“Be there, will be wild!”
The first day of the Senate hearings examining the January 6th insurrection focused on the testimony of those meant to protect the Capitol. One comment which recurred was that the assault was a coordinated effort. Of course, this should elicit the question: coordinated by whom? The answer to that looming query will tell the tale.
Firstly, the event was never meant to be a peaceful protest. Many of those MAGA-cultists, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and what-not insurrectionists, were coordinated, organized and prepared for the riot. They knew where to be and what to bring to the ’Stop the Steal’ event. The participants brought climbing gear. They brought pepper spray and bear spray. They brought gas-masks. They brought flak-vests. They brought helmets and goggles. Despite what that knucklehead from Wisconsin spouted, these people came armed; not with firearms but with baseball bats, clubs, home-made spears and chemical weapons. Some even made T-shirts which announced a new Civil War!
The ‘communication failures’ referred to with dismay by the law enforcement officers in Senate testimony will reveal the keystone which held in place all of the action on that fateful day. The onus of communication failure will, most assuredly, fall not on law enforcement but on the White House and the former administration.
The former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Steven Sund, asked the sergeants-at-arms of both the Senate and House on January 4th to request the presence of the National Guard at the joint session of Congress on the 6th. That request was denied ostensibly on the specious grounds that the optics would be bad.
There is little doubt in this writer’s mind that the concern was not about ‘bad optics’ but rather that reinforced law enforcement would curtail the effectiveness of the insurrection. “Be there, will be wild!” ‘Nuff said.
