(01-07-2023, 12:05 PM)Lucky2Last Wrote: I'm saying the cops didn't "strategically retreat." It's laughable how he completely reframes narratives to suit his arguments.

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The cops literally just opened up barricades and stepped aside. The politicians just moved to a different building. Thousands upon thousands of "insurrectionists" went from, "let's kill all these politicians and burn this to the ground so we can install our own leader, but instead took a leisurely stroll through the Capitol building and then WENT HOME of their own accord, all thanks to the masterful "strategic retreat." Lol.

The insurectionists believed that they would be able to change the behavior of, or dispose of, the speaker and the vice president with fists alone.  
They believed that at some point some of the police and national guard and secret service would switch sides.  
They believed that the President would continue to encourage this chaos and that eventually they would have to bring in their weapons (which were close at hand) to make sure the pro-Trump cops won over the pro-Constitution cops.
They went home for two reasons.  The "strategic retreat" is not one of them. One, one of them got shot and died.  Most of them weren't willing to die and few of them had guns of their own.  They suspected that some of the cops might shoot at them, but, they figured that by that point the President would have recruited at least some of the cops/national guards to their side.  Which brings us to two, the President, for reasons that remain mysterious,  abandoned the plan about two hours in.

Now, why did it go down like that?  Why did Trump suddenly go from lion to lamb? Two reasons seem likely, but there may be others.
One, Pence's Secret Service ordered Pence back to his residence.  Pence refused, and the Secret Service blinked.  Pence knew that once he was off Capitol grounds, Trump would say that the Constitution was disrupted or suspended or whatever.  Pence knew that the officers telling him to leave had no intention of bringing him back anytime soon.  We know about this.  Pence says it happened.
Two, and we know less about this, but the acting Secretary of Defense made it clear to Trump that he wouldn't go along with Trump's attempt to declare martial law.  The VA and MD national guards were on their way and the Secretary wasn't stopping them.  Trump knew that he didn't have enough of the army on his side.

So yes, this very serious threat to the Constitution was thwarted at multiple levels,  but it was still a very serious threat.  An insurrection doesn't have to be successful to earn the name.  And attempted murder might not be successful, but it's still a crime.

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