In the Spirit on Jeferson Davis (part seven)

 Part seven.

 

 

The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every 4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.

 

From Ronald Reagan’s first Inaugural Address, Tuesday, January 20th, 1981

 

 

January 6th, 2021, was the day the miracle ended, and this day will live in infamy.

 

Planning of the rally had been very public, and that Insurrectionists intended to embed themselves with the Protests, taking advantage of the crowds and the emotions to increase the mayhem, had been surprisingly public as well. In addition to this, many of those Insurrectionists were members of large, organized Terrorist Organizations, who came equipped with clubs, chemical agents, body armor, zip ties, some firearms and acted in a coordinated fashion with well-laid-out plans and targets. One can’t call any attack with this level of preparation as merely a “mob.” It was a Military-style operation hiding in a mob, and encouraging the mob to behave ever more mob-like in furtherance of their own ends.

 

At even turn, Trump and his allies lied, stroked the flames of hysteria, accused the innocent of serious crimes, and encouraging violence. He and his minions showed a shocking disrespect for the Constitution as they tried to over-turn a free-and-fair election using threats, bizarre legal tactics, and bluntly criminal actions.  

 

So many of us saw this coming, some things, like the fake Elector scheme, were still secret, but very little else of it was completely hidden. We saw most of it emerging on the news nightly. The suspicious changing of leadership in the DoJ and Department of Defense specifically made national headlines. The acting Sectary of Defense, Christopher Miller, had already been publicly criticized for not preparing for this date, and only two days earlier made bizarre changes in Chain of Command that seemed intended to leave us more vulnerable to those who wanted to executed the Coup.

 

And when Trump’s American Carnage Unfolded, it turned out the Revolution was televised. And as more details emerged afterwards, the day America almost died has been reconstructed in almost minute-by-minute specificity.

 

12:43 a.m, after a long night of phone calls with his closest allies, Trump Teeted, “Get smart Republicans FIGHT!”

 

And at 1 a.m. Trump Tweeted. “If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be.) Mike can send it back!”

 

Trump supporters begin to gather near White House Ellipse around 7 a.m.

 

 

7:30 a.m. Chief of Staff Meadows texted Reprehensive Jim Jordan, a supporter of the Big Lie. It concerned convincing Pence to attempt to disavow Biden’s certification. "I have pushed for this" but he's "not sure it is going to happen."

 

8:06 a.m. Trump Tweeted, “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd is so happy with the fake voter tabulation process that he can't even get the words out straight. Sad to watch!” Chuck Todd is a TV Journalist.

 

And at 8:17 a.m. “States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud…All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”

And at 8:22 a.m. “THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, OUR COUNTRY, NEEDS THE PRESIDENCY MORE THAN EVER BEFORE - THE POWER OF THE VETO. STAY STRONG!”  

 

At 8:30 a.m. in-coming Federal Representative and member of the QAnon community, Lauren Boebert, Tweeted, “Today is 1776.” That would be chanted by many all day long.

 

 

 

At 9:00 a.m. Trump Tweeted, “They just happened to find 50,000 ballots late last night. The USA is embarrassed by fools. Our Election Process is worse than that of third world countries!”

 

Trump was referring to the Georgia run-off Elections which took place the day before. His claim was completely false.

 

And at 9:15 a.m. “These scoundrels are only toying with the @sendavidperdue (a great guy) vote. Just didn't want to announce quite yet. They've got as many ballots as are necessary.”

 

Again, he’s referring to Georgia and, again, he’s lying.

 

And at 9:16 a.m, “Even Mexico uses Voter I.D. Source”

 

And at 10:44, “The States want to redo their votes. They found out they voted on a FRAUD. Legislatures never approved. Let them do it. BE STRONG!”.

 

 

MeWe, and internet chat-group containing members of anti-Government Militias, there was a posting that “some militia boots on the group” and the user conveyed his friend hadn’t seen so many people carrying weapons in one place before. “He said the police are scared. You can see it in their eyes. DC laws don’t allow guns, but the cops are so outnumbered they don’t dare try to start any shit!”

 

The White House was aware of this, Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato informed Trump that authorities at the White House Ellipse, where the pro-Trump was going to take place, encountered attendees with weapons, including pistols, rifles, bear spray and spears. Then she and White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson informed Chief of Staff Meadows of the same. In her testimony before Congress, Hutchinson told lawmakers that Meadows had little reaction when she told him about reports of weapons.

 

In-coming Representative Greene posted “I’m planning a little something on Jan. 6 as well.”

 

 TheDonald.win website continued to suggest more and more violence, posted information on how to bring guns to Washington, maps of tunnels under the Capitol, even specifications for a guillotine.

 

The event at the Ellipse began at 11 a.m. 20,000 were expected, later reports said 120,000 thousand arrived.

 

An important thing to remember is that we all have a Constitutional Right to Protest. The Klu Klux Klan can’t be denied a marching permit if the obey certain rules related to Public Safety. Trump’s rally may have paled before Farrakhan’s decades before, but it was still huge. Other than the blatant flaunting of weapons laws, it was wholly legal, as was the following march on the Capital Building. There is a clear line where legal and legitimate protest ended, and the illegal storming of the Capital began. Only a fraction of these Trumpsters took part in the storming, but those who did were still a huge number. Journalists have since divided groups that drove the protesters into two, somewhat overlapping, groups.

 

 

The first group was those similar to Women for America First had some direction interaction with the White House, and up-to-this-point, had proved a tremendous organizing force. They have not been associated with the criminality that followed.

 

Then there are those more like Ali Alexander, whose organizing was as, maybe more, important as Women for America First. Alexander also claims White House contracts. Alexander didn’t, in fact, storm the Capital, but he was a key enabler of those who did. He may have not committed an explicitly criminal act on this date, but he is profoundly responsible for the consequences of his hate-mongering.

 

There were many other organizing groups as well. It’s worth noting one not mention before, F.O.S. or Friends of Stone, meaning Roger Stone, one of Trump’s criminal associates that Trump had pardoned for crimes committed for Trump’s benefit. This group had been part of a conference call with Stone’s close ally, Communications Expert Jason Sullivan, who directed them to “descend on the Capitol” promising a “limited form” of Martial Law would be declared, and that Biden would never enter the White House. Sullivan had similar conversations with the Militia Group 1st Amendment Praetorian. (Note: Sullivan making those statements).

 

It opened with a video played for the crowd. It asserted that the United States is descending into chaos due to the corruption and greed of government and corporate elites, and that the only way to preserve the American way of life is to restore Trump as president.

 

Interesting logic there. Nation-wide, violent crime had been dropping for decades, but began to rise again under Trump’s rule. He had more members of his Administration and inner circle convicted of criminal acts than other President in US history (yes, even more than Richard Nixon, who was in office longer). He took the reins of power when this country had a strong economy, but we feel into recession in February, 2020, so even before the greater devastation cause by the CV19 pandemic. He was a Billionaire who had inherited huge wealth and then built his own Empire on Real Estate, Hotels, Resorts, and Casinos, which sounds a lot like being a member of the “Corporate Elite” to me.

 

Representative Mo Brooks spoke, say this was “the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass … Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America? Louder! Will you fight for America?”

 

Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. spoke, “The people who did nothing to stop the steal. This gathering should send a message to them: This isn’t their Republican party any more. This is Donald Trump’s … If you’re gonna be the zero and not the hero, we’re coming for you and we’re going to have a good time doing it!”

 

Giuliani spoke at about 10:47 a.m, he was sharing the podium with John Eastman, the architect of the hair-brained plan for Pence to overturn the Election results. Giuliani says, “If we’re wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, a lot of them will go to jail. So, let’s have trial by combat.”

 

During this, around 11:20 a.m. Trump and Pence speak on the phone. It’s heated. Trump said, "Mike, you can do this. I'm counting on you to do it. If you don't do it, I picked the wrong man four years ago."

 

Pence stood his ground; he wasn’t going to help over-throw Democracy.

 

Trump called him a "wimp."

 

Shortly before noon, Trump orders his staff to "take the fucking mags away," referring to the metal detectors at the security line for his Ellipse rally, because the rallygoers were "not here to hurt me." Then he took the stage.

 

During his speech, he continued to pressure Pence to go along with Eastman's criminal scheme. His rhetoric gets progressively more inflammatory:

 

“Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down, we’re going to walk down.

 

 

“Anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.

 

“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”

 

He repeated many already disproven claims of Election fraud.

 

He did make a brief mention of peaceful protest, but then roared, “If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore!” and told them to march on the Capital Building to stop the process. He promised to march with then, which he didn’t.

 

While Trump was speaking, Pence released a letter saying he didn’t have the authority to overturn the will of voters, “I do not believe that the Founders of our country intended to invest the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the Joint Session of Congress,” he said.

 

 

Trump’s speech ended at 1:10 p.m.