There was a conspiracy to overthrow the election. There were actually several conspiracies - it was like a very special episode of the The Apprentice, with several teams tasked with developing and executing their own strategies for overturning the election. On occasion, these teams worked together, on other occasions they competed with each other and tried to sabotage each other’s efforts, just like the TV show*.
There was the Rudy team, with the strategy of overturning results based on the idea that pandemic driven changes to election laws and procedures were unconstitutional.
There was the Lin Wood / Sidney Powell / Patrick Byrne effort, with their wild election fraud / rigged machines / vote flipping theories. While it might seem this group came out of nowhere, these people had been promoting their crazy “all elections are rigged” theories for years without gaining traction, largely because of the lack of a losing candidate willing to fight that fight and die on that hill. Then along came Trump.
Then there were the pressure campaigns conducted by Trump and Mark Meadows and Cleta Mitchell against the officials of the states Trump closely lost - the campaign to overthrow Georgia was well-documented and I believe it’s known that AZ Governor received a phone call or two from Trump.
There was perhaps the most dangerous plot of all, the Claremont Institute / John Eastman / Jeffrey Clark team, promoting the idea that the DOJ could publicly declare that the election was rigged, setting in motion a string of events that would lead to the election being overturned.
The effect of all these efforts being conducted at the same time was the appearance of a disorganized clusterfuck. Despite that appearance, I think at least two of the plots I listed ( the last two ) easily rise to the level of seditious conspiracy and should be prosecuted.
Then we have January 6th. January 6th was a manifestation of Trump’s anger and ego, his attempt to unleash the fury of his supporters against the people that were laughing at him and calling him a loser. In retrospect, it was a lovely parting gift to Democrats and liberals. At this point I don’t believe it was anything more than a peripheral part of any of the organized plots to overthrow the election. There may have been the idea that the crowds outside would encourage the Republican lawmakers inside. There may have been the idea that there would be significant counter protests and a melee that would allow Trump to declare martial law.
But I think it mostly happened because Trump was pissed off and had a desperate psychological need to rile up a crowd of pissed off supporters.
Many of the people in the crowd truly believed they would overthrow the government that day, and they thought that Trump was signaling that fact to them. And I think Trump should’ve been arrested for inciting the insurrection attempt , even if he didn’t expressly order his supporters to kill Mike Pence. But I don’t believe that any of the higher ups, the contestants on this very special episode of The Apprentice, actually thought the day would end with Mike Pence being executed, Nancy Pelosi being arrested and Trump being reinstated.
January 6th should be investigated to its fullest, loudly and publicly. The public needs to be reminded of the danger presented by Trump’s unhinged ego and anger.
But the Democrats shouldn’t get too obsessed with tying the events of January 6th into the other real and actionable conspiracies to overthrow the election, because that smoking gun may not exist. The evidence of the other conspiracies is strong enough to stand alone, I think John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Mark Meadows and Donald Trump would be guilty of seditious conspiracy even if January 6th hadn’t happened.
I think the Democrats are at risk of making the same mistake they made with the Russia investigation. They will expose all the plots I described above in great detail and produce piles of overwhelming evidence - yet it will be deemed a failure and a witch hunt just because they can’t find the smoking gun that proves Trump had an actual plan to murder Mike Pence.
And I’m going to end with a touch of optimism. I know everyone seems to think the 2022 elections are a done deal and that the Democrats will lose big. I understand the reasoning and history behind that point of view and it doesn’t look good.
But you know what else didn’t look good? The chances of the Democrats overturning not one, but both Georgia Senate seats in a run-off election. Or the chances of the the Democrats actually winning an Alabama Senate seat in a run-off election. Trump is actually really good at fucking things up for his own party. Let’s hope he keeps up the good work.