Lights, camera, insurrection!
We Have the Power to Shut Down this Theatrical Production so Long as We Play Our Parts.
The Role of Director
A few years ago, I decided to direct my first improvised live theatrical show. Never having directed anything before, my first task was to figure out what a director actually did. After some thought and a little internet research, I decided that my role as the director would be to gather the right elements for both the actors and the audience to have a wonderful experience together. As long as I met that goal, no matter what else happened I would feel good about the project.
In a stunning example of the Dunning–Kruger effect, by the time I realized that I had picked a nearly impossible genre for a novice to try to direct — a full length crime procedural — I already had a troupe of committed actors on board who were excited about the show. My pride coupled with not wanting to disappoint the actors kept me from backing out of the project I had started. Instead, I sweated over every detail of the show from creating the set design to developing the show framework to organizing the flow of our rehearsals down to 5 minute increments. Those were the few elements that I could control. So, I put a kajillion hours of both meaningful, worthwhile effort and useless, fretful energy into each of them.
Because there are no written lines in improvised theater, my work as the director was essentially done once the show started. Once the lights went up, it would be the actors’ job to see the show through to the end no matter what happened. During the performance, I could only dim the lights on stage to cut a scene or go black when the plot had reached a good resolution point for the intermission and the close of the show. Other than the light switch, it would be up to the 10 or so actors on stage to do all the heavy lifting for 90+ minutes.
The Dizzying Range of Improv
I’d been to enough long form improv performances to know that I might witness anything on stage from utter pandemonium to yawn-inducing bleh to absolute transcendence. And, there are incredibly thin margins between each of those outcomes. That is the beauty and the tightrope walking risk of live, improvised theater.
Trump as Director with His Supporting Cast
As I watched the most recent session of the January 6th hearings, it felt like former President Trump was the producer and director of his own improvised coup. He put all the elements in place and then hoped for enough pandemonium to keep himself in office. It was as if ordinary American citizens like Stephen Ayres had been conscripted into the cast as extras while the unregulated militias signed up for a supporting role
For instance, here was Mark Meadows swooping in as his assistant director trying to change the narrative once the performance did not go the President’s way:
We need to establish the narrative that, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable.
President Trump only stopped the show, once the plot had reached a resolution point, according to Select Committee member Elaine Luria:
That’s when he tweeted a video telling the rioters to go home while also telling him — them that they were special and that he loved them. By that time although the violence was far from over, law enforcement had started to turn the tide; reinforcements were on the way, and elected officials were in secure locations.
There were a few spots where this improvisational coup failed: Trump was not driven to the Capitol, Vice President Pence did not go along with the fake electors scheme, the militias did not kill the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, nor the Congressional representatives. If any one of these elements had happened slightly differently, the outcome would have been vastly different. While the hours of carnage we saw on TV was bad enough, it could have been far worse. We could have had an overthrow of democracy coupled with politically motivated murders.
The Consequences of Jan 6th’s Improvised Theater
Unlike improvised theater, this coup attempt has had real consequences. At least 7 deaths are attributable to the attack. Over 140 Capitol Police officers were injured with some now unable to work in their chosen profession. Over 840 rioters and insurrectionists have been arrested. So far, some 185 individuals have received criminal sentences. Those are the short term effects. Longer term, 66% of Republicans distrust President Biden’s win.
The Threat Persists
More chillingly, the threat persists. It was as if former President Trump’s final tweet of January 6th asking the rioters and insurrectionists to “Go home with love & in peace” was a dimming of the lights for an intermission rather than a close of the show or the finish of the dress rehearsal. The production continues on. Over 100 Republican nominees deny the results of the 2020 election. We now have a homegrown guerrilla insurgency comprised of so-called Christian nationalists, white supremacists, white nationalists and anti-government activists. Their true motivations may lie less in ideology than on being able to scare up dollars and membership rolls, according to Jason Van Tatenhove, the former national media director for the Oath Keepers:
While this may come as a surprise to some, many of the true motivations of this group revolve around raising funds, and not the propaganda they push. Stewart Rhodes and the Oath Keepers insert themselves into crises, situations that they would not usually have any part of, and seek to make themselves relevant and fundraise on the back of these conflicts to increase the membership rolls.
So, What Can We Do?
If this is basically a long intermission where former President Trump, his acolytes and wannabes get to regroup and set a more hospitable stage, what can we do? Our task is essentially to shut down this nightmare of a theatrical production as swiftly as we can with all the tools available to us. Here are a few ideas:
Reset the Stage.
If all the world’s a stage, then let’s reset the stage. We need to start by recognizing the Capitol attack with the same seriousness and unified purpose as we did the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I want to be clear here: I am not calling for the racism that followed these acts. I want us to appreciate the severity, gravity and pivotal nature of the Capitol attack on our democracy with the ignominiousness that it rightly deserves.
The initial narrative we were given was that it was a mob that got out of hand. Based on the evidence gathered, that narrative is about as ludicrous as a Japanese fighter claiming he got lost in the fog, inadvertently traveled 3,800 miles and accidently dropped a bomb on Pearl Harbor. I’ve already discussed the ways in which folks can gaslight, be cognizant of them and don’t buy into them.
Support Electoral College Reforms that Will Prevent the Stunts that Were Attempted on and after January 6, 2021.
We should enact legislation that enshrines the norms that existed prior to the 2020 election. For instance, a Secretary of State or Governor should not be able to switch out electors for the electoral college after they have had a chance to see that the vote went against their preferred candidate. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a “heads I win, tails you lose” game.
Pay Attention to the Recommendations Proposed by the January 6th Committee
The Committee is likely to release a preliminary report in September. I plan to read the recommendations for myself or read a digest from a news outlet. I would encourage everyone else to do the same. If you decide not to read it, I’d recommend finding a legitimate news source, not a commentator or fake news outlet.
Commit to Voting in Local and State Elections.
Coaches in sports always talk about the team not leaving the win to the final second of the game or to an overtime kick of a field goal. We need to plan on doing the same. Let’s establish a clear and incontrovertible victory for democracy by voting and encouraging others to vote in local and state elections for pro-democracy candidates.
It is sometimes disheartening to know that the pro-democracy candidate, Joe Biden, won the popular vote by 7 million more votes with historic voter turnout in 2020. Yet, we’re still seeing the political gaslighting and shenanigans that we are seeing along with new voter suppression and election tampering tactics. But, you know what? We get to write ourselves into the cast of this production. So, let’s play the part of the scrappy, can-do person who knows how to get the job done.
July 2022
Karen Y. Spencer
