# 7 Jan 2021 and beyond - the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-jan-2021-and-beyond-the-aftermath-of-the-storming-of-the-capitol/930020>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 8, 2021, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-jan-2021-and-beyond-the-aftermath-of-the-storming-of-the-capitol/930020 "2021-01-08T10:28:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5080

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-jan-2021-and-beyond-the-aftermath-of-the-storming-of-the-capitol/930020/5080 "2024-07-27T09:59:25Z")

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> [@Is Trump confused?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/1236):
>
> One cannot overstate how close the US democracy came to the edge at 1/6. There were all kinds of plans in place to keep Biden out of office. Fake electors, pressuring Pence not to certify the election, keeping the national guard out of the way.  
> Your ass was saved by Pence unexpectedly finding his spine. Not by any incompetence by the would be revolutionaries. They had their ducks in a row and were marching on the Capitol.

As I said before, I do **not** want to hijack the thread about Trump being confused. So I’ll reply to you in an actual relevant thread.

Yes, you absolutely can overstate how close we came because you just did. The crackpot theory that they came up with was not going to work. This is a myth perpetuated by irresponsible clickbait articles like this one:

> **[Beyond the riot, Jan. 6 was a dangerously close call. How Trump's plot nearly...](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/riot-jan-dangerously-close-call-trumps-plot-succeeded/story?id=81858613)**
>
> Jan. 6 was a dangerously close call. What if Trump's plan had succeeded? Analysis from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Oh! What a dramatic title! We came so close! It almost worked!

Yet, you read the actual article and it’s BS. All that the article concludes is that if Pence had tried to follow through, there is some uncertainty about what would happen because it would be unprecedented. There would have been a big mess. That’s really all the article concludes. The early statements about “how it almost succeeded” is belied by the rest of the article.

I have yet to see a cogent argument based on fact that it could have really succeeded. The most I’ve seen is that it could have been worse, and I can believe that.

There was zero percent chance it would have ended with a President Trump. There was no authority for that to happen. I see nothing that disagrees with that basic, simple fact. That doesn’t mean it would have ended _well_. I’m sure it wouldn’t. But if the goal was for the scheme to end with Trump serving a second term as POTUS, that was never going to happen.

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