A few thoughts on that coup that happened the other day

I’ve seen a lot of people asking the same questions online recently, and I’d like to provide some answers the way I see them. Specifically:

How could the cops have let this happen? Why weren’t they better prepared?

But before I get to that, I think it’s important to acknowledge what this attack was about. This was not about American rights, or freedom, or democracy. How many American flags did you see out there compared to Trump flags? About 50/50? Maybe leaning slightly more toward Trump flags?

This was about replacing America as it is with the America that they want it to be. That’s why you see them tearing down American flags to put up Trump flags. They do not respect America or American values. They only support those who believe in their vision of America, and they will turn on anyone who doesn’t fall in line and work for them. This includes Lindsey Graham, who is now labeled a “traitor” for breaking with Trump. This includes Mike Pence, whose head they were calling for after he said he wouldn’t/couldn’t overturn the election. This even includes Trump himself.

These are not people who have values other than supporting anything that they think works in their favor to maintain their power and privilege in this country. The only reason they support cops is because they think cops will protect them and work to maintain their racial superiority. When the cops do their jobs by fighting off a mob trying to storm the capitol, they get called traitors because “they’re supposed to shoot BLM,” not them. They say “blue lives matter,” yet they injured 50 cops and put at least 15 of them in the hospital, including one who died after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.

To boil everything down to economic anxiety is to ignore the real issue. This was not about economic frustration, or white poverty, or whites without college degrees. In 2020, white voters who make over $100,000 supported Trump more than those who make less than $50,000. He won white college grads and white non-college grads in 2016, and he almost did it again this election. The riot was attended by lawyers, a number of CEOs, state legislators, real estate agents, sons of judges, and active members of the police and military. They were supported by newspaper owners, police chiefs, and even state attorneys general.

This, like so many other things in the past five years, was about white supremacy, and nothing more than that. This is why they carried Confederate flags. This is why they wore anti-Semitic clothing and flew anti-Muslim flags. This is why they built a gallows and hung a noose from it. This is why they had shirts made in advance of the event labeling it a “civil war.”

So why weren’t the police more prepared? And why didn’t they do more to stop them?

Well, to answer this question, we have to face the uncomfortable, yet well-documented, truth that our nation’s police and military forces have been infiltrated by white supremacists. It’s why we saw cops flashing white power signs to white BLM counter-protesters over the summer. The same patterns are found among border patrol agents and ICE agents as well.

While it’s unlikely that most are outright white nationalists, it’s not a stretch to say many of them are sympathetic with far-right ideology, especially after we saw several large police unions endorsing Trump last year. And unfortunately, it probably played a big role in why we saw videos of the police taking selfies with the rioters, opening gates for them, excitedly urging them on, or even giving them directions to Chuck Schumer’s office.

Yes, the police were attacked, no doubt. And yes, most of them fought back. However, it’s impossible to look at the both the lack of preparedness and the delayed response and not think about how different things have been at so many other protests this year. Even the response from NYC cops against BLM protesters that very night was significantly more aggressive.

Yes, the police eventually took back control, used tear gas, and used other crowd control techniques. But this is just the latest in a long pattern of white protesters receiving different treatment than BLM protesters, disability rights protesters, or indigenous protesters. Statistics confirm what the videos suggest.

This was not a matter of the police needing more support or funding. Please do not come to that conclusion that a lot of people are floating right now. The Capitol Police budget was raised to $515 million this past December. The Department of Defense budget is $705 billion. The warning signs of a riot/coup attempt were there well in advance. Law enforcement chose not to mobilize despite these warning signs. The police has shown an ability to use force in certain situations to control protests and riots, and they chose not to do so this time.

Even more disturbing are the reports suggesting this may have been a more coordinated effort at a coup than it initially appeared, partially explaining the reluctance to send in the national guard. And based on plenty of posts on far-right forums, Inauguration Day could look even worse.

So where does this go? Unfortunately, it isn’t going to end anytime soon. White supremacy is everywhere in our society, and not just behind closed doors. In addition to all the supporters mentioned above, these views can be openly seen among White House appointees, an incoming Illinois congresswoman, an incoming Georgia congresswoman, college football coaches, plenty of business leaders who support Trump, and most concerning, among at least 147 members of Congress who voted to throw out certified election results. (A quick look at their photos grouped together in that article might help explain their motivations.) And never forget that Trump received 11 million more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016.

The time for tolerating supporters of fascist ideology has long since passed. They need to be exposed and removed from their positions in the government and law enforcement. Their businesses should be boycotted. Our government should not tolerate or fear them, and our law enforcement should suppress their movements with at least the same amount of force as they do for peaceful BLM protesters. In order to actually expel fascism and white supremacy from our country, we have to start taking concrete steps to do so, because they are only growing stronger and angrier by the day.