Thread by @SethAbramson

(THREAD) To understand the second impeachment of Donald Trump, we must understand the words that preceded and augmented his January 6 incitement of insurrection. This thread unpacks four key speeches—Don Jr., Giuliani, Mo Brooks, and Eric Trump. I hope you'll read on and RETWEET.

1/ If you haven't yet seen my analysis of Trump's January 6 "incitement to insurrection" speech, you can find it at the link below. This thread will look at four shorter—but deeply consequential—speeches just before Trump's, all by Trump allies or family.

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1347908845281095680?s=20

2/ DONALD TRUMP JR.

Trump Jr.'s speech on January 6—which ended less than an hour before his father incited an insurrection—is one of the most inscrutable of the day, because its beginning includes some promisingly responsible rhetoric. Then it descends into madness and chaos.

3/ "I'm looking at the crowd here, and you did it all [congregate here] without burning down buildings! You did it without ripping down churches! Without looting! I didn't know that that was possible!" Within 2 hours of his speech, Don Jr.'s audience would be looting the Capitol.

4/ So obviously Don Jr.'s opening is ironic to a historic degree, but this isn't the first time we've heard this rhetoric from him. He habitually ignores right-wing violence because he knows that his chief rhetorical canard—which marries progressivism and violences—gets applause.

5/ For this reason, I don't know that we can take his next words as *specific to the occasion* so much as merely his standard, long-standing rhetorical sleight-of-hand: calling anything his father produces peaceful, and anything left-wing activists produce dangerous and unhinged.

6/ The latter part of his next riff is facially semi-responsible: "According to the media, when you have a large gathering of peaceful protestors, they're supposed to burn it all down! See, guys, *we* can do it right." He lies about media—but does say "peaceful" and"do it right."

7/ But he then says the "peaceful" gathering is a "message" to "Republicans who have not been willing to actually fight!" So which is it? Just as his father will use the word "peaceful" once but then ignore it, Don Jr. says "peaceful" once and then says "peace" equals "fighting."

8/ Don Jr. infamously wrote about the George Orwell novel 1984 after his dad was banned from Twitter; he didn't seem to know anything about the book. But his mantra—that being "peaceful" means "fighting" in extraordinary ways—would have made the villains of 1984 nod approvingly.

9/ He implies that this crowd—which he estimates at 100,000—will, unlike Republicans at the Capitol—do "something" to "fight" for Trump by "stop[ping] the steal" of the election. Milling about in "peaceful" fashion would be incongruous with the intent Trump attaches to the crowd.

10/ One could argue that Don Jr. is talking about peaceful protest, but how would that constitute "fighting" the "steal" in a way that "stops" it? It makes no sense unless something more than milling about blocks from the Capitol is what the Trumps anticipate happening right now.

11/ "This gathering should send a message to [Capitol Republicans]! This isn't their Republican Party anymore! This is *Donald Trump's* Republican Party!"

A few notes. First, understand that Donald Trump Jr. is *shouting* his entire speech—something very few other speakers did.

12/ Second is the obvious—there are fascist overtones here, as Trump Jr. is speaking of his father's ownership over a political party in acquisitive, possessive terms, not just metaphoric ones. Third is how much Don is setting the table for his father to issue *orders* later on.

13/ Remember that Donald Trump Sr. is just an hour away from inciting an insurrection, and here's his son *shouting* that his father owns the party now—the implication being that he is the Dear Leader whose least whims move the vast, chaotic network of the Republican Party cause.

14/ But fourth we must note what Jr. is really getting at here: the *way of doing things* the Republicans up at the Capitol have chosen (a peaceful transfer of power) is *over*.

And it has been replaced, Don Jr. thunders, by... well, whatever my father is about to ask you to do.

15/ Remember, nearly all the House/Senate Republicans Trump Jr. is attacking (1) supported his father's re-election, (2) supported his father's post-election lawsuits, and (3) supported his father's past and present political rhetoric and agenda. So what's the radical break here?

16/ In other words, the only way Trump Jr.'s words make sense is if the mob he's shouting at is going to make a *radical break* with the decisions being made by House and Senate Republicans—none of whom support Biden politically—on that very day of insurrection, January 6, 2021.

17/ No one could possibly think a "radical break" would be achieved by... milling about DC a few blocks from the Capitol waving flags. That wouldn't "stop the steal" and it wouldn't be fundamentally different from the passive objection to Biden's ascension the GOP already offers.

18/ But don't worry, Don is about to make things explicit.

"This is the Republican Party that will fight....this is the Republican Party that's not just going to roll over and die because the Democrats would like you to!"

He's asking for the mob to do the *bold and unexpected*.

19/ Don Jr. gives the recent Georgia elections—November (Trump lost) and January (two GOP senate candidates lost)—as an example of what the mob *cannot* do.

You have to really follow Trump Jr. closely here to see what he does with his rhetoric about Georgia. Here's what he says:

20/ {mimicking—via a "dumb-sounding" voice—the weak Republicans the mob must be unlike}:

"Well, I don't like the way the game is played, so let's take our ball and go home."

The idea is that the *new* GOP—Trump's—(a) shows up [at the Capitol] and thereby (b) *changes the game*.

21/ Trump Jr. is telling a mob of 100,000 people that a "game" is being played a certain way up at the Capitol they're about to march to, and that they must go there (instead of "going home") and *not play the game the way it is being played*. What would that look like, exactly?

22/ Well, we know one thing: it's something that must upset Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi profoundly, as Don Jr. tells the mob that playing the game legally—via certification of Biden's win—is "music to Chuck Schumer's ears" and "music to Nancy Pelosi's ears." But there's more.

23/ Just as we can draw a straight line between the president's later speech and insurrectionists chanting "Hang Mike Pence!" and literally *hunting* Pence in the Capitol, remember that the other person the seditionists *hunted* when they got to the Capitol was the House Speaker.

24/ So Don is telling a mob—one he knows is about to march to a building Nancy Pelosi is inside—that it must change the game in a dramatic way that "fights," "stops" what's happening at the Capitol, and profoundly *upsets* Nancy Pelosi.

And so they do. With a clear focus on her.

25/ Remember, Don is looking at a crowd that he knows (from the news, from the flags he sees, from the reports he's gotten) includes QAnon conspiracy theorists (classified as a domestic terror threat by the FBI), virulent 8kun trolls, white supremacists and far-right separatists.

26/ Don tells the crowd that the *old* "mentality" is "turn the other cheek," a Biblical reference that almost always contrasted, in political and other rhetoric, with *violence*. The alternative to "turning the other cheek" is physical conflict. And he's just focused on Pelosi.

27/ Trump says his dad's fans must *not* "roll over," must not "die," must not "give up." He shouts then—at the top of his lungs—"NO! MORE!"

So the Trumpists, Don's scream implies, must "stand up," "act alive" and "fight"—and in doing so invite (rather than shirk from) conflict.

28/ "To those [weak] Republicans—many of whom may be voting on things in the coming hours—you have an opportunity today! You can be a *hero* or you can be a *zero*! And the choice is yours—but WE! ARE ALL! WATCHING!"

So this—in the context these words are spoken—is *incitement*.

29/ Don is telling a mob where to go, when to go, and that they must do something "heroic"—something of *consequence*—when they get there.

And he tells the crowd they'll be *judged* (by God? by America? by the GOP? by the Trumps?) on the basis of how they perform at the Capitol.

30/ "The *whole world* is watching, folks. CHOOSE WISELY!"

He hasn't laid out the choice explicitly. What is the choice? They're all going to march to the Capitol—that's already been decided by the fact of attending this event—so what can they "choose" to do when they get there?

31/ "If you don't FIGHT in the face of glaring [election] irregularities—statistical impossibilities!—"

He trails off, raises a fist, and basks in the ensuing "FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP!" chants.

That's the "choice"—be a "zero" or "fight" at the Capitol.

32/ As the crowd continues chanting, Don Jr. nods—he approves. Yes. The mob has come to the right conclusion. The way to be a "hero" is to march to the Capitol and "fight" when you get there in a way that "stops" the events that are happening.

This is incitement to insurrection.

33/ "That's right, guys! *That's* the message! These guys better fight for Trump!"

His bait-and-switch is priceless. Having just established that the *mob* will "fight," he pretends that what he's approving—in terms of mob action—is that (absent) weak Republicans will "fight."

34/ Don now switches to the subject of what happens if weak Republicans don't "fight," which is that "I'll be in your backyard in a few months!"—a creepy, menacing statement that in a less charged context would immediately be taken to mean nothing but "I'll campaign against you."

35/ He commends "all the patriots who've been on the ground, who have mobilized to put good Republicans in those [political] positions." The use of militaristic verbiage ("patriot," "on the ground," "mobilized") and energy—often OK—is dangerously amped-up in this charged context.

36/ This is the big moment: "If you're going to be the ZERO and not the HERO, we're COMING FOR YOU—and we're going to have a good time doing it!"

If this weren't a *march on the Capitol to stop what was then happening there*, "coming for you" could mean "coming for your career."

37/ Incitement to riot is always a matter of context. "Fight!" shouted at a football game when your team is defending on the 1 yard-line means something different from "Fight!" in *this* context.

"We're COMING FOR YOU!"—directed at "zeroes" inside the Capitol—is here incitement.

38/ "We got to start fighting like the Democrats do! We got to play *their* game! We got to take their fight to *them*—*their* way!"

See what he did? He began his speech by saying that Trump's Republicans don't act like Democrats do. (They don't "loot," for instance.) But now...

39/ ...*now* Jr. is saying that when it gets to the Capitol, the mob must do the things he's already told them *Democrats* do. He laid out what those things are, and (in his view) it includes violence and looting.

And where must these things happen? Where "they" are—the Capitol.

40/ "Take their fight to them!" is incitement when you've already defined "their" tactics as including violence and looting and "to them" means "to Democrats now inside the Capitol." Don isn't stupid—in fact, longtime Trump fixer Michael Cohen says Don's the smartest Trump child.

41/ He tells the crowd that they must do something Republicans have been "reluctant" to do "in the past decades." Again, every time Jr. creates a construction re: *what exactly* he wants the mob to do, the *only* reasonable conclusion a listener could draw is "enter the Capitol."

42/ "So today, friend or foe, Republicans you get to pick a side. For the future of this party. Again—I suggest you choose wisely!"

If he were speaking only of Congress, this might make sense. But he hasn't referenced voting for electors at all—and "choosing" *includes* the mob.

43/ This is actually a time-honored technique in propaganda—and incitement specifically. Don's father is about to use it a *lot*. A speaker aiming to incite makes sure his words could be heard one way by one audience (Congress), and the *same* words differently by a gathered mob.

44/ The *mob* picking a "side" when it gets to the Capitol means something different than *Congress* picking a "side." Indeed, a video shows a man outside the Capitol giving rioters a choice by megaphone: "If you shirk from conflict, stop here. If you're a patriot, go forward!"

45/ Don then thanks Kim Guilfoyle for her "fight" and being a "fighter." Guilfoyle had addressed a Georgia crowd 36 hours earlier with the opening line, "Where are my SOLDIERS at?"

Trump thanks the "patriotic red-blooded Americans" in the crowd for "being in the fight with us!"

46/ Remember, a *key lie* Trump Sr. will tell an hour hence is that he's going to the Capitol with the "protesters" (which implies the other speakers, like Don, are going, too). So when Don thanks the mob for "being in the fight with us" it again implies a fight *at the Capitol*.

47/ "Thank you for standing up to the bullshit!" Again, the "bullshit" is being spoken *in the Capitol*. You don't "stand up to" something from miles away. Holding a sign. Don knows it—the mob knows it.

Don then goes on a rant about PC culture and social media I won't summarize.

48/ "We need to be the party of common sense! We need to be the party of reason! We need to be the party of our values that we hold so dear—that made America greatest country in the world. You guys are part of that movement. So stay in this fight! Stay loud! Don't be suppressed!"

49/ This last part of the speech starts fine—it's only the second at all responsible part of the whole thing—but it immediately devolves to an exhortation to be "loud" and "in the fight" and at the Capitol acting in a way that is "not suppressed" (suggesting *active engagement*).

50/ "Don't be put in your corner!" This is far more key than you think—because USCP had created a "corner" in which protestors could gather at the Capitol. So telling the crowd not to stay in its "corner" seems (and is) metaphoric, but necessarily has a significant added valence.

51/ "Stand up and hold your representatives accountable! And when you do, WE CAN KEEP AMERICA GREAT! Thank you, patriots! Thank you, America! Keep fighting!" Don is using Trump's 2020 slogan to imply that if the "patriots" go to their representatives and "fight," Trump can *win*.

52/ RUDY GIULIANI

Giuliani's January 6 speech—which incites insurrection—is short. (And thoroughly deranged, as you might expect.) Interestingly, Giuliani speaks *far* closer to when Trump Sr. does, specifically about 30 minutes or so before the president appears before the mob.

53/ Giuliani is accompanied by law professor John Eastman, famous for falsely saying that Kamala Harris is constitutionally ineligible to be vice president due to the circumstances of her birth. Rudy begins by telling the mob that what he's going to tell them is "very important."

54/ OMG.

OMG.

What Rudy starts with. I can't even.

55/ "Every single thing that has been outlined as the plan for today is perfectly legal." This is a lawyer exhibiting what we call "consciousness of guilt." Rudy knows he's participating in a seditious performance—and hilariously thinks he can makes things legal by waving a hand.

56/ It's like telling someone before you punch them in anger, "And I can do this because it's *not* assault."

Per usual, Rudy's attempts at being lawyerly do more harm than good. He acknowledges the Save America March is part of a "plan"—and exhibits anxiety about its legality.

57/ "It is perfectly appropriate, given the questionable constitutionality of the election...that the vice president can cast it aside. And he can do what a president {he gestures at the Capitol} called 'Jefferson' did when he was vice president. He can decide on the validity...

58/ "...of the crooked ballots, or he can send it back to the legislatures—give them 5 to 10 days to finally finish the work. We now have letters from five legislatures begging us to do that."

Ugh—where to start? First, all of this is historically and legally wrong. *Way* wrong.

59/ But Rudy's *also* lying. He refers to the "plan for today" being "perfectly legal," but he *couldn't* be referring to anything at the Capitol because *Pence already told Giuliani's client that he would under no circumstances be contesting Biden's win*. So there was no "plan."

60/ That *matters*—and here's why.

The crowd, which sees itself as being on Team Trump, largely hears this and hears a famous former prosecutor telling them that Team Trump's "plan" for "today" is "perfectly legal." They haven't heard or been told that Pence is doing anything.

61/ The whole point of the anger during/after the rally was that Pence *hadn't* committed to anything—there *was* no agreed-upon plan—and the crowd was angry at him for that.

So Rudy saying "the plan for today is perfectly legal" gives a vague, false imprimatur to the whole day.

62/ Next, Rudy says "5 states" want to decertify—in fact, *none* do. He's lying. He means a few reps in a few states were saying this. But his lie is critical, because Trump is shortly going to try to convince the mob that *all the swing states' elected officials* think *he* won.

63/ So Rudy is putting a legal imprimatur on Trump's lies *and* on the mob's response to those lies. But he's lying in so many other ways, too. A big one: he says "five states [maximum]," but in *90 minutes* he'll be asking Sen. Tommy Tuberville to contest *ten* states. Uh, what?

64/ If only *5* states—in Giuliani's lie—want to decertify, why is he frantically calling a U.S. senator and top Trump ally *during an incipient insurrection* to try to get him to contest *10* states? The answer: Trump and Rudy need more time for the mob to take over the Capitol.

65/ Major media reports that Trump wants Rudy to be one of his two main impeachment lawyers. Of course he does—because Rudy is a codefendant, and Rudy's words could incriminate him, and Trump has a history of drafting (for free) to his legal team anyone who could incriminate him.

66/ Rudy is so stupid he actually confesses that what's "perfectly legal" is contesting "5" states, then leaves a voicemail for Sen. Mike Lee accidentally—thinking he's Sen. Tuberville—in which he says they must contest "10" states as a "strategy."

Almost like a confession, yes?

67/ Rudy is so out of control that he can't even remember the fifth state he wants to contest—he blanks on it on stage.

"We don't want to find even more proof—three weeks from now, that this election was stolen—do we?" The crowd screams, "NO!"

So his suggestion is a simple one:

68/ Rudy is telling the crowd—as why else does he need to be saying this to this crowd, and asking them what *they* want?—that under no circumstances can Team Trump allow the electoral votes to be counted on January 6, because if that happens more evidence will come in afterward.

69/ "So it's perfectly reasonable and fair to get 10 days—and *you should know this*..." He then discusses false claims about the election, so it's unclear if *that's* what "they should know" or what "they should know" is that what Trump wants is "perfectly reasonable and fair."

70/ As with so much of the propaganda from January 6, everything is intended to be heard two ways. Giuliani is at once outlining events at the Capitol *and* saying the cause of the mob and its "plans" are "perfectly legal" and "perfectly reasonable and fair." You can hear *both*.

71/ But, you say, surely Giuliani isn't being *that* confusing? Well, here's what he says next:

"If they ran such a clean election, they'd have *you* come in and look at the paper ballots!"

See? He's deliberately mixing the cause of the mob and what's happening at the Capitol.

72/ The mob knows there are "ballots" at the Capitol and that Rudy says they're fraudulent ("unclean"). Rudy then paints a picture of the mob being asked to "come in and look at the paper ballots!" All while speaking of the "plan" being perfectly "legal," "reasonable" and "fair."

73/ "Criminals hide evidence! Not honest people!" Rudy is being so confusing that at this point the mob wouldn't be able to tell where the "evidence" is. The Capitol? Who's hiding it? Congress? I think Rudy as a longtime litigator can be expected to fully understand his rhetoric.

74/ Then Rudy lies again—and *maliciously*. He *strongly indicates* that Team Trump has already been given permission to view new election evidence—the implication being that if the crowd wants Trump to see the evidence in question, it *must* stop events unfolding at the Capitol.

75/ "So, over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent, and if we're wrong, we'll be made fools of. But if we're *right*, a lot of them will go to jail." {crowd roars}

Giuliani's false promise here is malicious and dangerous.

76/ Remember, Giuliani already put a question to the mob: "We don't want to find out [the election was fraudulent] in three weeks, do we?" And the crowd roared, "NO!"

Now Rudy is promising that if the election doesn't end on January 6, he and his team *will* find election fraud.

77/ "We get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent..." Giuliani doesn't say the machines may be crooked—or the ballots may be fraudulent—but that he knows the machines are crooked and the ballots are fraudulent and criminals are hiding the evidence.

78/ Remember, every speaker here is intended to tee up Donald Trump. Rudy's job is to make a promise he can't keep—which is that if the "steal" can be "stopped" by the mob marching to the Capitol, Trump's team will have the time it needs to get evidence invalidating Trump's loss.

79/ Now an infamous line:

"So let's have trial by combat!"

Then: "I'm willing to stake my reputation—the president is willing to stake his reputation—on the fact that we're going to find criminality there. Is Biden willing to stake his reputation that there's no crime there?"

80/ First, note the use of the word "fact." Rudy again promises it's a "fact" that criminality will be found, which is critical to the demand Trump will later make of the crowd. Because you don't storm the U.S. Capitol unless you've been *assured* doing so will matter in the end.

81/ But it's also important that Rudy says, "So let's have trial by combat!" *before* he talks about the terms of the combat, when any speaker would naturally outline the terms of a battle and *then* say, "So let's have trial by combat!" The order of sentences here is deliberate.

82/ If you've been reading these speech analyses, you know that all of Team Trump uses a common technique: speaking sentences that could equally apply to what came before them or what came after them. This creates an ambiguity in the mind of the listener that propaganda requires.

83/ At the moment Rudy says, "So let's have trial by combat!" the question before the mob is what *they're* going to do to ensure that Rudy/Trump have the time they need to find evidence of a crime Rudy promises them is *definitely* there. So he says "let's have trial by combat!"

84/ Those words would be taken by the mob to refer to *them*. *They* must engage in "trial by combat" up at the Capitol on January 6 to ensure that the electoral vote count is delayed, and Rudy and Trump have the time to investigate that Rudy has told the crowd he and Trump need.

85/ But to try to avoid an incitement charge, Rudy *follows* "So, let's have trial by combat!" with a description of the state of affairs between him/Trump and Biden that could reasonably be seen as a contest of reputations—in a certain sense a "trial by combat." See what he did?

86/ In case the mob isn't getting it, Rudy doubles down—declaring an expert *already* looked at the "crooked machines" and found "votes were deliberately changed" (lie). So in Rudy's telling, there *isn't* a trial by combat—over reputation—at all. That leaves only the other kind.

87/ "It's a matter of scientific proof. We need *2 days* to establish that. It'd be a *shame* if that gets established after it [the vote count at the Capitol] is over. Wouldn't it be? This was the *worst election in history*—this election was *stolen*."

It's incitement to riot.

88/ "It *has* to be vindicated [Trump's claim of election fraud] to save our Republic."

Incitement to riot, in the context the words were spoken. Giuliani is saying the mob *must* buy Trump time.

"This is bigger than Donald Trump. It's bigger than you and me. It's about...

89/ "...these moments {he points at the Capitol} and what they stand for....I'm be DARNED if they're going to take away our free and fair vote! And we're going to fight to the very end to make sure that doesn't happen!"

"They" is Congress—"take away" a vote count at the Capitol.

90/ MO BROOKS

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) was the first to announce he'd contest Biden electors in the House—and he worked with Ali Alexander, a far-right agitator, to set up the "Stop the Steal" rally and Save America March. His address to the rally was thoroughly unhinged and scary.

91/ Brooks says that what is happening "today" is the "sav[ing]" of "America." He demands that the mob "stop at the Capitol"—note, not "near" the Capitol but "at" the Capitol, which is a federal crime—to "deliver a message!" He doesn't immediately tell them what the message is.

92/ Mo Brooks does a wild romp through American history here—an exegesis on American greatness—I won't summarize. Upshot: we are the best ever. But the important point he emphasizes is that American patriots have a history of sacrificing "blood, sweat, and tears" to save America.

93/ He says sometimes government is "our worst enemy" and the Constitution protects us against an "abusive government."

The mob gets it.

"A government powerful enough to give us everything is powerful enough to take everything from us." It's a rant about Communism, effectively.

94/ "YOU get to decide what YOU want to do with your God-given talents." All these sentences could be general principles or apply to a mob currently on a knife's edge about whether to riot based on an hour of preceding Trumpist speakers and their deliberately inciting propaganda.

95/ "We as individuals control how our government works and what our destiny will be."

This is false, of course—*individuals* can't "control" what government does, other than by voting.

Or—and this is far more to Brooks' point—by rioting to block a constitutional joint session.

96/ "Today," Brooks says, "America is at risk unlike it has been in decades, and perhaps centuries."

Seems to suggest dramatic action is required *today*, doesn't it?

He decries Democrats in the Capitol (he points to it) and their "hedonistic prayers." Yes, he really said that.

97/ Now Brooks gives a long rant about "socialist Democrats" I won't summarize. The main thing he says is "we're going to stop 'em!"

"We're not going to let [socialists] continue to corrupt our elections, and steal from us our God-given right to control our nation's destiny!"

98/ Brooks is shouting this whole time. The whole time. And it's not clear, still, what he wants the mob to do to stop the Democrats. The strangest thing he says is this: "The 2020 election is behind us. Today is a time of choosing, and tomorrow is a time for fighting!" Uh, what?

99/ "Today is also a day of revelation and separation!" He says the mob will learn by how Congress votes which Republicans have the courage to "fight for America."

Some of this seems good—saying the election is "behind us." But the "choosing"/"fighting" rhetoric is just bizarre.

100/ Is Congress choosing "today"? Or is the mob "choosing" (as Jr. repeatedly said) how to "fight"? But then Brooks says that "fighting" will happen "tomorrow"? By whom? Congress, or the mob? I imagine this rhetoric confused many members of Brooks' rowdy, rapt Trumpist audience.

101/ "Today, either Republican senators and Congressmen will vote to turn America into a godless, immoral, dictatorial, oppressed, and socialist nation on the decline, or they will join us, and fight against voter fraud and election theft and vote for Keeping America Great!" Wow.

102/ The craziest part of this is that Brooks is turning the certification of Biden's win—a mere formality—into a statement of *values* and *policy*, almost like it's just another floor debate or primetime TV tilt between pundits. There's almost no acknowledgment of legal duties.

103/ What Brooks is doing that does dovetail with other speakers—particularly Trump—is he's trying to convince the mob that election day is January 6. He may have *said* "the election is behind us," but the "choosing" he describes happening at the Capitol sounds like an election.

104/ Remember that Brooks has demanded the mob "Stop at the Capitol today to deliver a message!", so what's at stake in him describing what's happening there as a "fight" between godless socialists and patriotic Americans—not a constitutional event—is whether he's incited a riot.

105/ He puts on a red "FIRE PELOSI" cap and begins talking about the 2022 and 2024 elections, noting that "they're right around the corner" no matter "what happens today." He says Republicans must vote out all the GOP weaklings and cowards.

Now comes his "money" (infamous) line:

106/ {shouting} "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!"

Note a big shift: he previously said "tomorrow" is for "fighting," but *now* he says "today" is for "kicking ass!"

Before, Congress was "choosing." Now, the mob is "taking down names!"

107/ There's no way the mob could think he meant *Congress* would be "taking down names!" or *Congress* would be "kicking ass!" Those are both things only the mob can do.

So put it all together: Brooks wants the mob to "stop at the Capitol!" and "kick ass!"

Which they then do.

108/ He moves quickly to talking about how "our ancestors sacrificed their blood, sweat, and tears"—which now *must* be connected to the sacrifice he is asking of the mob in telling them to go to the Capitol and start kicking ass.

There will—that is—be "blood, sweat, and tears."

109/ "SO I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU! ARE YOU WILLING TO DO THE SAME?"

I put this in all caps because (a) though Brooks is shouting the whole time, this is his most vociferous shouting, and (b) this is 100%—in-context—a criminal act of incitement to riot.

There's no fuzz on this.

110/ "My answer is YES!" he shouts.

So he's asking them to "stop at the Capitol today" to "deliver a message" by "kicking ass" in a way that "saves" America from an imminent threat—the likes of which it hasn't seen in "centuries"—and causes them to "sweat and bleed."

Questions?

111/ "LOUDER! ARE YOU WILLING TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO FIGHT FOR AMERICA?"

{crowd roars YES}

"LOUDER! WILL YOU FIGHT FOR AMERICA?"

{crowd roars YES}

Then he starts talking about the American Revolution, quoting Thomas Paine on making *war* against your government.

Yes, really.

112/ Let's be clear: Mo Brooks committed a crime; then, for good measure, continued committing a crime; then just to be sure he stuck the landing, kept on criming.

This is likely the most deranged, unhinged incitement to riot you'll ever hear or see from an American politician.

113/ "We American patriots are not going to take it anymore!" Brooks says.

I'm not going to type out the Paine quote, as it's famous (and famous for being an exhortation to *bloody revolution* delivered to folks the speaker feels need to be prodded into having their hackles up).

114/ "We, American patriots, are going to come *right at 'em*! We, American patriots, are going to take America back!"

So much incitement.

Look—I hate even typing out Brooks' next words, as I really and truly believe that the man is now subject to federal indictment and arrest.

115/ "What are the simple words we must shout to the heavens—and carry the message to Capitol Hill? What are the words that cause socialists and weak-kneed Republicans on Capitol Hill to shake in their boots and cower in their foxholes? What the words that scare the hell...

116/ "...out of socialists and weak-kneed Republicans alike? Join with me! USA! USA! USA!"

Remember, these words should be in caps because he's screaming them, I just don't want to scare people by doing that. But you know who does want people to be scared? Mo Brooks. He says so.

117/ Brooks demands that the mob go to Capitol Hill and not just "kick ass" but shout in ways that "scare the hell" out of Congress and cause officials to "cower" and "shake in their boots."

And the chant he proposes *becomes* one of the chief chants of the looters as they loot.

118/ "Washington! America! Heed those words, because we're going to carry them RIGHT TO YOU!....THE FIGHT BEGINS TODAY!"

This is incitement to insurrection. I don't know what else to say. He should be indicted, arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated. He has *blood* on his hands.

119/ ERIC TRUMP

Eric—because his father appears not to love or respect him very much, and because he is, most people (including Michael Cohen) confirm, the stupidest Trump—speaks earliest on the program, farthest from his dad. I break down his brief but problematic remarks here.

120/ First, understand that because Eric can't really carry a crowd on his own, he is quickly joined by his wife Lara, who Trump boosters want to see run for the United States Senate in North Carolina (a fact that makes her own problematic comments, which I address, disturbing).

121/ "This is the greatest group of patriots ever put together!"

It's good that Eric Trump here acknowledges—and he has a long history of saying things about the Trumps' activities he shouldn't say—that this group was "put together," because this mob really *was* "constructed."

122/ Eric says Donald Trump and the whole Trump family will never stop "fighting" for you.

The number of times speakers say "fight" during these inciting speeches has to number well over 250. It's perhaps the most repeated word that isn't an article, preposition, or conjunction.

123/ Oh my dear God... I just laughed so hard.

Eric, you have to understand, is *famous* for saying things he shouldn't say. It's almost his biggest character trait.

That's why I couldn't stop laughing when he started talking about how much his dad loves America and then added:

124/ "That's why my father sends out a tweet: PATRIOTS, DESCEND ON DC!"

Remember, the game here—one Trump Sr. plays to perfection later on—is to *explicitly say* the mob has come together *of its own accord*, and that Trump did *not* bring them together for any specific purpose.

125/ But per usual, Eric gives away the scam: he *confesses* that Trump was the instrument of the mob's construction—and that it was his tweet that got the mob to "descend on DC."

And guess what? The first rioter the FBI arrested said it was *that tweet* that brought him to DC.

126/ He rhetorically asks the crowd if anyone in it thinks that Biden won the election—in other words, he asks if anyone thinks Biden is a legitimate president and if there's anyone who doesn't think Trump will be the rightful president on January 21.

You can guess their answer.

127/ Some attacks on Biden and his campaign I won't summarize. Some boring pro-Trump rhetoric.

He accidentally says that Trump's movement "transcends him" and "transcends us," which is something his elder brother later has to clean up ("This is Donald Trump's Republican Party!")

128/ "We will never ever ever stop fighting."

Having made at least three massive blunders, Eric calls his wife Lara up to the stage to get the spotlight off his idiocy. Lara Trump (potential future Senate candidate) proceeds to reassure the mob, "This fight has only just begun!"

129/ She uses the word "fight" a bunch, saying everyone needs to be "very, very clear" that the fight has only just begun. "We are in this fight to the bitter end! We're going to take our country back!" She underscores that the fight wasn't only for four years (through November).

130/ Besides deliberately keeping up the drumbeat of the word "fight"—which is actually a key psychological component of keeping the mob ready to riot for two full hours of inciting speeches—Lara underscores that the November election actually changed *nothing* about "fighting."

131/ But also, her reference to "the bitter end" is creepy. It underlines that she wants to prepare the mob for this "end" (because if they "lose" the electoral vote it's the end) being "bitter"—ugly—but they need to fight through it because patriotism and Donald Trump et cetera.

132/ Eric asks "all the Congressmens" [sic] to have a "backbone" and (can you guess?) "fight." Eric says "Donald Trump has more fight in them" [sic] than all of Congress combined, and they need to "stand up."

But for all his follies, Eric makes one telling mistake—an incitement.

133/ "We're going to march on the Capitol today!"

Catch that? I'm not referring to "we"—which is a lie, as the Trumps knows they *won't* be marching but suggest otherwise to embolden the mob—but to the fact he says "we" will march "on" the Capitol, rather than "to" the Capitol.

134/ Marching "to" the Capitol could be consistent with the protest that the Trumps and their enablers have permits for. Marching "on" the Capitol means marching and *entering* the Capitol, which is a federal crime. In isolation, we'd say "slip of the tongue." At *this* rally—no.

135/ Eric says "stand up!" twice more and Lara says "fight!" once more and an invisible cane mercifully whisks them off-stage.

The March "on" the Capitol they incited begins 90 minutes later.

And it's thus that Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, Rudy, and Mo Brooks incite an insurrection.

END/ I hope you'll RETWEET the first tweet in this thread—my pinned tweet—if you've found this analysis helpful. Tomorrow we're going to get at least one article of impeachment ("Incitement to Insurrection"), the key acts of which occurred at the Save America March detailed here.