Pentagon leaders installed as part of Trump purge last month blocked DC National Guard from getting

[MelissaB]

Pentagon leaders installed as part of Trump purge last month blocked DC National Guard from getting riot gear and ammunition as protesters descended on Capitol.

Link to tweet

Pentagon placed limits on D.C. Guard ahead of pro-Trump protests due to narrow mission

Jan. 7, 2021 at 9:43 p.m. EST

The Pentagon placed tight limits on the D.C. National Guard ahead of pro-Trump protests this week, trying to ensure the use of military force remained constrained, as the Guard carried out a narrow, unarmed mission requested by the city’s mayor to help handle traffic ahead of planned protests.

In memos issued Monday and Tuesday in response to a request from the D.C. mayor, the Pentagon prohibited the District’s guardsmen from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protesters unless necessary for self-defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement, or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary’s explicit sign-off, according to officials familiar with the orders. The limits were established because the Guard hadn’t been asked to assist with crowd or riot control.

The D.C. Guard was also told it would be allowed to deploy a quick reaction force only as a measure of last resort, the officials said.

Then, the mission abruptly changed — and the Pentagon is now facing criticism from governors and local officials for moving too slowly to send National Guard troops to respond, a charge that its leaders denied Thursday.

The Capitol Police, the law enforcement force that reports to Congress and protects the House and Senate, hadn’t requested help from the Guard ahead of Wednesday’s events. But early Wednesday afternoon, its chief made an urgent plea for backup from 200 troops during a call with top Pentagon and city officials, according to officials familiar with the call.

More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-protests-washington-guard-military/2021/01/07/c5299b56-510e-11eb-b2e8-3339e73d9da2_story.html

This was a real coup attempt, folks. It was planned.

[Merlot]

1. And who's surprised?

[BobTheSubgenius]

58. In all honesty, I am.

I am gobsmacked that generals attached to the Pentagon would in any way aid and abet insurrection. It went above and beyond - way above and way beyond - the seditious harangues we'd been hearing and went from word to deed.

It may have been a tiny action, militarily-speaking, but it was actual insurrection. The only thing that kept it from being a bloodbath was that there wasn't even one rioter that was willing to pull a weapon and use it. That is NOT a scenario impossible to imagine.

Again...I was stunned, and I'm still processing it.

[dansolo]

86. The problem is that it was an order of inaction

What do you expect the generals to have done in this case? The blame falls on the civilian leadership.

[dware]

88. It wasn't the Generals blocking,

it was Stephen Miller, the civilian head of the DoD, who is a Pissolini loyalist.

[servermsh]

2. This was my biggest fear

That the recent Pentagon moves were a real, authentic coup attempt. I believe that is what this was. Trump wanted massive armed crowds to shut down the Congress.

[MelissaB]

11. Thread

from Eric Garland:

Link to tweet

Every single member of this attempted coup d'état must face capital punishment.

The Trump regime and its backers sent terrorists to attack the Capitol and quite evidently had its confederates in key positions intentionally leave our elected officials - the leadership of our vast, beloved nation - at the mercy of thugs who may have done violence to them.

That is in every way a violent coup d'état - decapitation of the State by violence.

Those terrorists may likely not have stopped with ransacking offices, but with the murder of elected officials.

The punishments for this must be the most severe in our system of justice.

This action is now quite obviously a well-coordinated conspiracy to overthrow the United States government.

There is no doubt a wealth of forensic evidence left behind by these scared, imbecilic, wretched traitors.

Collect it and prosecute every last member of the conspiracy.

This action is now quite obviously a well-coordinated conspiracy to overthrow the United States government.

There is no doubt a wealth of forensic evidence left behind by these scared, imbecilic, wretched traitors.

Collect it and prosecute every last member of the conspiracy.

[Lucky Luciano]

22. Absofuckinglutely capital punishment. Could be hundred of executions. I support this.

[greenjar_01]

46. ROFL

Well done.

[regnaD kciN]

33. Disagree with him on several points...

First of all, there's no applicable charge that can be levied in this case that carries the death penalty.

More importantly, though, is describing it as a "well-coordinated conspiracy." It may have been coordinated, but not well-coordinated. "Stupidly-coordinated" might be more accurate.

To pull off a coup, you need to know the endgame and how to achieve it. Storming the Capitol may have been great fun for the tenderfoot MAGAts, but was never going to do more than temporarily stop the voting. Even if they had managed to seize and burn the electoral certifications, there are duplicate copies stored both in D.C. and in the home states. Even if they had murdered representatives and senators, they would have been replaced by others, and the process would have been seen through to completion. Even if they had managed to delay it past January 20th, that would simply have meant a period under Acting President Pelosi.

TBH, there was a period, between the initial breach and the news that the security forces had cleared the building, where I was genuinely terrified, because I was expecting the climax toward which all of this was clearly building: when Trump invoked the Insurrection Act and imposed martial law nationwide. That would have been the final step to achieve the coup for which this could have served as the "Reichstag fire"-like pretext. But it never happened. Why not? Were Trump and his minions so clueless as to not take advantage of the situation they themselves had helped foment? Did Trump try to impose martial law, but get told by the Pentagon they wouldn't comply before he had a chance to issue a declaration? Don't know but, in any "well-coordinated coup," there has to be a battle plan for how to get from inception to cementing power. And, clearly, either Trump and his henchmen never had such a plan, or they had one and failed to get the cooperation needed to implement it.

[JoeOtterbein]

37. Thanks!

For some clarity!

[StarfishSaver]

40. Thank you

But you might want to gird your loins for a bit of a fight since some folks here don't like it when anyone tries to undermine their rage with facts ...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

56. What facts? Its a thoroughly provocative post, but what facts

are you referring to?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

62. BTW, not a good look for a relative newbie to act like they

alone, know proof certain, what DUers think or don't think.

[sheshe2]

93. BTW, she is a well respected member of DU.

Laura PourMeADrink

62. BTW, not a good look for a relative newbie to act like they

alone, know proof certain, what DUers think or don't think.

"not a good look for a relative newbie"?

I am pretty sure she can read and process what people post on DU.

The 'newbie' slight is unnecessary and an attack on her integrity. Almost seems like you are accusing her of something...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

95. Attacks on any DUer who disagrees is an attack on the

Integrity of many people.

[sheshe2]

96. Nite.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

97. Oh you get off at 6? Great, good night

[jmowreader]

64. First of all, there are four dead people after yesterday's insurrection

If we can tie the insurrection to Trump, we should also be able to hang those four deaths around Trump's neck like an albatross.

[Eyeball_Kid]

73. an hypothesis from a compendium of posters' ideas:

Trump was to react to kidnapping, quick trials, and assassinations (you must have seen the zip cuffs?) by imposing martial law and maintaining power. He would blame the murders on antifa while his mercenaries, embedded in the crowd, was the lethal force that would assassinate. Police and national guard back-up were very late to arrive. That delay would give the lethal force an opportunity to escape.

This kind of plan would not require a "well-coordinated coup." It would require enough chaos (Trump's specialty) for Trump to intervene and take everything over.

It was reported that Trump and some of his family members and inner circle were watching the insurrection with delight. Kimberly G. raised her fist and yelled, "Fight!"

Whew.

[wnylib]

79. Dumb failed coup? Yes.

But not the first wanna be dictator to fail. The Beer Hall Putsch failed spectacularly and Hitler ended up in jail, although his sentence was shortened and his jailers treated him like royalty. He then used his prison time to think through a better, more sophisticated plan to rule as dictator.

Trump is too old for that kind of comeback, but there are others willing to take up the RW fascistic movement and followers who would help.

So investigations snd charges are absolutely necessary to prevent a future repeat.

[Maven]

80. IF the insurrectionists had succeeded in kidnapping or killing members of Congress

I think that may have escalated the situation enough to get military cooperation with the imposition of martial law. That could be what Trump and his co-conspirators we’re hoping for. Luckily, all legislators and other personnel got to safety before it could happen and the terrorists were left milling around with nothing to do but vandalize the place.

[bucolic_frolic]

82. Well and good, but that assumes the end game was botched and is over

As per TRMS last evening, the end game is no government, total power, and we can extrapolate to plunder of anything they want and elimination of "undesirables" however they - they alone - define them.

And Congress is polluted with enablers of this movement, and Trump said in his speech it's just beginning.

Smell any Bannon anywhere in there?

Rule of law must clamp down hard and defend the sovereignty of our political system, but yeah, executions are a stretch and an escalation - something for wiser people to plumb.

[uponit7771]

83. WRONG !! A Maddow said they achieved their goals and paid little price so far for it. No, people

... a stupid insurrection carried out stupidly still can meet goals.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

70. 💯

[Skraxx]

23. No, He Wanted Hostages and Dead Officials

We will learn there was more organization and coordination and that the chaos was cover for more covert and disciplined activities thankfully unsuccessfull.

[BrightKnight]

76. I saw some on video inside with lots of large zip ties. nt

[uponit7771]

27. +1

[Captain Zero]

38. He wanted congress members murdered

What better way to declare martial law ??

[NCDem47]

3. Full-on scandal brewing.

I’m sure it traces back to a Trump directive.

[ShazzieB]

26. But of course.

Asshole shit weasels put in their jobs in order to be ready to run interference for the head shit weasel to facilitate the invasion of the shit weasel worshippers.

[exboyfil]

4. It was a putsch

No getting around it if these reports are true.

[FakeNoose]

5. Holy chit! There it is ... the smoking gun ...

This plan has been in the works since before November 3rd.

[MelissaB]

16. It was a real coup attempt.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. This is where the investigation of Sedition needs to go.

Who ordered the stand down?

[Biophilic]

7. Thank heavens Pence was involved. Otherwise who knows what would have happened.

[Mr.Bill]

24. Pence was one of the ones they came there to kill.

And he's probably too stupid to realize it.

[greenjar_01]

48. Oh, I think he realizes it

Pence is conniving, but he's no dummy. He knows exactly what he narrowly escaped.

[obamanut2012]

81. And, his wife, daughter, and brother were there with him

They were also almost murdered.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. why of course, just what I suspected and feared

[Tech]

9. Lets not forget

the transition team for Biden was blocked by the pentagon in December.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. IMPEACH!

[C_U_L8R]

12. That was their purpose.

What's Act 2 of this sedition? We're talking the corruption of the fucking military!
Maybe there should be more than one impeachment.

[Maru Kitteh]

13. Well Trump wanted to bring back hanging & firing squads. I think

I know where we could start with that. I have a few suggestions anyways.

[Dem2theMax]

14. I sincerely hope we see heads roll.

President Biden can't have these traitors anywhere near him.

[BGBD]

15. That's not sedition...

That's butting right up on treason.

They purposefully left the Capitol unprotected and set loose a radicalized mob, of their own creation, on it.

There is going to be a trail to this, and in a couple of weeks we will have a DoJ willing to follow it.

[uponit7771]

29. +1

[greenjar_01]

49. The mob was a distraction, prob

The scary folks operating inside the mob was the payload.

[JDC]

17. All day we watched and waited for help to come

And none did. No doubt this was done intentionally. The price to be paid must be heavy.

[Cha]

18. Rt TY.. I know it was Planned & an attempted coup.. so what's

going to happen to them?!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Fits w firing Esper Nov 9, fortifying White House fence, calling rally, speaking to rally

[smirkymonkey]

20. K and fuckin' R

[bucolic_frolic]

21. There can be no messing around with this, Democrats must go full bore to defend the nation

The evidence is clear. Very clear.

I don't doubt our leaders' resolve, or the incoming administration.

I do worry about those 147 House Republicans. That will be hard to work around.

[soldierant]

51. Fourteenth Amendment

Section 3.

[stopwastingmymoney]

89. Here

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

[soldierant]

98. Thanks.

I was reading from my pocket copy, so would have had to type it, and I would not have typed it well.

[Turin_C3PO]

85. We can make those

140 Republican seditionists irrelevant as long as all Democrats vote the right way. We still have a narrow majority in the House.

[DanieRains]

25. Like Letting The Entire Military Have The Day Off When AlQaeda Is Doing

Training drills in Manhattan.

No way Capitol Police were short handed by accident.

[Rebl2]

28. Hope

Biden can have them removed immediately once he is president

[lindysalsagal]

30. I just sent it to Rachel. Thanks.

[benld74]

45. Maddow entire show was about

The lesser evils resigning while Senators & Congress GOP skate.
NO attempt to identify & arrest those breaching Capital.
Her list was too long
But she nailed them in Maddow style

[BarbD]

31. We can investigate the Pentagon and even Trump,

But, can we investigate the Republican Congressmen?

They certainly are culpable. They didn't honor their oath to protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC.

[gab13by13]

32. Oh there's more,

The Democratic Senator of Maryland was hunkered down hiding and he had the governor of Maryland's phone number so he called him asking for him to send the Guard. Governor Hogan said the new Defense Secretary wouldn't answer his phone and they needed his authority to send the Guard. Finally after an hour and a half the Secretary of the Army gave Hogan the OK to release the Guard which is not the proper protocol.

This was on Rachel tonight.

THis coup was planned from the top down. Thank goodness the Secretary of the Army took it upon himself to release the Guard or who knows what would have happened?

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

91. They need to be questioned under oath by Congress.. nt

[AntiFascist]

99. The Secretary of Defense is the second in command of the military under Trump...

he definitely needs to be facing something!

[BusyBeingBest]

34. I knew the story the Pentagon was putting out to the AP about offering

Capitol police some guard members beforehand was slippery bullshit meant to assign all blame to the police for the debacle. They're covering their own treasonous asses.

[LudwigPastorius]

35. Anyone who knows Trump saw this coming when he fired Defense Secretary Esper...

two days after Biden was declared the winner by most of the media.

He followed that up by putting his loyalists in place in key positions a week later.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/politics/pentagon-policy-official-resigns/index.html

A coup attempt was absolutely his plan, going back at least that far.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

36. All startling to make sense. Trump is a chess player

He moves his pieces to block. He installed Barr while Mueller was toiling away. He packed the SC with would be loyalists too.

Wish DU people wouldn't diss when members intuited these things.

Very bright DUer, have to search back and find, said that trump was installing "acting" leaders so they couldn't vote on 25th. Another chess piece.

[gab13by13]

39. I could not agree more,

Trump is mentally ill but he is getting sound advice from somebody.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

47. ? Not his years, a lifetime, of "biikng people experience" ?

[Kaleva]

53. Trumps an incompetent baboon

he lost the House in 2018, the Senate this year, couldn't get 1 Repub controlled state legislature in one of the contested state's to side with him, several of his judicial appointments have ruled against him , VP Pence refused to obey him, and he failed to stop Congress from certifying Biden as winner.

[gab13by13]

41. Speaker Pelosi should go for impeachment tomorrow,

the 25th isn't going to fly, it is more complicated than people realize.

The phone call to Georgia's SOS and the sedition at the Capitol and vote. Do it.

[Wawannabe]

43. TONIGHT! nt

[Laura PourMeADrink]

50. Yes... The urgency of NOW. If not tonight, move forward. This

Expanded time between event and repercussions should be kept to the absolute minimum. If THIS man is too dangerous to be in charge, why wasn't he too dangerous last night at 10 eastern?

[Wawannabe]

42. Duh!

Said this yesterday!

Too many concurrent “rallies”. Or whatever the fuck they are!


Fuck

[apnu]

44. Premeditated. Criminal. Negligence.

This is part of the conspiracy. Trump tried to have a coup but is incompetent as his mob.

[spanone]

52. REMOVE HIM.

[Nexus2]

54. You think Trump came up with all this on his own? (nt)

[moondust]

57. No.

Not a chance.

[Nexus2]

72. Agreed

[Meowmee]

77. No and I want to know who did

[tblue37]

78. I'd bet Erik Prince is involved.

[MyMission]

87. I'd like to know where Mike Flynn was

During the coup attempt, and where he is now?

[Meowmee]

100. Agree, and who else...

[Vivienne235729]

55. They have blood on their hands and need to be held accountable.

[orleans]

59. follow up tweet

Link to tweet

[badboy67]

60. Co conspirators?

[lindysalsagal]

61. Remember when we asked "why bother with a few weeks left?"

Now we know.

[SCantiGOP]

63. Think for one minute

How absolutely impossible this story would have been in any past administration in history. Even Nixon, cause we at least had a reputable public servants to keep him in check.
There has never been a person like Trump in the White House, nor will this country survive if there is another.

[canetoad]

65. I agree

trump and all he represents apalls me. But it happened once and it can happen again.

Don't even think of saying, 'but we've learned our lesson.'

How is the US going to make legislative and cultural change that will prevent another trump?

[patphil]

66. The question now is who orchestrated all this. Trump isn't clever enough to set this all up.

I wondered why all those National Security changes were being done. I guess now we know.
Merrick Garland will have his hands full unraveling this one.

This was definitely a planned act of sedition.

[SunSeeker]

67. The 2000 Brooks Brothers Rebellion worked. This 2021 insurrection didn't.

But insurrections are not a bug. They are a feature. This is how Republicans stay in power.

[Eyeball_Kid]

68. Trumpy made his concession speech tonight. But don't trust him.

The article posted implies that this "insurrection" was planned well in advance by Trump, who installed the people at key positions who would enhance the chances of a success. Slowing down the security apparatus was an essential factor. He achieved that.

As the investigations proceed, we'll find that the White House was continually in contact with elements inside the invading force, and that, at Trump's direction, an organized lethal force was embedded in the crowd. They used the crowd for cover.

The lethal force was to find Congress members, bind them (we saw the guy with the zip cuffs), "try" them, and then assassinate them. And because of the delay in law enforcement back-up, the lethal force members would be able to escape. Trump would then blame antifa and invoke martial law against a nonexistent enemy.

A variation of this story will be revealed to be true in the coming weeks and months. Investigations will begin with the collecting of cell tower data.

Some of these ideas came from posters in other threads. They make sense, IMO. It's because, as we should all know by now, Trump has no limits. The problem with this idea is that there are too many moving parts for it to work in the way that Trump wanted it to work (which is probably the main theme of Trump's disastrous life).

[DeminPennswoods]

69. Miller issued a correction in a subsequent tweet

ftr.

[oasis]

71. What Gen. Honore said was right. "Complicity"

[Crunchy Frog]

74. I look forward to the investigations, hearings, and prosecutions.

I doubt that pardons would include attemped coups.

[BrightKnight]

75. It is sounding like a planned coup attempt. nt

[FelineOverlord]

84. Pentagon leaders installed as part of Trump purge last month blocked DC National Guard from getting

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Vivienne235729]

90. I'm not surprised. They are part of the insurrection and need to be arrested as well.

[BlueWavePsych]

92. Collusion

[AntiFascist]

94. Seditious conspiracy! n/t