I was mortified at the very thought back then, and it ended up being even worse than I ever could have imagined.
Honestly not really, no, because some WILL turn traitor. And yes, I certainly will agree with you that our system of policing is pretty fucking rotten to the core, but there are folks who do care about the job, not just because of the power it brings them… it is about them legally wielding the power of the state to keep the population in line…
But it’s good to remember that those cops (most of them at least) at the capitol put their lives on the line to save democracy. However we might feel about policing, we should remember that, since some of them gave their lives for it. If it had not been for what the men and women there did, things would have turned out very different. We’d like have had dead congress people and a dead vice president. Yes, the police barrel is full of bad apples, but sometimes the goods ones do make a difference and this was one such case.
I don’t think articles like this or being aware of the possible violence if Trump loses is making people nervous to vote for Biden. It makes me and my friends even more likely to vote for Biden. Because no matter how bad it will be if Trump loses, it will be worse if he wins. There is no placating. Articles like this serve the purpose of waking people up to the danger our democracy faces
The best path to the least violence is voting for Biden and every Democrat. As many votes as we can get. What we need is an overwhelming victory for the Democrats and democracy. These people contemplating violence need to be told they are a tiny minority. To feel that no matter how much violence they try, they will not win. This was part of the reason for the congressional hearings on Jan 6 and a big part of the mass prosecutions of insurrectionists.
This will not stop all the violence. There will be those who just can’t be stopped. But for them, the difference is whether they have lots of help and get away with it or if they are alone and quickly reported or captured
So take sensible precautions. There will be no yard signs or car stickers for me this year. I’ll be careful about who I speak to about voting when they know my name. But I’ll volunteer for things that don’t put my name and address out there. Because some risk is inevitable unless I’m ready to give up. And fuck that noise.
… “we” as in the Capitol Police, or “we” as in every random blog reader on the internet
… as I recall, Trump’s victories were more emboldening to the CHUDs than his losses
“We” as in citizens of this country, and especially those of us who are known to be supportive of, or members of, populations deemed “undesirable” by the fascists. For me, it is not an option to take a low profile, that ship sailed long ago. Not certain what steps i will need to take, and certainly won’t be posting them publically, but they are there. We shall see
If Trump loses we’re much better situated than when he lost and controlled the National Guard.
Especially as most of his shock troops from January 6th are already in prison.
That’s not what to be afraid of kiddo. It’s if he wins.
What you really need to ask yourselves is how much of the military their useful orange idiot already controls.
FTFY.
I fully expect Lord Dampnut to be yowling about fraud & claiming victory before the polls even close… and demanding he be ‘reinstated’ immediately Or Else.
Any violence will, of course, be blamed on the usual suspects [Antifa, BLM, DEI, etc, etc.] by Lord Dampnut & his minions.
The best we can hope for is for Lord Dampnut to shuffle off this mortal coil before the election; maybe a month beforehand… that way, he might finish bankrupting the GOP and they will have little time & no funds to mount much of a campaign.
Maybe a conviction or two will help do him in.
I have found that informing people about Project 2025 tends to get their blood pressure up.
As it should.
Unfortunately fascists have a habit of finding anyone undesirable who would question their authority. They just tend to start with those of a certain skin color, gender, or religion. But make no mistake, when push comes to shove, anyone can and will be in their sights.
The only reason Jan 6 was allowed to happen was because Trump was President at the time. Not only was he able to cause a riot, he was also able to stand down any military defense.
No army, no National Guard, no extra police. Only the usual handful of Capitol police to deal with everything.
That doesn’t happen next time. The next time, the rebellion will be treated as such.
I hope.
All too true. Fascists have a weird mix of megalomania and fear of loss: they are constantly afraid that someone will knock them off of their ill-gotten perch.
They also have a baseline resentment of others, which never goes away, it just targets those farthest away at first. They aren’t really sure what they are resentful of, they just feel like someone somewhere stiffed them, or got a better deal, or whatever. See narcissists and how they are addicted to thinking everything is someone else’s fault.
I suspect once Trump loses again, we’ll see an uptick of violent crime and vandalism, but most so-called supporters will stay in their cozy warm anger and gripe loudly, but cannot be arsed to actually take time off from work to actually go march or protest or do anything above normal passive-aggressive assholery.
NONE, because he’s not the president. There might be elements of the military who support MAGA, but they would end up getting kicked out or being thrown in jail if they moved to support him with arms. Because they would be breaking the chain of command. Part of the reason things weren’t worse on Jan. 6th, was because the leaders in the military took their constitutional role seriously and did not back his attempted coup. They leadership answers to the office of the president, and the men under their command answer to them… People who break their oaths and the chain of command are in trouble for doing so.
I’m pretty sure that over the last three years the Biden administration has reassigned or retired insurrectionist generals to places where their ability to cause harm has been diminished.
I know for certain the Army reserves have been conducting training on recognizing and reporting white supremacy and reassignment of individuals suspected of white supremacism.
My source also tells me Trump is not very popular. They have their die-hards, of course. But most soldiers see and recognize his contempt for veterans and are well aware he screwed them on funding for specific improvements to certain bases.
America will continue to be swamped with domestic terrorism by far right extremists, will it continue to placate and deny this until they overthrow the country? I can’t really know but I prefer to explore the idea where that doesn’t happen.
How ready can I be though? I’ve already been witnessing it since I was a teen. And no one believes it still. This and climate change. When I think about it I get so sad really… I’ll never be ready but if hope can’t carry me then I guess spite will have to do?
Certainly the capital police are likely to have a different security posture. However, it’s not like this Speaker of the House is going to request anything better.
Crowd dynamics are a tricky thing. It still amazes me that things were not significantly worse on Jan 6.
Assuming the capital police have a different protective structure in place this time, if the same rally crowd turned mob events were to occur, I’m not sure it would play out the same way. I expect it would be much worse for the crowd. Perhaps only at choke points in crowd flow. I wouldn’t expect we end up with a mob separated from congress people by only a door and a few security people holding it.
I also expect a much smaller crowd if they try to recreate the entire rally–>mob–>storm capital. Having seen the news and all the prosecutions, less people are likely to make each transition from rally onward.