One of the behaviors of the insurrectionists of January 6th, 2021 that has puzzled me has been the lack of focus of the rioters. They break in, saunter about, engage in some chanting, steal stuff, shit on other stuff, and then saunter out.
Sure, these are not the brightest bulbs from the factory.
But yesterday’s hearing clarifies that their lack of focus was caused by the inadvertent lack of leadership, as Professor Richardson’s summary of the hearing really makes clear:
Hutchinson testified that Trump was determined to go to the Capitol with the crowd despite the desperate efforts of White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to make sure it didn’t happen. Cipollone told Hutchinson that Trump’s appearance there would open the White House up to being charged with “every crime imaginable” because it would look like Trump was inciting a riot. Nonetheless, Trump was furious that Meadows had not been able to persuade the Secret Service to make it happen, so furious that Cassidy heard from others that when he found that the SUV in which he was riding would not take him to the Capitol, Trump had lunged at the agent refusing to take him there.Hutchinson did not know what the plan was for Trump’s trip to the Capitol, but there was talk of an additional speech there, “before he went in. I know that there was a conversation about him going into the House chamber at one point,” she said. The president is only supposed to go into the House chamber when specifically invited, so perhaps he expected to be invited in, or perhaps he was going in without an invitation, or perhaps those talking about it were just tossing out unworkable ideas.
All of a sudden it becomes clear that, without Trump, the rioters, who were not trained nor instructed that anything more than a riot would take place, made a push, but then really got lost.
Many were afflicted, as they subsequently testified, with buyer’s remorse, as it were. Without Trump there to stir the pot, they just moved around randomly and then ran away when so instructed.
The Secret Service may have saved the bacon for the Senators and House members. Senator Cruz (R-TX), despite objecting on specious grounds to the electoral votes of the swing states and thus showing his alliance with Team Trump, had better thank them after this hearing, because a crowd like that, despite Trump’s hypothetical leadership, could have easily executed everyone in sight on the excuse that It’s time to clean house and start over.
Great things sometimes happens for those who are faithful to their duties.
