Update Nov. 1, 2021
Trump supporters like to portray January 6 as just a few demonstrators who got carried away or were just like e tourists strolling peacefully through the Capitol. The videos of that day only work if the viewer is blind, deaf, or willfully ignorant. The greater question is was this an orchestrated plan by Trump to stay in office. Fundamental to that was to justify the gentle coup by saying 2020 elections were stolen, just full of fraud, and particularly in the seven states that could have or should have gone to him. Slowly evidence is emerging that this was a concreted plan, a scheme, based upon the lie that there was widespread fraud in the election. A memo has emerged by a political operative that outlines how the scheme could work.
The clearest factual report about how January 6 happened was put together by the Washington Post. Yoiu may hit a paywall, but it worth persisting. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=59f46ed8ae7e8a2d8f8a4a21&s=61805c169d2fda9d412fe71a&linknum=5&linktot=54 Their conclusion is that "lit the fuse", but did not plan the violence. He certainly planned to get Pence to do the job for him to overturn the election by refusing to certify the vote. .
Another issue is whether the violence committed on January 6 was an insurgency or just a rally that got out of hand in which the attendees included some groups espousing violence in the past. These were no looky-loo tourists gawking at the halls of Congress. Videos are just too telling. There are complaints that the Justice Department filed only softball charges. The DOJ may have some good reasons to believe the violence was due to mob psychology and the lack of preparedness by the capitol police to prevent it from turning so ugly. Cases are slowly making their way through the justice system, so maybe the hardcore conspiracy charges have yet to be heard. In any case, the potential is there to repeat mob violent attacks on the democratic processes.. We have an idea of how dangerous these militia and extreme groups can be and we should not find any comfort in that or be lulled into complacency. The next time, they may be better organized. An FBI Informant Marched Into the Capitol on Jan. 6 Riot - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
eastman.memo.pdf (cnn.com) This is a strategy a Trump lawyer proposed to keep Trump in office in spite of his losing the election in November 2020.
That demonstrations by violent militants as the certification vote was being taken to give Pence a stiff backbone to throw the matter into the House and overturn the election may have been part of the administration's plan. The Eastman memo refers to that as a possible strategy being considered. Pence refused to play ball and to rule against certification before the January 6 riot.
Did Trump and his team try to execute the strategy? If they tried, they did not count of several parts of their plan failing to fall into place:
First, 60 judges in courts across the country review the evidence that there was widespread fraud. Even those trump had appointed found there was not.
Mike Pence, torn between loyalty to Trump and the law, refused to go along with the lie Trump wanted him to tell. It was a close call: Pence waffled and then came down on the side of the law.
The military-led by Gen. Milley also refused to intervene in a domestic matter.
The newest evidence of those fraught moments was reported in the Woodward/Costa book "Peril" and those quoted have not come forward to refute.
Now, there is even more evidence that the Trump operatives and the GOP knew there was no widespread fraud, but continued to beat the drum beats t that there was ...before and after the 2020 election pertaining to a vast conspiracy they cooked up that the Deominium voting machines were seen to execute the conspiracy. Trump Campaign Knew Dominion Fraud Claims Were False, Memo Reportedly Shows—But Giuliani Still Pushed Them (forbes.com)
Dominion Voting Systems Sues Newsmax And OAN For Billions : NPR
GOP-backed Arizona election review confirms Biden 2020 win | TheHill
Opinion | Our constitutional crisis is already here - The Washington Post
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