes (there are some wild stories about his death, but apparently, they the wild stories are completely untrue). Benjamin Philips apparently suffered a similar fate. Rosanne Boyland, on the other hand, did storm the Capitol, but was accidently, crushed to death by her comrades before even entering the building.

 

Matthew Perna, unlike Greeson and Phillips, and more like Babbitt and Boyland, was not merely a Protestor, but one of the Terrorists. He was arrested, charged, indicted, and pled guilty to a felony and three misdemeanors. Shortly there-after, he committed suicide.

Every single person who stormed the Capital was a criminal, though their levels of criminality varied widely. During the battle against the Coup, dozens were arrested, but most of the mob was allowed to leave the scene as that was the easiest way to restore order quickly. Then began the still- unfinished task of going through video, Social Media, flipping defendants, and examining various forms of documentary evidence, to put together enough evidence to get an arrest warrants. The charges against the Traitors range from misdemeanors like criminal trespass, easy-to-prove felonies like obstruction of an official proceeding and assault with a deadly weapon, to complex crimes like Seditious Conspiracy -- often a tough one to sell to a jury, the above-mentioned Louis Beam beat that charge back in the day.

 

Periodically, there are press updates of how many were charged, and as of July 2020 that number has grown to 884 people. Even though more than two years have passed, that number will almost certainly grow.

 

A large percentage of the Insurrectionists told Journalists at the time or the FBI after being handcuffed, that they did what they did because Trump had told them to do it. He was the Commander and Chief, they were his Army. This has, in fact, been used as a legal defense in hope of a lighter sentence when a guilty plea is made, and many of the speeches and texts I shared above were submitted as evidence by the Defendant’s Defense Attorneys.

 

Many of these Terrorists, notably Jacob Angeli, better known as the “QAnon Shaman,” hoped Trump would issue blanket pardons before he left office, and, in fact, in his last two weeks before stepping down, Trump seriously considered this. Trump was convinced not to do so for some obvious reasons: It wasn’t feasible to apply such a pardon to a group so large, often still unidentified, and mostly not-yet charged. It would be embarrassing if White House Counsel Cipollone and others resigned in protest. The public reaction would be outrage. Congressional Investigations would be launched. Etc. There were less obvious reasons too, which I’ll get to in due course.

 

I have no say, I have no sympathy for any of them. They we lied to, they were conned, but it wasn’t as if they were buying a container of milk and it’s wasn’t possible for one to realize that the expiration date had been changed until one the container had been changed until they got home and opened it to smell the stink, Trump sank quite openly for decades. The prolificness of Trump’s lies (Fact-Checker Angie Drobnic Holan summarized it nicely in a 2015 headline, almost a full year before him being Elected, “All Politicians Lie. Some Lie More Than Others”) but also the absurd transparency like (like did anyone really believe that Mexico would pay for the wall that only we wanted?). Moreover, his lies were always wrapped in the vices of hate-speech, contempt for the Constitution and any person or group that didn’t kneel before him, and the encouragement of violence was frequent. He got caught so many times, but he got caught especially often in 2016 -- while on the road to being elected, he was exposed for self-dealing from his charities to pay personal debts and defrauding his customers. He’d done this kind of thing before, and since.

 

Comparisons to Adolf Hitler are often poo-pooed because of the obvious exaggerations involved, but remember, those exaggerations are rather retrospective, from the view point of knowing Hitler started WWII in 1938, and launched the Final Solution in 1941. Instead of poo-pooing, try to imagine it’s 1932, and you are looking forward, not back, those comparisons seem less exaggerated: Hitler was facing his last free-and-fair election, his monstrous was unrealized, but also undisguised, yet thongs of people chose to support him. And then, in 1933, when he definitively ended German Democracy, he enjoyed even greater popular support than when his wickedness was (mostly) merely rhetorical. If you, by your own free will, chose the evil of Hitler, you stained your soul with the sin of your own Fascism. The same applies to all Trumpsters.

 

I would’ve preferred all the 1/6 Traitors received the maximum allowable sentences for their crimes -- not all the sentence, no rewriting the laws, but those guilty of misdemeanors should’ve received the maximum misdemeanor sentences, and the felons should’ve received the maximum felony message. Cognizant of the fact that Trump’s movement is still with us, I see no injustice in tough sentencing to send a message. I say we could’ve, and should’ve, hung Confederate Pseudo-President Jefferson Davis for treason, but instead he was offered a Presidential pardon in 1869, while he was essentially a fugitive from justice (he’d made bail years before and relocated to Canada). Soon the Confederates, nostrils still filled with the scent of blood, were back in power in the deep south, creating public institutions that stank of the bloodlust of their Lost Cause, stripping recently freed Blacks and most other potential opposition of their voting rights, and going unchallenged for generations as they created Romanized mythologies to make excuses for the carnage they’d created. Google “List of memorials to Jefferson Davis,” you’ll be shocked how long that list is, and though, 150 years after the Civil War ended, they finally started being removed from public properties, many still are let stand. Also, as I noted above, Robert E. Lee’s statue remained in the Capitol crypt, staring sightlessly through the smoke of the January 6^th fighting, where many of the Traitors were still carried the stars and bars.

 

I’m not alone in my view. When October 2021 rolled around, Federal Judge Beryl A. Howell offered a blistering critique of DoJ handling of the cases thus-far prosecuted, “No wonder parts of the public in the U.S. are confused about whether what happened on January 6 at the Capitol was simply a petty offense of trespassing with some disorderliness, or shocking criminal conduct that represented a grave threat to our democratic norms. Let me make my view clear: The rioters were not mere protesters.”

 

As I hope I have made clear, many of the worst criminals weren’t present in the Capital that day. They were the one’s that created the situation, enabled and mentored the terrorists, and committed crimes against the very concept of our Democratic system. Those criminals I will address in more detail later, those cases are the most complex, are regarding Trump’s criminal Administration, those arrests have not been made yet – but to a degree, its started: Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio wasn’t present in the Capital on January 6^th (the FBI had arrested him two days before on other charges in hoping to forestall the attack) but his group were among the day’s most rapidly violent, and he was intimately involved with their planning, and has been rightly charged with Seditious Conspiracy.