I have a couple of questions about the insurrection of Jan 6, a day, as FDR said of Dec 7, “that will live in infamy.” These are sincere “I just don’t know” questions. They are not snark. They are not rhetorical. They are questions that I just don’t understand. I hope those of you who are smarter than I (a very large number, indeed) will weigh in.
Question 1: Why didn’t Trump declare Martial Law?
The Meadows texts that have been released in recent days show it was not just that luminary of the right, Margie, who called for Trump to declare “Marshall Law.” (She said that because she couldn’t remember Marshal Dillon’s name.) There were several, up to a lot, of Republicans who were all in on Trump’s just seizing power with the might of the federal government.
So, why didn’t he do it? Did he think he could achieve the same thing by claiming the election was rigged? Did he think a general uprising would occur anyway, and he didn’t have to do that to stay in power? Whatever the answer, I wonder why he didn’t. I would hope that someone smarter than Trump did an analysis and concluded the federal government members would never support it, but I dunno.
Question 2: Once they occupied the Congress, why did they leave?
This one really flummoxes me. The insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, and took the damned thing. Not since the British/Canadians in the War of 1812 has that happened, to my knowledge. They entered the Capitol, occupied it in the sense that only a handful of Capitol Police were opposing them, and had enough time to smoke joints and poop on the floor.
So why did they leave? Margie, who considers herself pretty damned smart, says if she had been in charge, the insurrection would have succeeded. She said words to the effect that firearms would have made the difference. I disagree. They had it. They had firearms stashed outside DC, and could have had them within minutes. They could have barred the doors, given Fox News impassioned interviews, and dared the feds to come and get them. As we’ve seen in the past, it would have taken up to days for the federal response to get organized and, in the meantime, the insurrectionists could have raided every snack machine and pooped on every floor. They would have had a propaganda victory, if nothing else. They could have thrown the voting into disarray, which would have given grist to their propaganda mill about the illegitimacy of the whole thing.
But instead, and I watched it on my TV, they were like the dog that catches the car. “Now what?” They milled around, took selfies, pooped on the floor, snagged souvenirs, and then just kind of aimlessly started to filter out.
Why?
Here are my speculations:
Question 1: Trump didn’t have the cojones to do it. Trump is accustomed to letting others do the dirty work, while he engages in the arduous tasks of making up childish names for people and directing his lawyers to file frivolous lawsuits. Trump choked.
Question 2: This was is more complex. I think it boils down to communications. The leaders of the insurrection and attack on the Capitol knew what their plan was but they didn’t communicate it to the rank and file. Once in, the rank and file didn’t know what to do in Phase II, and the leaders had no means to communicate it to them. If someone had simply shouted, “Barricade the doors,” it could have been done, but the leaders seem to have been too busy taking selfies and high-fiving each other. The momentum was lost.
Second, they were pretty much cowards. A lot of them talked about “sacrifice” and “dying for the cause,” but as anyone knows, that’s easier said than done. They knew that when the feds finally got around to taking the Capitol back, they would not come in with Easter eggs and flowers. Like Trump, they choked.
And last, it seems they thought they were invulnerable and had made their point with no future consequences. They seem to have thought no one would investigate it, and surely none of them would go to jail. They thought they could walk in, trash the place, and no one would hold them accountable. And, if not for the heroism of Nancy Pelosi, they likely would have been right.
So. I invite your thoughts and comments.