In regards to the #CapitolCoup, I’m in a unique position. I monitored forums ahead of time and then was present for the coup itself.

These are my observations based on what I saw and the evidence that’s been collected so far. I reserve the right to adjust my analysis as needed.

Let’s talk about the organization of the coup first. Seeing some people insist that the coup must have been highly planned and coordinated.

Yes and no. This was a #StochasticCoup. We’ll see little evidence of direct communication between Trump and the insurrectionists.
Within the insurrectionists, there was not one group that executed the storming of the Capitol.

Rather, there were a number of smaller groups working independently towards the same goal. I expect you’ll see little evidence that these various groups communicated with each other.
What you will see is detailed planning and coordination within these small groups.

Then there were the joyriders, those Trump supporters who weren’t directly involved in any plotting but who were more than happy to go along for the ride once the coup was in motion.
After four years, the insurrectionists were carefully attuned to Trump’s messaging.

Every tweet and statement of his was treated as marching orders and carefully dissected for meaning.

It’s why shutting down Trump’s Twitter account was so important.
Here are additional screenshots of Trump supporters interpreting Trump’s “Wild Protest” tweets.

This is stochastic terrorism in action.
And it wasn’t just Trump who was stochastically priming Trump supporters for violence on 1/6.

There were a number of “spicy memes” that served to reinforce Trump’s messaging.
Not to mention this.

They weren’t exactly being subtle.
Another example of stochastic priming. Have a good laugh about the crazy Antifa conspiracy theories, then listen at about the two minute mark for some detailed instructions on how best to infiltrate the Capitol.

https://t.co/EaLimm9SEW
You can see how Trump was able to incite an insurrection without ever directly communicating with the coup plotters.

I think there may have been one or two exceptions to this which I’ll go into later.
Now, how well-planned was this coup?

There doesn’t seem to have been a plan. Rather, there were a series of competing plans, notions, and ideas.

The first one was the idea of a siege. Surround Congress and don’t let them leave until they’ve certified Trump as the winner.
If you’re an intelligence analyst, btw, the letter to the Folger Library should’ve been a huge red flag that the insurrectionists were serious about their plan.

No one takes time out of their busy day to write an apology letter to the Folger Shakespeare Library just for funsies.
The second idea or notion was straight up storming the Capitol.
The third was this idea of triggering a Civil War, so that even if the coup plot failed, it would unleash a series of events that would lead to the extermination of the Communists (anyone who opposes Trump is a Commie) and the certification of Trump as the election winner.
There was also this near fixation on the tunnels of DC and making sure members of Congress were prevented from escaping.

Note the last screenshot also makes a request that anyone who works at the Capitol leave a gate open on 1/6.
Finally, there was the idea of a citizens arrest or hanging for any treasonous members of Congress who refused to certify Trump as the winner of the election.
You might have noticed some gaps in these plans.

Believing in conspiracy theories forces you to accept logic gaps, which likely led to the coup plotters not being able to spot the gaping holes in their plans to get Trump certified as the winner.

And remember, that was the goal.
Interestingly, some of the other Trump supporters in these forums noticed the shoddy planning.
A few other screenshots of interest.

One is a breakdown, by the insurrectionists themselves, of some of the factions that would be present at the Trump rally.

The other is an attempt to outline a coherent plan to force Trump to be certified the election winner.
I’m going to take a break, then look at how these plans, ideas, and notions were or were not carried through on 1/6.

One huge disclaimer: These sorts of plans were all over the MAGA-verse.

We have no idea if the individuals quoted here took any part in the actual coup attempt.

More from Politics

Trump is gonna let the Mueller investigation end all on it's own. It's obvious. All the hysteria of the past 2 weeks about his supposed impending firing of Mueller was a distraction. He was never going to fire Mueller and he's not going to


Mueller's officially end his investigation all on his own and he's gonna say he found no evidence of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election.

Democrats & DNC Media are going to LITERALLY have nothing coherent to say in response to that.

Mueller's team was 100% partisan.

That's why it's brilliant. NOBODY will be able to claim this team of partisan Democrats didn't go the EXTRA 20 MILES looking for ANY evidence they could find of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election

They looked high.

They looked low.

They looked underneath every rock, behind every tree, into every bush.

And they found...NOTHING.

Those saying Mueller will file obstruction charges against Trump: laughable.

What documents did Trump tell the Mueller team it couldn't have? What witnesses were withheld and never interviewed?

THERE WEREN'T ANY.

Mueller got full 100% cooperation as the record will show.
THREAD:
Good afternoon, followers of frivolous election litigation. There's a last-minute entry in the competition for dumbest pre-inauguration lawsuit - a totally loony effort to apparently leave the entire USA without a government.

We'll start with the complaint in a minute.

But first, I want to give you a quick explanation for why I'm going to keep talking about these cases even after the inauguration.

They're part of an ongoing effort - one that's not well-coordinated but is widespread - to discredit our fundamental system of government.

It's a direct descendent, in more ways than one, of birtherism. And here's the thing about birtherism. It might have been a joke to a lot of people, but it was extremely pernicious. It obviously validated the racist "not good enough to be President" crowd. But that wasn't all.

Don't get me wrong, that was bad enough. Validating racism helped put the kind of shitbird who would tweet this from an official government account into power. But it didn't stop


(Also, if you agree with Pompeo about multiculturalism - the legendary melting pot - not being what this country is all about, you need to stop following me now. And maybe go somewhere and think about your life choices and what made you such a tool.)
This is partly what makes it impossible to have a constructive conversation nowadays. The stubborn refusal to accept that opposition to Trumpism and GOP nationalism is about more than simply holding different beliefs about things in and of itself. 👇


It's fine for people to hold different beliefs. But that doesn't mean all beliefs deserve equal treatment or tolerance and it doesn't mean intolerance of some beliefs makes a person intolerant of every belief which they don't share.

So if I said I don't think Trumpism deserves to be tolerated because it's just a fresh 21st century coat of cheap paint on a failed, dangerous 20th century ideology (fascism) that doesn't mean I'm intolerant of all beliefs with which I disagree. You'd think this would be obvious.

Another important facet. People who support fascist movements tend to give what they think are valid reasons for supporting them. That doesn't mean anyone is obliged to tolerate fascism or accept their proffered excuse.


Say you joined a neighborhood group that sets up community gardens and does roadside beautification projects. All good, right? Say one day you're having a meeting and you notice the President and exec board of this group are saying some bizarre things about certain neighbors.

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