The storming of the Capitol may just be a harbinger of things to come.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Written on Jan. 7
With the normalization of mass shootings in the United States it is more than understandable that members of Congress feared for their lives when they learned protestors had forced their way into the Capitol in unknown numbers and were roaming around at will.
But by the time it was over we knew that: only five weapons were seized by police so most of the intruders were probably unarmed; the only shots fired were by police who killed an unarmed female protestor; video and photos showed the demonstrators taking pictures of chambers and art work like they were tourists; and the occupiers were peacefully led out of the Capitol six hours later. (Had they been anti-racism protestors one wonders how differently it would have ended.)
A dramatic event such as this is an old-time reporter’s dream, to just describe the facts and details as they emerged, painting a picture in words in print or on the radio. With so many mobile phone pictures and video as well as TV cameras everywhere, that journalistic function has been greatly diminished if not extinguished. In its place are preaching, partisan, editorialists masquerading as mainstream journalists.
By the time it was over it was clear what had not happened: it wasn’t a “coup,” it wasn’t an “insurrection,” it had nothing to do with Putin, or China or Iran and it wasn’t like Pearl Harbor, as Sen. Chuck Schumer ridiculously tried to call it.
It wasn’t the storming of a “temple of democracy,” interrupting Congress’ “sacred duty,” or “desecrating” the “hallowed halls” of the Capitol. Such quasi-religious rhetoric inflates the self-importance of officials elevating themselves above the people they are supposed to serve.
It was not the storming and occupation of the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru in 1996 or the 1985 seizure of the Palace of Justice in Bogota, Colombia.
It was in some ways the downtrodden forcing their existence into the faces of an elitist Congress who serve very powerful interests instead.
But it was also the delusive manipulation of desperate people by Donald Trump, a master manipulator who for his own interests has somehow convinced millions of Americans that he is their champion whose re-election was stolen from them, even when it is doubtful their lives were much improved over the past four years.
What this event did is send a message, which went beyond claims of a stolen election, a message that no one in Congress or the media will openly acknowledge, if they’ve gotten the message at all, namely, that as long as Congress and the rest of the Establishment continue to ignore ordinary Americans’ interests and serve only their own, the anger and the desperation in the land will explode, rendering Wednesday’s events merely a dress rehearsal for what may well turn into a full-blown insurrection. Congress must understand this before it’s too late.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former UN correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and numerous other newspapers. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London and began his professional career as a stringer for The New York Times. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @unjoe .
Front page photo by Dannielle Blumenthal/Flickr.
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I wonder how many had served in the US military – abroad, killing other people, destroying other cultures? Some surely? Timothy McVeigh had been in the military prior to his OK bombing… If you “educate” people into feeling that it is perfectly fine to kill others, destroy their societies, cultures, especially when they really do not threaten your own, have not attacked it, but do not do as YOU want, then why wouldn’t they, when back home and out of the military think in the same way about their own culture, society, so called political (more corrupt than any African country) “democracy”?
the first people to support hitler were ex military commandoes who believed the Jews and socialists stabbed Germany in the back. some of them may well have been poor but first and foremost violently deluded proto-fascists. Same sort of Americans who may well come for you, Claude…except you probably speak from the safety of some other country
Hey Joe, here’s an account of the incident from an ’embedded’ journalist:
“The mood was giddy, but it was chaos. Everyone was excited. People were chanting, ‘This is our America’, and ‘Whose house? Our house!’ They were having fun, entertaining themselves. The priority seemed to be to have their friends take selfies with them inside the Capitol…. Eventually, I did see some cops inside. They seemed to be standing by, waiting for orders. I’ve been to plenty of protests in the past year, and let me tell you: They don’t usually wait for orders. I’ve never seen anything like it.” hXXps://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/capitol-riot-photos-inside-trump.html
It is true that’ Trump is a master manipulator. So was Barack Obama. So are most US presidents and a lot of other US politicians. So are its mass media. It is also true that frequently he revealed forbidden truths about matters most presidents never dared. Based on actual evidence, which even American alternative media seem curiously quick to dismiss and loathe to examine, it may also be true as deplorables contend, that there is something to their claims of election irregularities. A warning for what it’s worth from the perspective of a foreigner, the alarming ginned up ferocity of the Democrats’ anti-Trump jihad, like the baseless Russiagate conspiracy before it, may end up doing far more damage to Americans and their liberty than Trump ever could.
American Elections have been rigged since “forever”. Kennedy beat Nixon in 1960 because of Chicago. Nixon sabotaged the Vietnam Peace Talks in ’68 to win over Humphrey — even while the Democratic Party destroyed (or assassinated) the Candidates who actually won primaries. The Democrats decided they wanted to lose to Nixon in ’72 rather than have McGovern lead the country away from authoritarianism. Reagan, through W. B. Casey set up the Iran hostage situation. Clinton brought neoliberalism to the USA and suddenly political opinion polls started diverging more and more from the final election results. Excuses have been made and the pollsters have worked hard to factor in how each side cheats. 2000 stands out with the direct intervention of the Supreme Court. The votes for Ohio were counted in Kentucky in 2004. Obama won because he had sold out to the Oligarchy before 2007 and he charted a “great con” for the next eight years with his betrayal of Americans by foisting the ACA on us, more profits for the insurance companies with health insurance that only protected those who didn’t need healthcare from bankruptcy. The 3D chess gambit and his cool measured tone covered up his many crimes against humanity. Clinton had to claim “Russia, Russia, Russia” because “Trump”.
The Oligarchy recognized Trump for the cheap hood that he is. They understood the chaos he would sow and they welcomed and enabled it.
Now Joe Biden is free to impose a new “Patriot Act” and do what he does best, put more people into prison and raise interest rates on pay-day loans and deny access to bankruptcy for children just starting their professional lives by following the “American Dream” and getting educated — in fraudulent “institutes of education” like Trump-U.
Trump has made it clear that he won’t be at Biden’s inauguration. Everyone writes it off as him being petty. After the “dress rehearsal” on 7 Jan, what is really going to happen on 20 Jan?
The Democrats are on the same side that Trump is on. They work for the Oligarchy which is a motley crew of billionaires listed in the Forbes 400 who have but one goal — “more, more, more”. They make and break alliances with each other whenever it advantages them. Blaming the Democrats or Trump for the results of the conflict between Oligarchs is like blaming the rooster in a chicken fight. The arena is set well before the combatants engage. Bets are taken. The House always wins.
Trump didn’t have to convince most of them that the election was stolen. Dem leadership opened that door wide since 2016. Many of them went to bed on election night (like me, a non-Trumper but a numbers geek) thinking it was mathematically impossible for Biden to eke out a win, even if remaining votes leaned very heavily to Biden. This followed by many of the lawsuits being dismissed for reasons other than lack of merit.
This was the right-wing Occupy Movement.
“This followed by many of the lawsuits being dismissed for reasons other than lack of merit.” I have not seen this. Please provide reference(s).
Thanks very much Jo Lauria for hitting the nail on the head. So sick of how this is being reported in mainstream media. It wasn’t a coup, it was some of the downtrodden making their dissatisfaction known in the hallways of power. Good on them! Rev Dr Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign has said that the dual crises in America of the pandemic and inequality are revealing more clearly the descent into poverty which is destroying America from the inside. Among the 140 million poor people in the US, according to an audit 2 years ago there are 24 million blacks, 38 million Latinos, 8 million Asian Americans, 2 million Native peoples, and 66 million whites. These staggering numbers will have grown hugely and are likely to under-estimate the poor in today’s covid-19 world.
This is what needs addressing for real security in America , and a turn away from spending trillions in wars, on countries that never threatened America at all and the insanity of putting weapons in space.
It was probably only because both the police and the demonstrators showed some restraint and did not escalate the violence when and where it sporadically occurred that we did not experience the full blown riots we saw in the streets of our cities this past summer. Things COULD have been a lot bloodier, but it still would not have represented an actual coup for all the reasons already elaborated by Mr. Luria and so many others here.
American “democracy” (well fettered by the Electoral College and the so-called two party – in reality one Janus party with two heads – system) was in fact structured originally by those “FFs” on the British system of parliamentary election: two chambers, only one elected – the House of Reps – (originally by a restricted populace), the other, the Senate, “elected” by those Reps until 1913; and who could vote was seriously restricted, initially only those white males over 21 who owned property above a certain property tax level, until Andrew Jackson in 1828 opened the electorate up to all (white) males aged 21 +. Of course, neither females nor Native nor African Americans were granted the vote until much much later….Some democratic shining beacon on a hill…
This insurrection, or whatever you like to call it, is a chicken coming home to roost….you do it to other peoples it will eventually be done to you …Ukraine, Belarus, Chile (there it was Salvador Allende, the President, who died in the government building), Venezuela, Iraq, Afghanistan, and on and on…. After all, if you as a country go around the world bombing, devastating other societies which do not bend the knee, foment coup d’etats to bring in atrocious govts because they will fall in line, you fund one way or another (after westernizing some of the population, usually via “international” schools, university eds in the west) “uprisings”…you have veterans who have done the things that destroy other peoples’ countries, societies, cultures, governments… What else can one expect?
As has happened before, CN has refused to print my comment. So much for freedom of speech.
This is Phillip Sawicki apologizing for accusing CN of censorship. I have now found my comment on the website, and thank you for letting me speak.
AMEN — The People will be back, with a lot MORE People.
People who missed this episode are jealous and wish they had been there.
As an overseas observer, I am at a loss to understand why there was a rally in the first place. All that wasted energy.
The Congress, the Senate and Vice President Pence made their determination. Would or did the protests make any difference?
What was the point and what were the protesters’ objective?
What was your President Trump trying to achieve?
Perhaps Joe could do a deep dive into the motives of various parties to the protests and try enlighten those of us who don’t have knowledge of the social and political drivers of the American experience.
I not asking for a book.
Happy New Year to all.
The “point” of the protesters was to show the criminal Congress that many, many people don’t believe the phony stories we are being told about practically everything! There is nothing sacred about what goes on there; it’s actually obscene. You can’t fool all the people all the time.
A fine article on the mostly rather spontaneous, if also mischievous, events of 1-06-2020, a date which was immediately trumpeted in the MSM as “the darkest day in American history” almost as if the talking-heads who uttered such nonsense could either already taste their audience viewership numbers rising, or perhaps were simply so young at the time of 9-11-2001, or so cognitively truant during US History class, that they honestly had no clue just how dark a real dark day can be. In any case, I think the analysis provided in the article here is correct, and that what motivates right-wing Americans to invade the halls of Congress is probably not all that different at bottom than what motivates those of us on the left to oppose the regnant established powers of government as well, namely a sense, I believe quite justified, that the federal government has been completely captured and corrupted by special interests and is completely out of touch with the needs of the common people whose interests it is supposed to place front and center. We hear much these days about some allegedly insuperable gulf between the left and the right, one which might well even be leading us towards “a new civil war.” But the far broader and still increasing chasm is the perennial one between the powerful and the powerless. That is the divide that threatens to destroy the country once and for all, new civil war or no.
All this, because of one woman’s lust for power and her rage at not getting it. The destruction of Iraq, Libya, and Syria wasn’t enough
Oh so bloody true…and in many ways the Strumpet made apparent the reality of the forces which really govern…unfortunately not as transparently as we need.
Good point PS – thanks. This is something that most Democrats would not acknowledge if they remember it at all.
So this is all Hillary’s fault? Are you a serious person?
A rock solid assessment the event. Thanks Joe.
On one hand it appears the established government entity responsible seems to have failed at an epic level. The truth maybe more complicated.
My observation is that domestic law enforcement now days makes a living from bad experiences, situations “gone wrong”. It the debrief of the scenario as they say.
It will not make any difference who the next bunch is to assault the Capital it will not be pretty. Law enforcement is currently under assault for failing, rightly so seemed too easy, homeland security will be next. This peaceful harmless right wing demonstration will not happen again, unless maybe they need to be taught a lesson. If this had been BLM they would still be baggin bodies.
We best keep our eyes on the homeland security people, this all seems to have went in an odd fashion.
Big brother will get tougher and Putti is still winning.
I am not so sure that the Capitol stormers were ‘downtrodden’ although they certainly were angry. After all, they had the means to get to Washington, to buy formidable weapons and ridiculous clothing. They were definitely angry. Someone really needs to do more work defining these people and their motives. Without any data, however, I speculate that most of the Trumpistas are middle-class men and a few women who are upset with changing demographics and economics, who see themselves losing the status they have enjoyed by whiteness and relative wealth.
That’s about as ignorant a comment as one could make. Five (5) weapons were seized. People who believe in the American ideal are upset and angry that that ideal is being crushed and no one in power is acting to stop it. Your speculation is exactly that – speculation founded on ignorance. You must be a dedicated BLM/Antifa thug.
Very few were armed.
Many legislators may have thoughts that citizens weren’t satisfied with voting out those two GOP senators in Georgia, and were looking for more game.
Joe, you are right–what happened at the Capitol building was nothing close to a coup or an insurrection, no matter how disturbing it might have been. However, An actual coup attempt has been ongoing since the day of the election last November. Technically, it is called an auto-coup, and it consists of Trump’s refusal to accept the legitimacy of the election result. He has rallied tens of millions of supporters who fervently believe that he should remain in office, elections be damned. Many of them are heavily armed and itching for a fight. Of course, this auto-coup will fail, but the mere fact that a sitting President would attempt it and have the fanatical backing of so many millions of people is cause for worry regarding the health of what’s left of our democracy. We are in a staring contest with fascism.
So Rob, you’re by proxy claiming that Barack Obama owes his stunning electoral victories, both of them, to the overwhelming popularity of Joe Biden? Okaaaaay.
Joe, I want to thank you so much for this piece. I’ve been going crazy reading MSM pieces and journalists’ comments on Twitter about this event. It’s just all nonsensical, puerile idiocy. Sanity has left the building of MSM, I’m sorry to say, even here in Canada. With you, I can say there is at least one sane journalist left. I wish that could put to rest my anxiety, but it really doesn’t. When I read all of MSM supporting Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media platform bans on Trump, and their support for censorship, I quite literally give up. There is little hope, I’m afraid.
The MSM’s seeming inability to see the forest for the trees is no accident, it is misdirection. They bleat endlessly about the violation of the sanctity of the Capitol, but had precious little to say when the Bill of Rights is progressively whittled away by things like The Patriot Act or The Military Commissions Act; they have nothing to say about one massively wasteful undeclared war after another going on, benefiting only the MIC, and never point out that the wages of limitless deficit spending is inflation and impoverishment of the middle class. What they saw, and it scared them plenty, was a flashback to the storming of the Bastille.
Orwell style…and Huxleyian… As that B**t**d Joseph Goebbels said (something like this, but in German, obviously): Tell a lie often enough and it will be accepted as the truth…And that is certainly what NPR and the BBC World Service do when it suits the agenda of the ruling elites/MICIMATT…we still hear from (especially) NPR that Russia engineered the Strumpet’s win (we have yet to hear the counter evidence); that Russia did it (cyberattack)….we NEVER hear that Israel (otherwise really OAP) has done this in the past, that the NSA listens in on the world’s phone calls, that the US has cyber attacked Russia and so on and on…
I would only suggest that that the beneficiaries of the endless barbaric slaughterings of other peoples and cultures far from here include the members of Congress, those in the WH, and in the other segments of MICIMATT….revolving doors, baksheesh…
Richard Wolf agrees with Joe and, once again, explains the reasons for this reaction. Debt, debt, and more debt.
hXXps://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/kt6ld4/richard_wolff_responds_dc_rage_more_coming_unless/
Hi, John – Pleased
to meet you — HERE.
This is the first, and only, analysis of Wednesday’s events that make sense. Everything else demonizes all of the protestors who, like those of us on the left, have legitimate complaints against the Government controlled by the Oligarchy.
The “rest of us” have become Lincoln’s “House Divided Against Itself”. We must identify the true enemy. It is The 400 who own everything in this nation, who manipulate the stock market and the bank interest rates to accumulate more wealth to themselves while denying the “rest of us” homes, education, healthcare and even food.
You left out the 500+ legislators and justices and all of the bureaucrats running around D.C.
Glad to see comments on your piece still open Mr. Lauria because I read it last night and have been trying to formulate a responding comment since.
There is no doubt that the main point of your commentary is absolutely true: “It was in some ways the downtrodden forcing their existence into the faces of an elitist Congress who serve very powerful interests instead.”
The only reason I didn’t immediately give a thumbs-up, or “like,” or whatever, is because some of what you said just seemed a little too glib in dismissing what MIGHT have happened. My best attempt to express what I mean is something like this: I imagine myself one of those security men on the inside of the Senate or House chambers, with my gun drawn and pointed at those on the other side, not knowing which ones or how many might be armed, and aware of the dangerous unpredictable nature of mobs. My finger is on the trigger, my heart and my mind are racing. What would I have done, how would I have reacted? I honestly can’t answer that question.
I’m not nitpicking or being critical. I re-read your piece several times now, each time with greater appreciation. Your piece here said some things – profoundly honest – we hadn’t heard from any MSM pundit. And even before all the debris is cleared and repairs made we again hear from those in the elitist Congress the word exceptional attached to “United States.” And they refer to that place as “the temple of democracy” which confers on them the status of high priests.
In the hours since you wrote this Mr. Trump has issued a statement condemning those very people he incited to riot. The question of Mr. Trump’s political future is now answered – he has none.
“… Congress must understand this before it’s too late.” They have: they’re erecting a 7 foot high barrier around the Capital. The Baghdad embassy on the Potomac. They seem determined to continue to attack the symptoms without acknowledging the disease.
Yours was the last of many things I read yesterday, and the very only one thing that brought it all into focus.
I think 3rd party options are fabulous, but I also think we have to fix our lack of election integrity before a 3rd party stands any real chance of succeeding.
I agree 100%. Despite all the assurances from the MSM that there was no fraud in this election, we all know that the ONLY reason Biden is president is because his supporters “cheated better.”
Election fraud and conspiracy is an on-going daily collusion between the 400 who like mafia families have no limits in what they call “just business”, but they have one shared goal — to own everything.
This country has been rife with electoral fraud since it began holding them – Ward Bosses, Tammany Hall, and, yes, dead people did vote astonishingly…..Then weren’t there probs with the computerized voting systems before? Honesty in the electoral process (itself hardly truly democratic) is always questionable hereabouts…
yes, a potential dress rehearsal for what could be to come if neo-liberal centrist biden follows in the path of obama whose promise of change turned out to be small change indeed.
but not a coup ? not the culmination of a long announced intention by fascist trump to reject any results denying him a 2nd term ? what motivated the public letter by former defense secretaries ?
from trump’s former russia advisor :
“The president was trying to stage a coup. There was little chance of it happening, but there was enough chance that the former defense secretaries had to put out that letter, which was the final nail through that effort. They prevented the military from being involved in any coup attempt. But instead, Trump tried to incite it himself,” said Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia adviser. “This could have turned into a full-blown coup had he had any of those key institutions following him. Just because it failed or didn’t succeed doesn’t mean it wasn’t real.”
Hyperbole. Fear-mongering. Propaganda. With which our “new Congress” owned by a different segment of “The 400” will impose a new “Patriot Act” escorting Fascism to American Government in such a way that we won’t see it until it is too late. Indeed, it may already be too late.
THANK YOU JOHN…
YOU ARE RIGHTON WITH OUR GOVERNMENT..WAY TO LATE BIDEN WILL PUT US ALL UNDER.AND THE RICH GET RICHER,AND THE POOR GET POORER. HERE WE COME
I agree with Joe Lauria. Members of Congress, who represent the corporations, not the people, live in such an artificial bubble of privilege, they have been totally blind to the disintegration of our way of life. Their illusions are far from reality. The riot brought 4 hours of reality to them, that is all. It will not change their faulty perceptions or false narratives.
Some in the crowd trashed offices. DN had photos up yesterday. True, though, they didn’t have much of a plan in terms of holding the fort.
A problem with orgs that give me most hope (“I” who am doing not too much) is that they seem to be anticipating a quantum leap to socialism and fairness. There are two “fairly” active such orgs, mostly AFAICS in Europe.
But the issue seems way more complex. I am for meaningful Keynesian stimuli, but OTOH the sad fact is that until many other govs besides those in Denmark, Cuba, and Venezuela can start getting intelligent…we will, during the transition, have to “make it” in a capitalistic world (not meaning “make it” like Black Rock makes it). At least “get by” for cry’n out loud! This involves, for one thing, unexciting [and heretofore fairly uncharacteristic] trade adjustments. It’s not where we want to be. But it’s the path we must walk. I don’t know where Lori Wallach will get the recruits she needs, but I surely hope she gets’em. People all over the world can watch demonstrators break into the capitol, but it’s the same with the yellow vests–they’re smart enough to wait and watch for policy change (like in reaction to this mob the other day). If a trade deal mandates some percentage of Mexican auto assemblers get $16 per hr, that also will something about who we are. Or if we can do like Dr Michael Mina says to do.
I know yall will be say’n bigger reforms and principles need to come into play. And yall are right. But who in “the base” understands them? AFAIC, the most we know about what is happening is that leaders in the habit of extreme shadow projecting can somehow get masses to do same. Erich Neumann went over this a while back. Don’t know if Dr Bandy Lee did so in her book. Social media, though, it seems is getting all camps to do this in a “somewhat” less extreme manner. But you can’t just wage ideological war against social media, as Ray McGovern more or less pointed out on one CN Live (I thought anyway). Nevertheless, the trend to bellum omnium contra omnes keeps accelerating. If we can “get to the root” like Joe did here, maybe we can slow it down.
Mexican workers don’t get $16/hr. The average between Mexican and American workers has to be $16. I’m a GM autoworker making over $31/hr. So if a mexican worker get $1 they meet the average. A trade deal should say no tariffs and follow each countries laws. That’s free trade.
I don’t doubt the percentage down there didn’t get it with the final version, or that half of Global Trade Watch’s recommendations didn’t get in the thing.
It sounds convoluted, but it’s a convoluted world…
Sorry about oldness of article. I usually can find good explanations quick, and this one’s pretty good. Could have found more recent mention, but it maybe wouldn’t have explained the strategy as well, and the time that would have taken is time I need for something else. Of course, for all I know you might not need an explanation.
Joe, people have to be held accountable for their own actions.
What you describe may well be the reason for Trump’s rise but in no way does it excuse the actions.
Tell it to the family of the officer who was murdered on the scene.
How many others might have lost their lives that day?
Yes, there is corruption in the house but that doesn’t excuse what happened in any way.
Let’s be clear about the racism behind the objections – all clearly aimed at voting centers largely populated by people of color.
As another commenter said, this was indeed white supremacy having a heart attack — or just throwing a fit.
Did you see the confederate flag carried into the building?
I wonder why Hawley, Cruz, et al didn’t stay to greet their supporters. They revealed themselves for the chickenhawks they are, probably hid under the first skirt they could find. Rudy calling for “trial by combat?” Was he out there leading the charge? Herr Drumpf himself saying “I’ll be with you” and then promptly running for his hideaway where he could drool over the results on TV.
A crowd of deluded racists with no aim other than to vent their spleens. The danger would have been much greater if there was some actual thought and leadership in the mob. No, this wasn’t an expression of frustration by the forgotten. It was proto-Nazi-ism clear and simple and needs to be called out as such — particularly the politicians who fueled it and all those who supported the would-be Fuhrer along the way in his delusional crusade.
I knew it wasn’t a real coup because Victoria Nuland wasn’t handing out cookies.
LOL
I wonder what would have happened had they been people of color???
So will our elites become afraid of ordinary Americans? Realize that impoverishing the majority is dangerous? They haven’t so far.
Nice speech but I disagree with some aspects. It might be a dress rehearsal for an armed showdown of some sort or like every protest that happens, there is no follow up. The level of education that these people, just like the working and middle class of the UK, receive via their choice of useless baseless educational institution and media outlets, they have no intelligence to go further than what is front of their eyes. Anything that requires less animal instinct and wanton desire is beyond their trail of thought. Watch this space.
Really? So working class people are thickies who do not know their own interests? So nice to know that we are totally incapable and need to be led by the nose by such brilliantly educated, and so well informed folks as yourself.
And I would never ever vote for either face of the Janus Party – you know, of course, what a Janus is, being so wise as you think yourself. Presumably you are comfortably off…zoom working or whatnot????? Please try stepping down the ladder…
The first SA wo support Hitler were poor people without job, ordinary workers manipulated by Hitler. You are write it always start, or often, with a kind of family protest like in France the yellow jackets. But the problem is deeper and not to recognise it could lead to harder confrontation.
This is one of few sane reactions to this so-called ‘fascist coup’ — a ragtag bunch of no-hoper white supremacists with what seems to be in tow a rather bemused following of Trump ingenues who want answers to their plight and who don’t yet realise that Trump wasn’t it. Insurrection is an art, and aside from the ‘insurgents’ looking at or photographing paintings on walls, there wasn’t a shred of art in that, whatever it was.
It’s not really a ‘dress rehearsal’, though, in the sense that a ‘dress rehearsal’ is for a main event with the same plot or theme in mind. Rather, it’s likely that this particular plot won’t recur because Trump is out and has publicly conceded. However, a dress rehearsal for the underlying plot that everyone can see and alluded to here (ie, the rampant inequality and government abuse of the population during a pandemic and a depression) may happen sooner rather than later.
The most feasible would be a million+ person march on Washington for M4A, especially now the feckless Democrats hold both houses and the presidency, who can all be put on the spot big time. M4A is the single most pressing issue right now, one that would unite people on class and across partisan lines. Some of those ‘insurgents’ would likely turn up to it. Is anyone with influence contemplating this? Or are they keeping mum and obfuscating like they did when the #forcethevote movement sprung up?
A million+ people marching and rallying outside congress and the white house, who refuse to ‘move on’ and go home, would really scare the living daylights out of the seat warmers in the hot-air factory, and likely their Big Pharma and insurance company ruling class masters too. And such a fitting dress rehearsal it would be for taking on the same issues of inequality underlying M4A that are fuelling the justifiable popular rage, fury and hatred toward a corrupt and vicious ruling class. To be really productive, however, all the felt anger needs to be directed toward the conquest of power. For a 1905 to a Feb 1917 to an October 1917.
The only thing I disagree with is the statement that the incident wasn’t “interrupting Congress”. How can this be so when Congress was hustled away as “Both chambers were in the process of debating a challenge to Arizona’s electoral votes when the Capitol went into lockdown.” – USA Today. The timing of the Capitol police opening the gates to let the protesters into the Capitol seems very auspicious for parties wishing no debate.
Dan, you have failed to see the apostrophe at the end of the word “Congress.” The article states: “It wasn’t the storming of a “temple of democracy,” interrupting Congress’ “sacred duty,” … The sentence does not state say an interruption didn’t take place. It is criticizing the description of Congress’ work as a “sacred duty.”
My bad, thanks for clarifying Joe! Keep up the great investigating!
Yesterday I watched two live-stream shows outside the Capitol, one by an African-American and one by an Hispanic video producer. I saw and heard scores of random demonstrators interviewed, many Black and Hispanic. To a one they were composed, polite and informed. As concerned about the behavior of Republicans like Pence and McConnell as about that of the Democrats. Then I went to Common Dreams and it’s lead story was titled ‘Arrest the President’: Accountability Demanded After Fascist Mob Incited by Trump Storms Capitol. Branding almost half a nation of some 330 million people “domestic terrorists” or abettors and supporters thereof is a new one in history. That conjures up something that could make what occurred in Rwanda in the early 1990s look like a pacifist convention.
Excellent comment. Thanks!!
Best thing I’ve read so far about the incident, by a mile!
Any more actions planned to defeat rising fascist insurrections from US to Ukraine ? I mean the right wing is threatening. They have arms and police collaboration to do this and Americans have sponsored it around the world.
It ain’t doomsday yet. The power to do it is in the wrong hands.
This is about how I feel about the “insurrection”. We are being told how to think about this event by the press and this just illustrates the complete control of the press by the establishment.
The police seem to have enabled this protest and this has alarmed lawmakers. They will want to make sure the police do not enable future protests.
It really is wake up time, isn’t it?
There’s a saying, “Payback’s a Bitch”? America is a Nation that gleefully encouraged hooligans & domestic terrorist’s in other Nations, calling them Patriots & Freedom Fighters & telling them to take back power for their so called Democracy but now this Color Revolution mentality they formented has boomeranged back too bite the US in the butt? From the Color Revolution’s in the Middle East to the overthrow of the legitimate Govts in Ukraine & some Sth American Countries & the meddling & interference in the domestic Politics of Hong Kong where rioters trashed their Parliament, it was ok when this happened in other Countries but now the shock & horror when this happens in America & its much vaunted Citadel of Democracy, the Capitol Building, all Hell breaks loose? Trumps white trash, Hillbilly, Coup d’état was one of the most pathetic & laughable spectacles that was ever beamed out around the Globe with a bunch of angry, bearded idiots, screaming out nonsense like their imbecile Cult Leader Trump! This is a Empire in Terminal decline & in its death throes with its Society collapsing from within! Yes Payback’s a Bitch & you reap what you have sowed, around the World!
Exactly, Kiwiantz!!!! My sentiments exactement….
It is absurd to insist on peaceful transfer of power when the country has abysmal election integrity. Before you accept the corporate media’s relentless insistence that charges of election rigging are baseless, read some of the affidavits from witnesses.
From Georgia:
hXXps://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.283580/gov.uscourts.gand.283580.6.4.pdf
hXXps://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.284055/gov.uscourts.gand.284055.1.29.pdf
From Michigan:
hXXps://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2020-11/JessyJacobAffidavit.pdf
As I watched – and more importantly, listened – to the appalling coverage (on Canadian television mostly), it became increasingly clear that these folks really had been disenfranchised. Not (probably) by stuffed ballot boxes and hacked voting machines, but by a stunningly dishonest mainstream media entirely in the service of a neoliberal state apparatus.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but given the media bias these days, I probably have to – I do not support Trump – nor Biden for that matter, but the voices of these people must be heard.
It is absurd, as most of the media, and disappointingly, one commentator here has, to write them off as a “band of white supremacists, fascists and warped individuals”. I suspect that many of these people, and many more of the people who empathize with them, have been beaten down, deceived and impoverished by the same forces that oppress those that took to the streets over the summer.
If the fog of identity politics clears a bit, perhaps common cause can be found before your country stumbles into a non-productive and horrific civil war paid for with the lives of the working class on both sides.
Don,well said.The disrespect from Nancy Pelosi in ripping up President Trumps speech
should have been a warning shot of coming attractions.
I pray for our nation and its leaders.
Your comments remind me that the powers that be have been protecting their own butts for centuries by pitting the poorest and most disadvantaged white people against, first enslaved peoples, and later, immigrants, whatever their color. Irish, Eastern Europeans, poor Jews, Spanish language speakers, climate and war refugees, Asians and Central American, even Indigenous people, each in turn are vilified, and in turn made gatekeepers tasked with controlling the next group the next group. Slave catchers, Overseers, police, etc. are recruited from the oppressed. Prison Trustees are in the same group. This cycle goes back 5-600 centuries. I agree that common cause is needed, but in the face of a “convince the lowest white man that he is better than the highest achieving black person” mentality and strategy, we’re groping for HOW? I think M4All has the potential to be a unifying issue.
“that as long as Congress and the rest of the Establishment continue to ignore ordinary Americans’ interests and serve only their own, the anger and the desperation in the land will explode, rendering Wednesday’s events merely a dress rehearsal for what may well turn into a full-blown insurrection. ”
What are their interests and if you say employment , blah blah, that’s crap. They all got to DC somehow, most flew in and they all looked pretty well fed and clothed with all the “Gravy Seals” gear. I’ll wager that 95% of them are doing pretty well. The real disenfranchised are virtually all non-white groups and if they had pulled this shit the capitol grounds would have been bloody.
Antifa and BLM besieged the White House last summer and scuffled with secret service among other acts of violence – and got a square named after them. Your racially divisive rhetoric benefits no one – at least no good actors.
The significant fact for me is that the MSM is desperately trying to hush up or deny that this time the military guards, police, and demonstrators were all on the same side!
Brilliant and thoughtful analysis from Joe Lauria, for which I am grateful.
The bias that is so easily brought to the fore, and sanctioned, through the choice of words/labels and focus of and by the media is, much like Trump encouraging his supporters, is a powerful way that public opinion and discourse is shaped.
The importance and value in making a sincere attempt to understand the underlying causes and motivations that bring a group of people to gather in support of Trump, in support of the belief he fostered – that the election was rigged – has a partial truth. All our elections are rigged in one way or another. Money/wealth being one of the major influences. That the rest of us have not risen up and worked vigorously to address the inherent faults in our methods of decision making, who gets to be a candidate, and who gets promoted by which party coupled with the complete exclusion of parties other than the dominant two – that this has not happened is part of the problem, part of what has brought this group of people to act yesterday as they did.
As to what Biden/Harris will be exemplars of/for remains to be seen. The initial picks for cabinet/advisors is deeply troubling. Whether public pressure and Congressional actions will be either effective or appropriate is yet to be revealed. The outcome of the Georgia run off election gives me some hope tempered by not so distant past betrayals by those with a gift of rhetoric whose deeds feel far from their words. Our work is ahead. We can take nothing for granted.
This was by far a more peaceful protest than the ones we saw all summer long that resulted in billions in damages. If those were “mostly peaceful”, then yesterday’s was a slumber party.
Bravo.
as my watch went from internet podcaster photojournalist of both and some highly professional it was blatant to New Emgland beltways home grown media it was quite clear mainline talkong heads were far from those red hats in DC and not just physical minds but lightyears behind in understanding what.was ongoing.
it immediately became clear they were afraid and into panic mode of howcan this happen in US. As threy all stumbled over finding vilest most d people and wildest terms such as coup revvolutionary, iumerican of course, traitors anarchist terroroist.
From left llreaning pacifist progressives they werr soon calling for fully armed military and use all means to end the coup.
I got to wondering about how Congressional.bathrooms were stocked, as most assuredly those elected officials and staff were pissing and crapping theit “Depends” more than once.
I don’t think every event put before the public as major news is a hoax. I don’t think the covid pandemic, whatever its ultimate cause (whether natural or man-made), has been fabricated from whole cloth to deceive and control the public. I don’t think that the insane warmongering against numerous countries including the planet’s other two nuclear superpowers promulgated by all leaders of both major parties is just to scare us into compliance with their dictates. Their reasons are bullshit, but their threats and the potential consequences of those threats are very real. They are really that crazy.
The vast dog and pony show put on by the Dems, called the “resistance” and expressed mainly in the form of a new cold war with Russia and McCarthyist tactics against the opposition, especially versus the sitting president, after they were edged out in the previous election by Trump have been mostly theatrical productions. The threats, the shootings, the rioting and the looting have been real but they’ve been elaborately planned false flags in my opinion, orchestrated with the collaboration of sundry sympathetic state administrations and law enforcement agencies. The rioters and looters were practically given printed invitations to participate in multiple pseudo coups. They even established supposedly breakaway free republics in Portland and Seattle. (So what’s their status now? “Frozen conflicts?” Haven’t heard of them since everyone took a Xmas break.)
The shenanigans of Wednesday at the Capitol Building had much the same stink of theater but by the other side. Trump was supposedly the maestro of “reality TV” which he probably assumed the events at Capitol were to be–just one more gimmick to sway the public to buy his product, i.e., him and his presidency. But I think he forgot that the Dems have had Hollywood on their side since about the beginning of time. Now they also have the powerful new digital media solidly on their side, though Trump foolishly thought he could tweak his tweets and fight them with their own weaponry.
Probably to his shock, he was rather unceremoniously delivered the equivalent of a head shot by FB, Twitter and the rest. Cut off, silenced like a disobedient child. Pelosi and Schumer were fed the right lines to paint the Donald as the heir to Caligula. They demand his immediate impeachment (again, this one for the record!) and the mass media gives their cause the imprimatur of God Almighty himself. It is all very convincing because Mr. Trump did actually go too far in allowing the events to unfold. Though going through the motions of storming the Bastille, both the would-be insurgents and the defenders of the keep (the Capitol Police) seemed quite at ease with one another, as Mr. Lauria duly points out.
The American public probably remains inexorably split 50:50 on the usual liberal/conservative pseudo dialectic put on by the plutocrats behind the curtain, but Donny boy has most definitely lost the propaganda war on this one. And “catapulting the propaganda” (to quote Dubya), never an actual coup, was what it has all been about for the entire past four years.
Sorry, it was coup attempt.
Just imagine what would have occurred had these invading insurrectionists caught Schumer or Pelosi, the latter in particular. Even if they’d “just” captured Mitt or Mitch, some serious (*Ut would have gone down.
Jan 6 was White supremacy having a heart attack.
Thank you for a calm, realistic reporting of what is happening in our country. More people on both sides of the aisle/partisan news and parties need to wake up to the mass manipulation at work today that only benefits the wealthy and financial institutions. Keep up the fantastic work and insights!
I fully agree. We need to “follow the money”.
Obama preached US “EXCEPTIONALISM” & US “DEMOCRACY”- Both delusions are LIES;
Whilst whistle blower ASSANGE languishes to rot in prison for EXPOSING US WAR CRIMES, those in the US CONGRESS GILDED CAGE WHO support the Military Industrial Complex Crime syndicates, now have had their cage breached and rattled by American people disenfranchised by the inequalities between rich and poor, the “Haves and the have nots”. (I.e., e.g. Middle classes diminished into poverty and homelessness, because the so called “trickle down effect” from Wall street ” Banksters “ & stock market tricksters, is Capitalist BULLSHIT)
Whilst there have “HIGHLY LIKELY” been election frauds & manipulations of votes, enabled by a flawed political system based on money not TRUTH, TRUMP has been the master manipulator of the mob;
The mob, are desperate to have a champion for their voice, similar to the Gullible Evangelical Christians who surrender their money and simple minds to those TV fraudsters like Swaggart & Co.
The HYPOCRISY of US foreign affairs policies in criticising other Nations, has been laid bare for all to see.
USA is the DIVIDED “shit-hole” country with its rust belts, tent city streets of homeless and impoverished, all because the corrupted wealthy have taken it all.
You got it clean and straight.
Since 2009 I’ve been recording my comments to media news and opinion articles. Someone who called me a couple of days ago said I was being cynical. My reply was that no, but I’m a profound skeptic. I constantly put everything in question. I go back to the first articles and they say exactly what you’re saying. There are1062 pages of those comments
The first sentence in the 3rd paragraph begins with: “Until we change the SYSTEM, yes, the economic system of our America, there will be Mexicans or Columbians or Afghans or, etc., etc. who will fight, die…” I correspond with a small circle of like minds and am convinced there are many people out there who don’t wait for an event like yesterday’s to think beyond Events and into the foundational substructures that need deep correction. I truly believe there are more journalists and professors and just isolated thinkers out there who are qualified to be President than there are politicians. In August of 2007 Obama turned elections into a big money game and the perks for politicians turned from little to big.
Have we already forgotten that Hillary was and remains unable to accept her defeat, that she knifed Bernie in the back, because she controlled the DNC? And this time she did it again, not only to Sanders, but to perhaps the best equipped candidate among the candidates, Tulsi Gabbard.
Is this not the perfect moment to start a movement to a 3rd party, one with the intellectual capacity to match some standing. One who can say something real and attractive not only to liberals, but also to those thousands in that crowd yesterday who were not part of the mob, who were as appalled as anyone with the idea of an attempted coup that would overturn the government.
There are charismatic leaders who think. Where are they?
“Jack Siler,” your comment is a verbatim repeat of the first comment above by “Janet Woods.” What’s going on here? It’s a great comment, but something isn’t right.
How does yesterday’s circus occur in the most militarized nation on earth that has spent trillions on security over the past 20 years including militarizing SWAT teams in small towns in the middle of nowhere USA, let alone the nation’s capital? It seems you cant board an airplane with an oversized nail clipper, but you can waltz into our nation’s capital wearing a bullhorn fur cape and stand on the Speakers Chamber to display your tattoos to the entire world.
Here is a good summary:
hXXps://www.zerohedge.com/political/questions-about-chaos-capitol-desperately-need-be-answered
You’re right, Joe. The blunt, Just the facts, ma’am, is greatly appreciated.
I think it’s remarkable that you overlooked that these “protesters” were exclusively white & so privileged by race, & that they had the support of some members of the Capitol Police, who CLEARLY identified with them.
Thanks, Joe. There is more truth here than in the endless hours of pundit/mercenaries. ray
Thank you Joe. Chris Hedges has been warning about this very development for many years and it has fallen on mostly deaf ears. Just goes to prove the effect power and privilege has on the human psyche. The power brokers won’t believe they are responsible for their own fate until the mob is at the door and there is no one left who will protect them.
I must add the charming folks followed Trump’s advise, “media is the enemy of the people”, and chased reporters and destroyed tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment.
Shomari Stone
“BREAKING. Mob of Trump supporters swarm the media near the US Capitol. They yell what Trump frequently says, “the media is the enemy of the people.” They destroy equipment and chased out reporters. I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 year career: ”
National Writers Union president Larry Goldbetter, who declared, “It is no coincidence that the racist stormtroopers who attacked an election that 160 million people participated in, would also attack media workers.”
“Elections and a free press are two of the foundations of a democratic society,” Goldbetter said. “Trump and his terrorist minions are violently opposed to both. What’s worse is that they had free reign for the entire day, whereas protesters against racist police violence were arrested by the tens of thousands over the summer.” from Commondreams.
Well said. 40 years of Neoliberal policies, inflicted by both political parties, has decimated American working families. Hope (a catchy, if empty, campaign promise) has been replaced with despair. This is the result.
Square on the head, Lauria! As an overly active Democrat (Abroad), I’ve been striking the same note for some time. All Trump supporters are not deplorable, mush-brained, gullible hayseeds, although personally I do think they may be ‘info-challenged.’ But, they ARE our fellow citizens and they obviously have some issues. If we’re to draw back together, find our common issues, and agree to disagree sometimes, we have to talk to each other. And ‘you, deplorable idiot’ is probably not a good conversation starter.
Finally, someone who gets it!! This is what I wrote to a friend earlier today- these same sentiments. The continued immiseration of a growing underclass of people of all colors by oligarchical rule in this country, is ultimately responsible for this state of affairs. If the working class would ever unite and stop being led around by the nose with “leaders” like Trump and Biden, they’d be very, very powerful indeed. Thanks, Joe.
Well, no surprise, is it? After all, racism was invented to separate poor whites and minorities.
Bingo; “When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, there were no “white” people there. Nor, according to colonial records, would there be for another sixty years. In this seminal two-volume work, The Invention of the White Race, Theodore W. Allen tells the story of how America’s ruling classes created the category of the “white race” as a means of social control. Since that early invention, white privileges have enforced the myth of racial superiority, and that fact has been central to maintaining ruling-class domination over ordinary working people of all colors throughout American history.” ~ from a description of Theodore W. Allen’s The Invention of the White Race.
And Joe Lauria’s is the best take on the event to date.
Amen, to that. And that’s why the media who is owned by those oligarchs keeps doing everything in their power to keep us divided. There are no people in our government now who genuinely have the interests of the American people at heart.
I’m kind of sad in a way that the damn place wasn’t trampled to the ground. Who cares about a bunch of structures standing when they don’t represent a damn thing. The Constitution is “just a piece of paper” as GW Bush famously said. Obviously the
Congress critters don’t respect it, but they take advantage of the fact that they know the people do. When are we going to smarten up??
Bravely said, Veronica!
” Congress must understand this before it’s too late. ” Congress just adjourned until after the inaugural. Apparently they didn’t take the hint. As one report said, the House leader ship might as well hang a “kick me “sign on their backs.
I watched this on three channels alternately all afternoon. The level of aggression and vandalism was disturbing; and most disturbing was that it was incited overtly by the President and the former Mayor of New York City.
That woman was shot when she attempted to leap through a broken door into the house chamber. She couldn’t have missed seeing the four plain clothes Capitol police aiming their weapons from the other side. The otherwise weak response from the authorities was, as mentioned, quite a contrast to the treatment of BLM protesters in the same city and elsewhere. Many even on the MSM pondered what would have happened if they were Black.
If the “downtrodden” want to force their existence into the faces of Congress they are welcome to come and lobby their congress- critters, the more the merrier. And if they want to go further, peacefully protest like the Sunrise movement and others have done, numbers count. However that is not in the nature of the band of white supremacists, fascists and warped individuals that Trump has inspired to come out of the woodwork. There are a lot of downtrodden in this country but most don’t see fit to attack Congress.
To use a Marxist term these are the “lumpen proletariat” a group always amenable to manipulation by the likes of Trump.
Businessmen & military, both active and former, are hardly an example of lumpen proletariat. Were they whipped to do a certain actions on Capitol can be discussed and debated but one thing is certain – they understand that they are not being heard by people in power.
Check out Alex Jones’s and his Info Wars broadcasts via AM radio and electronic phones during the riot, which carried running commentaries, directions and advice and extolled Jones as leading a line of marchers while egging on the crowd via megaphone.