When (if) the full story of Jan6 ever comes out I predict it will have multiple levels of intention and complicity.
Broadly
1/The "base" level of the mob reacting out of what they believe & has been taught & insinuated into them for years.
I think this chaos is the cover for

other levels that seem to have a much more clear, "calm" mission.
These are the people who are now utterly confused that what they were told turns out to not be true.
These people being disbarred from flying, or taken into custody, thinking they were just returning home, are
bearing the brunt of the response by the law enforcement system. They are the easiest to see, find, and catch.
They are the pawns. They are the Orcs in the Trumpian system...expendable. Useful. Necessary. But Expendable as the strategy & tactics require.

Who knows if these
people, so adamant in their emotional pumped up outrage will figure this out. For now, the fact that they are the ones being hauled in, the first ones facing the consequences of their actions, seems to be solidifying their martyr frame of mind. I suspect they feel a kinship
with Trump, who does nothing but proclaim himself a victim and a martyr. In this they get to feel even moreso that they are part of the righteous army, gods army, doing gods work.
And they will be used again and again as necessary for the other levels.
2/ The disciplined "soldiers" who had a mission, and were executing it w a systematic intent and efficiency.
Using the mob action to cover their work.

This level is also there to be seen, but will need a great deal of clear, hard, investigation to actually understand fully.
Recalling the video of the stream of men, equipped with military gear, moving through the middle of the crowd. Some of the images, esp the fellow w plastic handcuffs, jumping the seats, seem to capture some of these people in action.

It has been reported that they were on
the way to capture, hold hostage some of the Congress members.
This "mission" is congruent with the public statements made to the crowd by Gulliani and D.Trump.

This level are those who are committed to the cause at a much deeper level than just the mob, stirred up and
manipulated by their fears, as well as the excitement of being part of "the movement".

3/ The level above this is the strategic level. The Generals who execute the strategy. The captains who lead the troops. Broadly this could be the GOP Senate level. Some like Cruz, Hawley
being the public voice. Calling the troops to the battle.

4/ At the top level is the strategic "plan" development happen(ed). The setting of the objectives. Basically Trump and his inner circle.
The objective seems clear... At least the bits we can see.
Retain Trump in power
This objective was implemented in a number of "skirmish" level actions. Seeming to test the system, see if it could be bent, broken and succumb to the project.
The abuse of the courts. The endless counter-factual accusations of fraud (very localized to only those districts
that voted against them/Trump) and etc.

It didn’t work. The backroom calls to Sec's State by Graham, later Trump, are part of testing this battle front. Attacking the voting system and individuals another.

What is likely more pernicious is what we do not know yet.
It seems clear that the events of Jan6 were not simply a spontaneous happening, but a long planned end game.

Such a plan would require these levels of function to implement.
Who turns out to be a functionary at each of these levels is going to be the work of any investigations
The paramount question is
a) whether there will be an investigation
b) if it will be tasked to follow all of the trails and evidence
c) no matter who is found to be implicated and complicit.

My suspicion is there are dark corners in this event that powerful people,
and institutions are not excited to have exposed.

I think the question is far deeper than simple Republican vs Democrat. Right v Left.

At the highest levels I suspect are some of the most powerful concentrations of power. I wonder if this event will end up shining any
light there?

It is not so much a conspiracy theory, as a deduction of hidden cause(s) from the known and "visible" effects.

I do not know who or what sits at the "Trump" level. Or if there are levels above that.
I am quite certain that what we see is not the full picture.
It recalls the notion/analogy that what is in play is a 10,000 piece puzzle, very complicated, very difficult to piece together.. especially as the #PuzzlePiece are being discovered bit by bit.
And, not everything, even what is known, is not yet in the public square.

More from Michael Beaton

Interesting how the shift in the 'pubs message is now "hey, lets get unified". And do that by trying, yet again, to elude consequences...and investigation, into what happened.
We have tried that path multiple times already.
It does not work.

Rep. Jordan does not see!..
(thread)


Of course not. It is imperative that he not see.

Here is how it works...The way you and your team always put up a concrete wall when it comes to the relatively petty crimes some people do. They need to learn the lesson by suffering the consequences of their choices.

Consequences you absolve those who actually do deep and structural damage to the country from. At least until it cannot be ignored any longer, and you need a "sacrificial lamb".

Looking forward to seeing which 'lambs' will be offered up for this monumental moment.

Eventually

Eventually when the lesser 'lambs' are insufficient to the crime, sometimes, the responsibility finally lands on the leader, the head perp, the mob boss goes to prison after all. Or like Spiro Agnew, allowed to resign quietly... (one of the lucky ones).

Trump has the option to

Trump has the option to resign. The quick (and cowardly) way out. It won't heal the nation as well as a deep investigation would.
However, regardless of how these next few days play out, that investigation that has been called for before Jan6 still needs to happen.
So there
It is not just wrong
& it is not just the epitome of historical ignorance,
& a comprehensive misunderstanding of the relationship of religious and civil society,
This is the declaration of a much deeper intention of instantiating an "American Fundamentalism".
Think "Gilead".


This is the low information ranting of fundamentalists who lay out the emotional, fact & history free, case for what is essentially an American Taliban.
There is no "compromise" or a sense of comity between differences. When you have "the truth" it is a violation to "compromise".

Others, like "The Grand Inquisitor" use the froth and confusion--and subsequent absolutist certainty of their "righteousness" generated by such as this. (and thus justification for killing/harming anyone who disagrees..In the name of God, of course)

It is useful demagoguery.

This battle has been raging for years. Perhaps forever.

One distinctive characteristic of America, has been keeping this level of fundamentalism out of secular power. Individuals, yes, but not the entire system.

One of the consequences of Trumpism is to equate patriotism w religion in a way that births what becomes a passionately ignorant fundamentalism, unmoored from fact or truth,wedded only to its own self as the measure & guide of truth.
It creates a condition of deep tribal devotion
Yes. This is the problem.

Irrational anger & outrage which is easily manipulated, as we see being done, into tribal affiliation. Predicated not on some devotion to core ideals & principles of the country, but something else.

Notice what ea side appeals how they express it.


One side largely is moved by wanting a system, a society, a government that is responsive to the situation and needs of the public. This has a number of aspects, from infrastructure, taking care of the environment, BLM, taking care of the 'least among us' &etc.

These folks...

These folks on "the other side"... Not sure what to call this other side. It is a collection of right wing people, some who are simply "members" by affiliation, by tradition, by location in the country...others by reasoned choice.
However they get there, a large % are like this.

Lets call this the Trumpian side, Trumper Cohort, since that is the current center around which these "73M" are organized.
Within this cohort, there are many who are simply "Republicans" by inertia. Their family has been so forever, and so they are too. In actual fact they

do not like what is being done in their name, wonder what happened to the party, but cannot imagine voting for a "Democrat", no more than the feud over Ford vs Chevy would resolve in welcoming in the other 'team'.
These don't really know or und what a "Democrat" is these days,

More from Society

Two things can be true at once:
1. There is an issue with hostility some academics have faced on some issues
2. Another academic who himself uses threats of legal action to bully colleagues into silence is not a good faith champion of the free speech cause


I have kept quiet about Matthew's recent outpourings on here but as my estwhile co-author has now seen fit to portray me as an enabler of oppression I think I have a right to reply. So I will.

I consider Matthew to be a colleague and a friend, and we had a longstanding agreement not to engage in disputes on twitter. I disagree with much in the article @UOzkirimli wrote on his research in @openDemocracy but I strongly support his right to express such critical views

I therefore find it outrageous that Matthew saw fit to bully @openDemocracy with legal threats, seeking it seems to stifle criticism of his own work. Such behaviour is simply wrong, and completely inconsistent with an academic commitment to free speech.

I am not embroiling myself in the various other cases Matt lists because, unlike him, I think attention to the detail matters and I don't have time to research each of these cases in detail.

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