Paul Jay – theAnalysis.news
The disarray in the American political system, whose name is Trump, is coming to an end. He was Wall St.’s cash cow, and now it’s time to dispose of him as he descends into full-on madness. The billionaires, the financial elites, and their political minions fed Trump’s starving giant ego for four years, got what they wanted in tax cuts and deregulation, and now it’s time to move on.
This is accomplished by Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Mike Pence who have tired of eating Trump’s excrement and set a trap that The Donald walked into, blinded by his adoring fans and delusions of grandeur. While everyone knew for weeks the protest on January 6th was planned and would likely be raucous, the Capitol Hill police, who answer to Congress, which means McConnell, were not put on high alert. Additional police resources were not put in place even though the Mayor of DC pleaded for it, and of course, the protesters marched into Congress almost unimpeded.
McConnell, Graham, and Pence knew it was time to dump Trump, especially after the loss in Georgia, and had already made it clear they would approve Biden’s certification. They needed to find a way to sink Trump to keep their financial and corporate clients happy and break his hold on the Republican Party.
The images of the “storming of Congress” was a manipulated piece of theatre that pulled off the real coup that almost everyone wanted, that is the end of Trump.
Perhaps even Chuck Schumer was in on it, credit him with the most exaggerated and nonsensical rhetoric, calling January 6th a day that will live in infamy, on the scale of Pearl Harbor. In fact, the crowds were smaller than expected, and once the order was given to the police to disperse them, it didn’t take all that long to accomplish.
I’m only going on what I saw on TV, but most of the crowd seemed to be wandering around the halls of Congress like tourists, gaping at the statues. The more militant group seems small, and most of that was pushing and shoving and a few broken windows, although it was reported that a policeman died the next day from injuries suffered in the scuffle. No doubt it seemed terrifying for police officers, staff, and members of Congress, but words like sedition, insurgency, and such are just an attempt to intimidate the members of Congress that were still hitching their wagons to Trump’s grotesque megalomania. Insurrections require guns, sections of the military, not just a crowd of angry people.
(PJ: since writing this commentary, it’s clear that the riot was much more violent than it first seemed. The intent of the “vanguard” of the riot was to cause as much mayhem and destruction as they could and more lives could well have been lost. None of this changes the basic thesis of this piece, that McConnell who was the “boss” of the Senate Sargent At Arms, who was the “boss” of the Capitol Police, knew this was all likely to happen and decided not to beef up security).
After four years of groveling, McConnell planned the day not to praise Caesar but to bury him, and the mission seems to have been accomplished. Now, the GOP leaders can continue to build their far-right, criminal party with a less insane face and even more dangerous leader.
In all likelihood, the Democrats will do very little to make people’s lives significantly better, as the party’s main leadership answers to their own set of Wall St and corporate lords. If this is what the next four years are about, get ready for another version of Trump. The political forces that brought you The Donald are the same as those that created Ronald Reagan. They aren’t going anywhere.
There should be an investigation of the leaders of Congress who allowed this all to take place. Perhaps then the words sedition would be applicable. Even on the grounds of stopping a Covid super spreader event, there should have been more security. The full death toll from all this won’t be known for a few weeks.
Of course, Trump should be charged with inciting a riot and responsibility for the five fatalities. But he shouldn’t be in the dock all alone. Yes, impeach him, use the 25th amendment, get rid of the malignancy. But it won’t deal with the systemic cancer that eats at American society.
Rats deserting a sinking dip
It’s not over yet Paul. The Iran thing you’ve been talking about from day 1 is still on the table and there is a ton of chatter concerning it. So much so that it’s spilled into the open, public and mainstream. There are articles everywhere from the Atlantic to the intercept and the signals from well connected international media and sources were sounding increasingly frantic. Iranian officials have openly and publicly spoken about alleged plots to create pretext, all while the Iranian military is on high alert and conducting live exercises. There’s still two weeks to go. Then who knows what kind of gifts Trump left in the form of various ticking traps and sabotage lay waiting to spring for the new administration. Corporate America had enough. They too publicly and openly gave their dog McConnell marching orders which he dutifully carried out. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Biden administration plans on executing the inevitable, required and truly massive deleveraging without melting down the markets or global economy. They will have to try to let the air out very slowly and carefully, anyway I don’t want to ramble on. I just don’t see prospects for a second term and the next Trump won’t be incompetent.
What happened on 1/6 is fair bigger than Trump. This is a result of the long march of Transnational Capitalism. The elites have succeeded in staging a coup on all modes of thinking. This includes the alt right, conservatives, moderates, liberals, progressives and even some socialists.
The plan has been brilliant. Divide not only a few classes of people…..divide “all of the people” against each other. Brilliant plan. They need to come to the front of the class and accept their prize. Peace.
Many congresspeople are referring to this as a “coup”. Its clear they are either have no idea what a real “coup” consists of, or they are lying for political gain.
At best, this was a violent protest. A coup would need the support of the military. This was not in the cards.
At least, not this time.
An actual coup attempt has been ongoing since the day of the election last November. Technically, it is called an auto-coup, and it consists of Trump’s refusal to accept the legitimacy of the election result. He has rallied tens of millions of supporters who fervently believe that he should remain in office, elections be damned. Many of them are heavily armed and itching for a fight. Of course, this auto-coup will fail, but the mere fact that a sitting President would attempt it and have the fanatical backing of so many millions of people is cause for worry regarding the health of what’s left of our democracy. We are in a staring contest with fascism.
That’s quite a charge, Paul, that Republican leaders essentially laid out a Welcome mat for a riot to take place inside the Capitol with the intent of sinking Trump’s ship once and for all. Can they really be that clever and devious? Well, maybe, but it could have gotten ugly, and I doubt that such a conspiracy can be kept secret for long. Someone in the Capitol Police will talk.
Addendum: There are also people on the staffs of the supposed masterminds who may have loose tongues.
I’ve been away for a while, and it’s nice to see the view from a perspective from reality rather than various perspectives of purposeful fantasy, again. My first impression of the videos of the capitol I interpreted as a crowd of clueless and befuddled onlookers, bearing a gang of clueless and sociopathic rabble to which the crowd seemed to give birth. As you say, it was hardly an insurrection, but more like a rebellion, not against the State so much as against life. Many people all over the world have lost any sense of moral core because they have been abandoned by the political and social system that used to keep their despair in check. Such people are open to any lie and fantasy put before them, and that makes them dangerous not only for democracy, but governance of any kind.
Paul, I think suggesting this premise is a major mistake on your part. It seems better to never attribute to conspiracy what one can attribute to incompetence. I’ll go farther than Rob’s “quite a charge” and say that this is an extraordinary claim, and requires extraordinary evidence. I’m not seeing any. I donated to The Analysis for real journalism and real analysis. Please reflect on whether this story is doing that. To this supporter it isn’t.
A weaker claim with stronger evidence is that Pence and McConnell were surprised by the assault on the building, but then realized what a gift they’d been given.
It’s fairly easy to find evidence of Republicans in denial about the violent potential of MAGA, QAnon, and friends. One example:
“Despite all of these arrows pointing toward disaster — and despite Trump encouraging his followers to descend on Washington come January 6, to agitate against certification of Biden’s victory — not a single Republican I’d spoken with in recent weeks sounded anxious. The notion of real troublemaking simply didn’t compute. Many of these Republicans have kept so blissfully ensconced in the MAGA embrace that they’ve chosen not to see its ugly side. Beyond that, it has long been canon on the right that leftists — and only leftists — cause mayhem and destruction. Democrats are the party of charred cities and Defund the Police; Republicans are the party of law and order and Back the Blue. As Republicans have reminded us a million times, the Tea Party never held a rally without picking up its trash and leaving the area cleaner than they found it.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/07/jan-6-was-9-weeks-and-4-years-in-the-making-455797
Please, let’s have more factual news and fact-based analysis.
Paul, I am delighted that TheAnalysis is experiencing such success. Am an expat living in the NL, and not missing a word of your fantastic, thoughtful pieces. “Did Trump Walk into a Trap” with you and Larry in conversation about recent events– superlative. Bravo!