Eric Lee/Bloomberg
“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Donald Trump tweeted before Christmas. “Be there, will be wild!” On New Year’s Day, he tweeted again: “The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C. will take place at 11:00 A.M. on January 6th.” On January 5th: “I will be speaking at the SAVE AMERICA RALLY tomorrow on the Ellipse at 11AM Eastern. Arrive early—doors open at 7AM Eastern. BIG CROWDS!” The posters called it the “Save America March.” What happened that day was big, and it was wild. If it began as a protest and a rally and a march, it ended as something altogether different. But what? Sedition, treason, a failed revolution, an attempted coup? And what will it be called, looking back? A day of anarchy? The end of America?
Trump called the people who violently attacked and briefly seized the U.S. Capitol building in order to overturn a Presidential election “patriots”; President-elect Joe Biden called them “terrorists.” In a section of “Leviathan” called “Inconstant Names,” Thomas Hobbes, in 1651, remarked that the names of things are variable, “For one man calleth Wisdome, what another calleth Feare; and one Cruelty, what another Justice.” On the other hand, sometimes one man is right (those people were terrorists). And, sometimes, what to call a thing seems plain. “This is what the President has caused today, this insurrection,” Mitt Romney, fleeing the Senate chamber, told a Times reporter.
“Insurrection” seems perfectly appropriate to me. The discussion seems endless…sometimes. Folks responsible for that quality of discussion are guilty of making the event seem irrelevant.
For what it’s worth, I think any and all of the crimes committed in Washington, DC, should be prosecuted. Not just the one day’s worth.
Eideard 
It was a Q-Anon LARP event. The amount of knuckleheads per square meter must have been staggering.
“The FBI is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying individuals who made unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol building and committed various other alleged criminal violations, such as destruction of property, assaulting law enforcement personnel, targeting members of the media for assault, and other unlawful conduct, on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.” https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/capitol-violence
If you have any information on the individuals depicted in the following videos and photographs, please call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. Please reference the assault on federal officer (AFO) or assault on media (AOM) number when calling or submitting information online. Note: Video contents may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.”
● “Conspiracy theories paint fraudulent reality of Jan. 6 riot” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conspiracy-theories-paint-fraudulent-reality-of-jan-6-riot
● “A debunked conspiracy theory that claims federal agents incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is making a new appearance in Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s new three-part documentary series, “Patriot Purge.” https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/nov/04/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlsons-conspiracy-theory-about-fbi-and-ja/ “The first time we saw this claim from Carlson, he based it on reporting by Revolver News, a right-leaning website. In a June 14 article, headlined, “Unindicted Co-Conspirators in 1/6 Cases Raise Disturbing Questions of Federal Foreknowledge,” Revolver speculated that because there were unindicted, unnamed co-conspirators included in some of the Capitol rioters’ federal charging documents, it was reasonable to assume that those people are FBI informants or agents. https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jun/18/why-new-false-flag-conspiracy-theory-fbi-orchestra/ [as opposed to providing evidence as part of plea bargaining?]
● (12/28/21): “EXCLUSIVE: Pictured on his tranquil Arizona ranch and wedding venue, the ex-Marine accused of being an ‘FBI plant sent to help incite January 6 Capitol riot’ refuses to answer to right-wing conspiracy theory https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10347577/Ex-Marine-accused-FBI-plant-sent-incite-Jan-6-riot-pictured-ranch.html Ray Epps is the former president of the largest chapter of the far-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers. There is no evidence that Epps, a sergeant in the military, ever entered the building himself and he was never arrested in connection to the siege”.
● (12/18/21): “Meet Ray Epps, Part 2: Damning New Details Emerge Exposing Massive Web Of Unindicted Operators At The Heart Of January 6” https://www.revolver.news/2021/12/damning-new-details-massive-web-unindicted-operators-january-6/
● Revolver News is a right-leaning website run by Darren Beattie — a former Trump White House speechwriter who was fired in 2018 after he appeared on a panel with a white nationalist. In 2020, Beattie was appointed to a commission to oversee U.S. Holocaust memorials. https://www.businessinsider.com/darren-beattie-trump-speechwriter-white-nationalist-ties-rehired-holocaust-memorials-2020-11
As Congress marks the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, congressional investigators are probing whether a Trump White House aide pressured Interior Department and National Park Service officials over permitting for then-President Trump’s rally on the Ellipse.
The House select committee looking into the deadly assault on the Capitol issued a subpoena last month for testimony and documents from Max Miller — a former presidential aide now running for an open House seat in Ohio. Miller helped plan the Jan. 6 event in which Trump encouraged supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.” https://www.eenews.net/articles/panel-probes-trump-aide-over-nps-permit-for-jan-6-rally/
The next US civil war is already here – we just refuse to see it
January 6 wasn’t a wake-up call; it was a rallying cry. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/04/next-us-civil-war-already-here-we-refuse-to-see-it
“We Are In a New Civil War … About What Exactly?
Grievous conflicts have been about big things — war, slavery, Depression — but this time we just don’t like each other.” https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/06/new-civil-war-about-what-exactly-526603
“Why is so little known about the 1930s coup attempt against FDR?” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/11/trump-fdr-roosevelt-coup-attempt-1930s
“Why we should call 1/6/21 a terrorist attack” https://www.duckofminerva.com/2022/01/why-we-should-call-1-6-21-a-terrorist-attack.html (scroll down text)
“At 4:34 pm on January 6, 2021, a cell phone registered to a Capitol rioter who had stormed the building, received a phone call from a White House landline, according to records obtained by CNN.
The call lasted for only nine seconds.
Who placed the call and why remains a mystery, but it is notable as the only known call made from the White House to the phone of a rioter during this critical time period.” https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/politics/mysterious-phone-call-white-house-rioter-jan-6/index.html
A Plot To Overturn An American Election : TPM Has Obtained Explosive Evidence Uncovered By The January 6 Select Committee https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/a-plot-to-overturn-an-american-election
“TPM has obtained the 2,319 text messages that Mark Meadows, who was President Trump’s last White House chief of staff, turned over to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Today, we are publishing The Meadows Texts, a series based on an in-depth analysis of these extraordinary — and disturbing — communications.
The vast majority of Meadows’ texts described in this series are being made public for the very first time. They show the senior-most official in the Trump White House communicating with members of Congress, state-level politicians, and far-right activists as they work feverishly to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. The Meadows texts illustrate in moment-to-moment detail an authoritarian effort to undermine the will of the people and upend the American democratic system as we know it.”
Additional details:
● https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/mark-meadows-exchanged-texts-with-34-members-of-congress-about-plans-to-overturn-the-2020-election
● https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/freedom-caucus-chair-scott-perrys-work-to-overturn-2020-election-included-a-cyber-team-and-an-italian-job
● https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/as-the-2020-election-slipped-away-andy-biggs-and-mark-meadows-schemed-to-reverse-the-vote-in-arizona
“Oh, Look: Another GOP Lawmaker Wanted Trump to Declare “Marshall Law” to Steal a Second Term : And in exciting news for democracy, he’s still a member of Congress!” https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/donald-trump-mark-meadows-ralph-norman-2020-election-marshall-law
According to new reports, the then White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, texted with 34 Republicans lawmakers in the days before January 6, exchanging ideas and suggestions for how they could overturn the election and keep Trump in office. “It’s like a gang of Batman’s dumbest enemies,” said Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
The texts “go a long way toward explaining why these low-lifes have been so quiet about all this”, he added. “It wasn’t just Trump. He had dozens of enablers, and a lot of them are still in Congress. We had people who tried to overthrow the government in the government right now, and I continue to be blown away by how dumb they are. Even Scooby-Doo villains know not to write it down.” https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/dec/14/jimmy-kimmel-january-6-texts-stephen-colbert-seth-meyers
When Hitler first appeared on theater screens in newsreels many Americans reportedly burst out laughing at his shrill voice and jerky hand movements and refused to take him seriously.
“Scrutiny ramps up on Meadows at the Capitol and in NC. The latest on two investigations.” https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article269942247.html