Ten Days and Counting

Ten days after the insurrection that trashed the U.S. Capitol and killed five people, here’s a brief recap:

• More than 100 people have been arrested. More than 300 cases opened, with more arrests to come.
• The FBI—after the fact—acknowledged that it had credible evidence of the threat of violence at the Capitol.
• The insurrectionists came within 100 feet of Vice President Pence and his family, but were lured away by a single black Capitol police officer.
• The insurrectionists chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and hung nooses outside the Capitol. 
• The insurrectionists said they wanted to “execute” House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. 
• Some of the insurrectionists storming the Capitol came prepared with weapons, gas masks, ballistic vests and zip ties.
• Part of the violent mob attacked police, beating one officer so badly that he later died, and dragging another down the steps and beating him. 

“Someone in the crowd grabbed Fanone’s helmet, pulled him to the ground and dragged him on his stomach down a set of steps. At around the same time, police said, the crowd pulled a second officer down the stairs. Police said that chaotic and violent scene was captured in a video that would later spread widely on the Internet.

“Rioters swarmed, battering the officers with metal pipes peeled from scaffolding and a pole with an American flag attached, police said. Both were struck with stun guns. Fanone suffered a mild heart attack and drifted in and out of consciousness.

“All the while, the mob was chanting ‘U.S.A.’ over and over and over again.

“’We got one! We got one!’ Fanone said he heard rioters shout. ‘Kill him with his own gun!’”

• Representative Ayanna Pressley’s office panic buttons were torn out before the Capitol was breached. 
• Police officers from various parts of the country, including Houston and Virginia, were identified as part of the mob inside the Capitol.
• The mob inside the Capitol included business owners, real-estate brokers, and “what you might call ‘respectable’ people.”

The white nationalist mobs carried Confederate flags and Nazi symbols. They want to overthrow the government.

Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump—now the only president to be impeached twice. 

This insurrection was sparked by Donald Trump, and specifically by his repeated and absolutely false claims that the election was “stolen” from him and that he “won by a landslide.” Nothing could be further from the truth, but that’s what he continues to claim. His rabid followers want to believe him. Even after the attempted coup, eight Republican Senators and 130 Republican Representatives voted to overturn the election.

Trump’s violent followers threaten further actions this weekend through the inauguration, and beyond.