The January 6 Committee Won Me Over
I once was skeptical but now am found
I watched the January 6 hearings this evening while unfortunately and necessarily doing work things. This evening’s was the final until September and was originally supposed to be the final one, until more compelling information came out.
A greater summary to come but a big complaint of mine was the over-focusing on January 6 as opposed to the coup attempts in the months proceeding. But I have slowly and then suddenly come over to the side that what happened on January 6 was more than a spontaneous riot from an excited mob.
Trump was desperately trying to stop the “certification” of electoral votes on the Hill. He was desperately pressuring Mike Pence to block certification under some legally invalid theory but one he still thought could work. He was told the mob he rallied was armed - and with that knowledge he tried to lead them up to Capitol Hill where Congress was in session and Mike Pence was presiding over the Senate. He was prevented from joining the mob but he tweeted at them, encouraging them and disparaging Mike Pence, as they stormed the building. As it became clear to him and everyone else that there was serious danger to the Vice President and members of Congress, he ignored his staff’s pleas to do call them off and instead called Senators to continue pressuring them to delay certification - but now with an armed mob roaming their hallways. Even when he was told the Vice President’s life was in danger he was sanguine and refused to act.
What is now pretty clear is Trump wanted the certification to be delayed and probably hoped that enough members of Congress would be sufficiently terrorized (or impressed) that they would go along with his plan - and perhaps Mike Pence would as well. Or they would be dead. Neither mattered to him so long as he got his way.
Trump is a true sociopath, a deranged tyrant who summoned a mob to attack Congress. He failed in his end game but he lurks in the shadows waiting for a return. The country is far too polarized and the bases far too ideological for the January 6 Committee to have much impact electorally but at least the insanity we faced and still face will be noted for posterity.