Vanilla ISIS takes the Capitol

[sabotabby]

 I'm only reading text, not watching things, but...wow America. Holy shit. That's some photogenic battshittery going on.

In 2001, in 2016 when I was counterprotesting Nazis, I got told off for doing so because they're just fringe, tiny, no one pays attention to them, you just make them look sympathetic by drawing attention to them. I don't like to say I told you so, but this is what happens when you let the far-right get out of control.

As everyone else has pointed out, the DC police absolutely had the means of dealing with this, as we can see when it comes to BLM and any random Black person they decide to use as target practice. They decided to use kid gloves to deal with fascists, and so the fascists were able to get in. They didn't think the Trumpists would score an own goal, but guess what? 

Liberal democracies always think they have a better handle on fascism than they actually do. They  use it to repress the left, and think for some reason that it won't turn on them. America's been on the very thin edge of being a liberal democracy for quite some time, and Americans are typically poor students of history, but there's a certain amount of schadenfreude watching the scorpion sink frogs like Pence and McConnell into the mires of the swamp they crawled out of. Just hoping they don't kill anyone innocent along the way.

Anyway, I think this particular coup attempt will end up being overreach. Right-wing Americans of the more ordinary sort generally aren't fans of seeing cops get injured, and if the cops or the National Guard are genuinely threatened, they'll just shoot these dickweeds. But it's a bad sign of things to come.

Comments

[dewline]

Yeah, this is really Not Good.

Dammit.

[sabotabby]

Maybe they'll kill each other off and sane people can inherit the earth?

[rdi]

One can but hope

[sara]

My one consolation, as I watch the chaos, is that this is probably the worst day of Mitch Mcconnell's life.

[sabotabby]

That's not nothing.

[sara]

Apparently reality hit Kelly Loeffler like a baseball bat to the back of the head this evening.

[frandroid]

He and Pence had the two better speeches in the Senate... Schumer was rambling. (I don't usually watch this shit but Someone decided to put on the ABC stream...

[springheel_jack]

Schumer's pathetic.

[franklanguage]

I can't hear (or read) his name without thinking "Schumato"—a reference to Alfonse d'Amato, his predecessor.

[minoanmiss]

Adventures in living! *shivers*

[sabotabby]

I request less interesting times.

[minoanmiss]

ME TOO I WANT TO BE BORED FOR A BIT THANK YOU

[sabotabby]

Being bored sounds nice. I recently ran out of baking shows on Netflix only to find that there's 10 seasons of the Great British Baking Show on CBC Gem, and I think I would like to lie on my couch while people on the telly make cakes.

I'm probably gonna do that anyway because all of the activism I know how to do involves a dangerous amount of contact during a pandemic.

[lynnenne]

there's a certain amount of schadenfreude watching the scorpion sink frogs like Pence and McConnell into the mires of the swamp they crawled out of.

Yes, there is.

[sabotabby]

If a random person working there had been harmed in any way, I'd be way more upset than I am. Instead I almost blew Facebook's shitposting limit.

[dagibbs]

I'm seriously hoping this was 15-20 years too early -- that Trump was not the Republican leadership plan, and that he pulled the trigger too early. And, therefor this will fail, and pull down enough of the infrastructure to prevent a recurrence, at least in my life time. (Ok, that second bit might be optimism.)

[sabotabby]

This is the most optimistic scenario, and I don't think it's an unlikely one.

[rdi]

My fear is that there's a base out there that someone smarter and less overt will be able to exploit in 8-12 years.

I'd like to be wrong, and for this to be the kick in pants America needs to take its governance structure seriously, and stop gerrymandering and repressing votes, but I'm not optimistic.

[sabotabby]

When has the threat of consequences ever been an issue before???

[xturtle]

I want every cop shown taking a selfie with these asshats fired tomorrow. Holy shit, was that a How Not To policing tutorial. After clashes last night they should have been geared up for anything, and instead they were out there in hi-viz vests like all they were expecting to do was crowd control.

(I was absolutely not enjoying the fash-on-fash violence last night. Not me, nope.)

[sabotabby]

I think my reaction was mostly "stop hitting yourself! stop hitting yourself!"

[smhwpf]

I think you might be right about the overreach. They weren't in a position to follow it through, probably a lot even of Trump supporters will see it as going to far. It will probably, at least in the short term, lose support both for Trump and for all the people who've been enabling him. I hope.

The downside is that the fash will be emboldened by how easily they were able to do this and with how little consequence. (Unless there's a spate of mass arrests and prosecutions based on the ample footage the fash have given everyone, but I doubt that will happen). So their next moves will be even more violent and brazen.

[sabotabby]

On the plus side we also know how unsecured the windows are. Not that they'd let us get that close.

[broken_record]

I think liberals and democrats are sitting back and watching the shitshow from safely at home during stay at home orders. They know that violence isn't the way to get shit done in this country, so they allowed MAGA idiots to run rampant and ruin themselves. But the government's white supremacy is too glaringly obvious and they can't even act like they care. And the country is too stupid to see that this is history in the making--during Trump's presidency the country turned into a really asinine atrocious "disputing like 5 year olds who can't make arguments" shithole. And no, it's not because Trump became too famous like a meme. It's because this pathetic excuse for a human being somehow got elected by you idiots. Because you made it and let it happen because you sit there and be compliant while the country fucks you.

[sabotabby]

Yep. Well well well, if this isn't the consequences of my own actions. etc.

[lapinlunaire]

I don't think I have anything new to say but "Vanilla ISIS" is a brilliant nickname.

[sabotabby]

I didn't make it up but given that Vanilla Ice is a Nazi now, it's even more appropriate.

[spiderplanet]

Liberal democracies always think they have a better handle on fascism than they actually do. They use it to repress the left, and think for some reason that it won't turn on them. America's been on the very thin edge of being a liberal democracy for quite some time, and Americans are typically poor students of history, but there's a certain amount of schadenfreude watching the scorpion sink frogs like Pence and McConnell into the mires of the swamp they crawled out of. Just hoping they don't kill anyone innocent along the way.

This was what I needed to see written down right now. Thank you for writing it.

[sabotabby]

Thank you for reading it!