It isn’t as stupid as it sounded
Or, it damn near worked.
For about a week (I know, it’s dumb and I’m a sucker), I’ve been arguing with a bunch of conservative MAGA dumbbutts over on Quora. The argument is over the thing both sides have been fighting over for two years, and that’s over Trump’s Ellipse speech.
Did he, or didn’t he, encourage the crowd to assault the Capitol? The Left, like me, have been saying, correctly, that Trump told the crowd to go and “fight for your country, or lose it.” I added the fact that since he knew they were armed, he was really encouraging them to assault the building.
MAGAs respond, “But, he told them to march peacefully!” And, yes, if you look at the transcript of the speech, he did that. My response has been, well, of course he did, he wanted them to GET to the Capitol so they could do what he wanted, without getting distracted and spreading themselves all over DC or involving the DC police.
As you may imagine, that’s going over like a lead balloon with the MAGA crowd.
But for my purposes here, that sparked a thought. After I wrote that response, my mind wouldn’t stop. It kept on, “But, what was it he really wanted them to do?” One thing led to another, and I realized several things.
First, we’re arguing the wrong argument. The issue isn’t whether he was urging them to assault the Capitol. The issue is that what he really wanted them to do was something else, and it was part of a wide ranging and complex plot — hence the RICO charges in Georgia.
This conspiracy had several phases, or elements to it.
First was the media assault, mainly led by Trump. Setting the stage, blaming the Democrats, charging a stolen election, etc. Plus, of course, exciting his base. It included the court challenges, the losses of which added to his claims of cheating. This, in turn, got his closest supporters on board as they saw the response from his base.
Next was the state level support, including the fake elector thing. That alone was a long and complex setup, AND is what Fani Willis is using for the basis for her RICO charges, along with the initial phone call from Trump to Raffensburger.
Now is the more hidden thing — the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Their jobs were more secret and important. Their job was to penetrate the Capitol on January 6th and take Congress by surprise, not only stopping the process, but allowing another group to do the most important thing — remove Pence from the scene. Pence, as we all know had already refused to go along.
We know because Eastman is refusing to talk about it, but they’d already arranged to replace him with someone else to steal the count and use those fake electors. Now, whether Grassley was a part of the planning, or was just going to be basically forced into playing along, we don’t know, but they’d have never gone ahead if they’d not had something in the works. Fortunately, Pence’s paranoia and close attention to his security detail prevented that from happening, and that’s when the whole thing began to unravel.
The other thing that happened which basically caused the failure was the role of the Capitol Police. Without going into the details, they managed, at great cost to a lot of those brave officers, to delay the entry of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers until they and the Secret Service managed to get the members of Congress to safety. Of course, as mentioned, the Secret Service had a different goal — to get Pence out of the building altogether, but their hurry and efforts spurred the Capitol Police into action, so when the Proud Boys got into the chamber, there wasn’t anyone there to capture and force the count like they wanted.
At that point, it was all over, but the shouting. It went on for hours, until Trump’s staff finally convinced him it really was over, so he told them to go home. The fact that they did, and started quite fast after that, tells us conclusively that they truly were doing his bidding. With help, I’d imagine, from his lieutenants at the Willard hotel in what Hutchinson called “The War Room.” You know, that place she cautioned Eastman not to go to?
Yeah, the place where Trump’s top lieutenants were calling the shots. People like Giulianni and Flynn. Where the coordination for that day was coming from.
Well, after that, we all saw what happened, and it’s been coverup and backpedalling ever since.
So, now that it’s “over,” what’s next?
Well, the indictments are in, and the real fun starts. Watching Trump & Co. delay, prevaricate, distract, and basically try anything they can to keep these from coming to trial during the primaries or before the election.
Of course, since Trump isn’t doing much to help his codefendants actually pay for their legal defense, it’s all coming apart. I was listening to Chris Hays interview Cohen the other day, and he said, basically, that Trump is broke. He said the man may have assets, but he’s truly got little actual cash, hence the begging for donations, and why he’s begging for donations for him and not the others so much.
The result is going to be a number of them will eventually fold, just to end the legal and financial torture, and probably also cooperate with Smith or Willis to shorten their sentences. These people may have been dumb enough to fall for Trump’s crap, but in the end, they aren’t completely stupid. At least some of them.
Oh, and for the record? Eastman’s efforts to defend himself by claiming either Executive or client-attorney privilege is going to fail. You cannot even begin to convince a judge that assisting a sitting President to overturn an election is part of your official duties. Even a right wing Trump appointed judge isn’t that stupid. But it will add to the timing factor.
So, for now, let’s sit back and enjoy the show, but be aware — this effort is important. If, as a society, we allow Trump and the top conspirators of this thing to go with little besides a slap on the wrist —or worse, no convictions at all — then the future of our democracy is seeing the end of days.
If, as we’ve always claimed, that ours is a society based on the rule of law, then we must let the law rule. And that should mean that nobody is above the law.
Period.
