What You Need To Know

Photo by Markus Spiske

This is one of those weeks where there’s so much news, I can’t pin down one dominant theme so I do a roundup. Previously, I called these pieces MAGATrends but in a post-Trump world (yay!), I’m ready to retire that branding. I’m taking suggestions for a new title for these types of posts. In the meantime, here’s what you need to know:

What we’ve learned about the violent attempted coup through video.

This week, three major narrative stories gave us an incredible amount of insight into the violent attempted coup via archived video from the 6th and the days and weeks leading up to it:

• Just Security’s Ryan Goodman and Tech Policy Press’ Justin Hendrix used video compiled from the Parler hack to show how Trump’s speech incited the crowd to storm the Capitol Building. The 10-minute video is remarkable and has caught the attention of House Democrats planning for the upcoming Trump impeachment trial as they prepare the argument that Trump incited the crowd to riot.
• The Wall Street Journal has a video investigation showing how the Proud Boys’ were key instigators of the coup. The video names names, pays attention to detail, and gives viewers a front-row seat to watch the Proud Boys before and during the riot. The group skipped Trump’s speech entirely and was among the first to arrive at the Capitol and break down the barriers to get…