General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsClassic question arises again: "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"
Seems the media for the most part is not quite ready to openly speculate about this yet. Talk has been constrained to Trump's role in "inciting an insurrection", not any potential role he might have had in actually planning it.
I appreciate that caution is required before accusing an American President of literally conspiring in the orchestration of a coup that potentially involved planning for the assassination of key government leaders. Any charges along those lines would be the most explosive in American history. Without extremely hard evidence backing such charges, it is extremely hard to responsibly advance that case. Just the accusation itself has the potential to totally destabilize our democracy. But if that is where the evidence leads, not pursuing it would ultimately be far more "destabilizing."
So for now it seems within bounds to speculate about potential coup conspirators embedded within the Capital Police, within congressional staffs, and potentially among elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives, but it remains off limits to discuss possible premeditated sedition by senior members of Trump's Administration and/or his inner circle, up to and including the President himself. All of the recent changes in leadership at the Department of Defense, at the Justice Department, at the Department of Homeland Security etc. for now are deemed unrelated to the actual formulation of a coup. At most, for the moment, they are said to have contributed to a "lack of preparation" rather than the willful withholding of resources that could have quashed a coup attempt before it had any chance of succeeding.
"Reputable journalists", and our congressional leaders, may not be at a point yet when they can publicly ask the question, but I sure can. What did the President know, and when did he know it?
empedocles
(15,751 posts)global1
(26,504 posts)Flynn - Stone - Manafort - Bannon - Guliani - Miller - Kushner - Don Jr
Some Congress critters that met with Trump at the White House in the run up to Jan 6th.
Storming the Capitol wasn't spontaneous.
Tom Rinaldo
(23,181 posts)There was NOTHING spontaneous at the core of the storming of Congress.
Again, I can appreciate if investigators under the soon to be Biden Administration Justice Department remain tight lipped about the leads that they will be investigating, but that investigation must be thorough and be given all of the resources needed to get t0 the bottom of it. This time no one will be tempted to refuse to cooperate in hopes of getting a presidential pardon as a reward for their stonewalling.
global1
(26,504 posts)would they be immune to any charges related to their possible involvement in this insurrection?
Tom Rinaldo
(23,181 posts)Beyond that I defer to better legal minds than mine.
AnyFunctioningAdult
(200 posts)Trump has a built in defense. He could say he did not know anything and it would be completely believable.
Tom Rinaldo
(23,181 posts)Successful thugs have feral intelligence (Trump became President, so he is a successful thug.) They know how to exercise power and make others bend to their will. With that skill mastered, there are always plenty of people surrounding them with the standard IQs high enough to work all the details out for them.
malaise
(294,468 posts)What did the President know, and when did he know it?
And remember he told them to come to DC on January 6 and said it would be wild!
Crunchy Frog
(28,220 posts)And follow the evidence wherever it leads.
I especially want to know more about the likely sabotage of Capitol security, and willful delay in sending the NG.
The worse it is for Trump, the easier it will be to exorcize him from our politics.
So I hope some really explosive things come out.
Tom Rinaldo
(23,181 posts)For something on this scale, it is well worth the time needed to catch everyone red handed, beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt.
