Just watched NYT video on Capitol riot--twice, once without sound, once with. Prefer without narration. In any event, a valuable compilation and timeline. A few thoughts: nytimes.com/video/us/polit…
1) Proud Boys did incite in a couple of places, notably Pezzola's initial breach, but overall there has been too much emphasis on them and Oath Keepers. The crowd that surged toward the Capitol was large, amorphous, and mostly un-led.
2) On the minority of Trump rally-goers who ended up inside the Capitol: Whenever they got where they were going, they didn't appear to know what to do then. Mostly milled around, took selfies, and yelled about being inside the Capitol. Then left.
3) The lack of preparation by Capitol Police was even worse then you think. Grossly irresponsible on part of leadership. Also puts killing of Ashli Babbitt in better context.
4) Babbitt aside, police showed incredible restraint in not using firearms against the most aggressive elements of the crowd. Undoubtedly kept situation from becoming much, much worse.
5) On other hand, the riot was dispersed after arrival of more heavily armed, better armored law enforcement. The way to end it was to show force. End. nytimes.com/video/us/polit…
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