The PR Wing Of The GOP

[Thumpalumpacus]

And Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, was found to have had this in his possession: a pretty explicit plan to invade the Capitol (and other buildings) on January 6.

Make no mistake, this wasn’t like the ending of Day of the Locust where a crowd of people gets caught up in the moment and turns into an angry mob out of the blue, THIS. WAS. PLANNED. IN. ADVANCE.

Former cops and vets planned and practiced that day using stacking formations, and had lists of Congresscritters to detain and then ...? While many there that day were caught up in the moment, there was a hard core that planned specifically to use the unrest for their own purposes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump’s supporters massed outside the Capitol last week and sang the national anthem, a line of men wearing olive-drab helmets and body armor trudged purposefully up the marble stairs in a single-file line, each man holding the jacket collar of the one ahead.

The formation, known as “Ranger File,” is standard operating procedure for a combat team that is “stacking up” to breach a building — instantly recognizable to any U.S. soldier or Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a chilling sign that many at the vanguard of the mob that stormed the seat of American democracy either had military training or were trained by those who did.

[...]

The AP’s review of hundreds of videos and photos from the insurrectionist riot shows scores of people mixed in the crowd who were wearing military-style gear, including helmets, body armor, rucksacks and two-way radios. Dozens carried canisters of bear spray, baseball bats, hockey sticks and pro-Trump flags attached to stout poles later used to bash police officers.

A close examination of the group marching up the steps to help breach the Capitol shows they wore military-style patches that read “MILITIA” and “OATHKEEPER.” Others were wearing patches and insignias representing far-right militant groups, including the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters and various self-styled state militias.

https://apnews.com/article/ex-military-c...ad5badc257

But there's nothing to see here ... move right along.

Those are the people representing the threat. This is why scoffing at it all is silly; scoffers such as IA are providing the cover that these insurrectionistas aimed to leverage by the general unrest. They're using him and others who actually have the balls to get into the streets -- but not the balls to fight it out -- as cover.

The insurrection that day was clearly incompetent and poorly-planned, to say the least. But going from that to argue that there's no threat is silly. These are people who are motivated to pick up weapons, and trained in learning from their mistakes. There will be another attempt. When? I can't say. But these fascisti are not going anywhere. They will hunker down, go dark-web, and try again.

Counseling apathy is a Chamberlain move. Fuck that.

ETA: Note, the source is not TMZ.