# So what would have happened after 1/6 had the riot been successful? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 11, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286 "2021-01-11T20:22:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/41 "2021-01-12T19:01:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > C’mon, the rioter who accidentally tasered himself in the nuts was a little bit funny. - Little bit? That was die laughing funny. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/42 "2021-01-12T19:14:13Z")
Was it actually true? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/43 "2021-01-12T19:14:36Z")
I would say they were successful or partially successful if you look at what happened. it was a predominantly unarmed crowd that broke windows and interrupted a congressional vote in a fit of rage. If they were planning something like another Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone they didn’t show much in the way of planning or weapons. So to answer your question, nothing would have happened because they didn’t have the power to make anything happen. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/44 "2021-01-12T19:16:54Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Was it actually true? - I just checked. No. > **[Did Man at Capitol Riot Die After Accidentally Tasing Himself?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/capitol-riot-taser-death/)** > > Five persons died in conjunction with the Capitol riot, but some reports surrounding their deaths weren’t entirely accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/45 "2021-01-12T19:57:51Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Was it actually true? It’s Republican true. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/46 "2021-01-12T20:26:02Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Hungary, Turkey, and, I guess Russia, have all effectively lost their democracies without any violent uprising, without any army stepping in. The US constitution was written assuming good faith and good intentions on the part of the elected officials. We’ve seen that that’s not good enough. > > Smaller examples – repeated violations of the emoluments clause, ignoring congressional subpoenas, ignoring legal demands for tax returns. Stretching “advice and consent” to its limit by not even bringing judicial nominations to a vote, even though they would have passed had they been brought to the floor. > > You put enough of your own judges in the right positions, you have enough Senators or Representatives who put their own career or their own party before the country, and that’s all it takes. There’s no higher power here that will step in to make sure our democracy withstands an onslaught. There isn’t anything magical about the Constitution or any legal document. They all depend on social compact where the majority of people believe that is how their society should function. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/47 "2021-01-13T13:31:46Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > I don’t think the rioters had much of a plan except some nebulous goal of keeping Trump in power. When they got into the capitol most of them just milled around looking like tourists. > > It’s possible (probable?) that a few had an actual plan to capture some lawmakers and try to hold them hostage for some reason. Some started up the “hang Mike Pence” chant so maybe that was a goal. They were all basically idiots. Finally somebody brings out the obvious. The mob was not a single disciplined unit. There were IMO 3 distinct categories: 1. A bunch of yahoos out for a QAnon-fueled RW lark who confusedly but fully knowingly committed sedition and should hang. 2. A few (5-10%?) hard-core individual “I intend to kill some congressmen for my HERO Trump!!11!” guys who deliberately committed sedition and should hang. 3. A comparative handful (1%, 0.1%, ???) of semi-professional organized attackers in the service of {somebody} who had insider knowledge and fully intended to overthrow the government that day but failed badly. Who should hang. Do not let the overwhelming numbers of Group 1 participants blind you to the presence of Groups 2 & 3. Nor to the presence of the 130+ R congressmen who, _after_ the violence, still tried to steal the election despite having just seen an armed insurrection. This Group 4 is arguably the most dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/48 "2021-01-13T13:49:39Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > If militia manage to kill enough Democratic Reps/Senators from states that are currently controlled by Republican Governors/Legislatures (depending on how appointing a replacement works in that state) to flip one of the houses (enough is “1” for the Senate and I 5 or 6 for the House), the only hope for our country is that those states appoint a Democratic replacement. The Republicans would have insisted in going ahead with the process right away even as the bodies of Democratic legislators were still not entirely cold, without waiting for replacements. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/49 "2021-01-13T13:50:40Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > There isn’t anything magical about the Constitution or any legal document. They all depend on social compact where the majority of people believe that is how their society should function. This. I’ve said it before and will again; a country’s real constitution isn’t the paper, it’s the consensus. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/50 "2021-01-13T15:10:41Z")
It’s how the British do it. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/51 "2021-01-13T16:28:46Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > successful coups generally require the military or secret police being on board. And that’s where we are all stop on this. No chance this could be successful in any meaningful way. There is no way the military would support these knuckleheads, no way in hell, so there is no way this could play out “successfully.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/52 "2021-01-13T21:19:31Z")
Not successful in the sense that those few dudes with guns would overwhelm the DoD. But with better organization and a few more hardcore embeds they could easily have executed most of the D congressional contingent. And some part of the non-crazy R contingent _pour encourager les autres_. Which folks would then be replaced by the R machinery in lots of states. Which would then all nice and legal like BE the new Congress. Who would enact all sorts of crazy-R legislation and maybe even install Trump. All with zero violence or illegality after the last congressman bled out. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/53 "2021-01-13T23:09:08Z")
Success would have required more support. Their main plan seemed to be to stop the vote and take hostages to try and force their way in. They’d have to have more people willing to then give in. I think the best chance they’d have would be that it become so bad that Trump would declare an emergency and use that to try and hold onto power. I do think the Court would overturn any attempts to change the vote, as I’ve stated before that Congress lacks the power to not accept the certified votes. I don’t know how they’d react to Trump trying to use emergency powers. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/54 "2021-01-14T00:02:36Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > No chance this could be successful in any meaningful way. There is no way the military would support these knuckleheads, no way in hell, so there is no way this could play out “successfully.” I don’t understand this argument at all. The insurrectionists very nearly made it to interact with members of Congress. If they kill just a _few_ Congresspeople, control of Congress shifts to the Republican party. It’s not a _coup_ in the sense that it would completely topple the government. Biden would still become President. But it would be political control of a major portion of the Federal government via violence. Seems pretty meaningful to me. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/55 "2021-01-14T00:25:05Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I don’t understand this argument at all. The insurrectionists very nearly made it to interact with members of Congress. If they kill just a _few_ Congresspeople, control of Congress shifts to the Republican party. They would have had to take out a LOT of Democrats to truly shift control of Congress to the Republicans. A mere Republican majority wouldn’t suffice; many of them would oppose Trump. If they wanted a 2nd term of Trump, they would have had to somehow engineer an _enormous_ Republican majority in both houses. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/56 "2021-01-14T01:16:48Z")
I’m not defining “success” as “Trump gets a 2nd term” I agree that that is incredibly slim and was not really in reach last week. “Republicans gain control of one or more houses of Congress” is really bad and should count as “success” as far as that riot goes. They’d have to kill 1 Senator to make that happen, or a handful of Representatives. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/57 "2021-01-14T01:20:51Z")
The frightening thing is that, even though the coup _wasn’t_ successful, it put the fear of MOB in Republican Congresscritters. There are many reports that they are actually afraid of physical attacks from these Trumpettes, and their votes are a reflection of those fears. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/58 "2021-01-14T02:31:02Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > {…} A mere Republican majority wouldn’t suffice; many of them would oppose Trump. {…} Wait, who would oppose Trump? I mean unless you’ve been in a coma for the last four years I can’t imagine anyone even suggesting that ‘many Republicans would oppose Trump’. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/59 "2021-01-14T02:54:44Z")
First, I have a hard time believing that those congresspeople would not have been replaced by Democrats. Second, I don’t think they got that close to taking out members. AIUI there was still armed security in the chambers. They fired once on the rioters, who then fell back. I doubt that security would have broken down so much that the rioters could walk around, identify Democrats, and shoot them. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286/60 "2021-01-14T13:40:17Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > First, I have a hard time believing that those congresspeople would not have been replaced by Democrats. I think it depends on the state. If they murdered a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, for example, I think the Republican governor would choose the replacement. I think that’s one of the reasons why Elizabeth Warren isn’t going to be in the Biden administration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-would-have-happened-after-1-6-had-the-riot-been-successful/930286.md?page=4)