It was six months ago that a Trump-crazed mob of inurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol. Five people died in the event, and over five-hundred have been arrested. The appalling thing about the insurrection is that it was entirely predictable, indeed predicted. Trump urged his supporters to come to Washington DC for a wild protest, and social media influencers amplified this call to action, citing the right-wing claims that the election was stolen. Thankfully, these people are stupid, and their cell phone data and social media posts placed them in the Capitol. One hilarious development is that fed-up women used dating apps to identify insurrectionists. A cadre of online sleuths has been using images from the insurrection to hunt down the perpetrators. If only the professionals were as diligent! I'm still appalled by how incompetent the police response to the invasion was, in some cases, I suspect complicity.
Things were bad, but they could have been worse- some militia members set up a weapons cache across the river from Washington DC so they could ramp up the violence. The NYT compilation video is appalling enough, the sheer amount of video footage, much of it recorded by the insurgents themselves, has been mind-boggling. Again, these people are stupid, cartoonishly so.
The talking point on the right, workshopped by figures such as Louie Gohmert, is that majority of the insurrectionists are political prisoners, while the FBI orchestrated the violence. I've seen the videos, I've seen convincing evidence of the identities and affiliations of the insurgents... this is pure gaslighting.
As the trials move forward, I don't expect things to get any saner. I figure it's going to be a L-O-N-G six months coming up.
The NYT doc that came out a few days ago is really great.
ReplyDeleteEverything you said about the NYT reporting is still true though.
Dear BBBB, from what i understand, two of the five were middle-aged men - out there in the cold, getting all worked up. The two - either the same day, or the next, died from heart attack. But it was the news photo, of several wall-climbers, that convinced me the story may be true. Whether or not either of the deceased had been climbing walls, one of the climbers appeared to be in his late 40s or early 50s. Happens every winter, older men taking too much upon themselves...while wearing not enough warm clothing.
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