Slate "Trump Didn't Believe His Election Lies. His trial can prove it."

[gratuitous]

3. What Trump believed is inconsequential

When you're standing before an armed angry mob and tell them to march on the Capitol, and that you'll be marching with them, it doesn't matter if your fingers are crossed. When the armed, angry mob sets out for the Capitol, whether you're marching with them (and some in the mob thought he was), you set them in motion. When the angry mob reaches the Capitol bellowing that they're there on Donald Trump's orders, there's no "Hey, just kidding" exception. The crowd believed what Trump said, and what he said was "Storm the Capitol." That makes him culpable, whether he marched or not, whether he was telling the truth or not, whether he scuppered away and watched the events he set in motion back home on teevee.