Fears of a #FifthColumn in US law enforcement have apparently not been unfounded.

During a planning meeting, the Defense Department offered the Capitol Police and the city of Washington additional National Guard troops. They were turned down.(1/7)
nbcnews.com/news/crime-cou… More than an hour elapsed from the time rioters approached the Capitol to when they began smashing their way in, but no help materialized. The bulk of deployable agents from DoJ & DoH were not called upon until after the protesters had breached the building.(2/7)

#FifthColumn

On #January6th 2021, Donald #Trump attempted a coup. He failed. But it was absolutely an attempted coup. It followed a familiar pattern: (1/4) Step 1: The defeated president gives a speech to a group of supporters where he tells them he was robbed of the election, denounces his own administration's members and party as traitors and tells his supporters to storm the building where the voting is being held.(2/4)

Time to start a thread ID’ing the leaders of the #WannaBeCoup of #January6th:

1. Donald #Trump.

“You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong … I know everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building. 2. @DonaldJTrumpJr.

“The people who did nothing to stop the steal. This gathering should send a message to them: ....This is Donald Trump’s [party]. If you’re gonna be the zero & not the hero, we’re coming for you & we’re going to have a good time doing it!”

#WannaBeCoup

These dangerous ideas may not be implemented, but simply the fact that they are being discussed marks a new low. Never before in U.S. history has there been a record of a president discussing a military coup to stay in office.(1/4)
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… While Trump is focused like a laser on his election grievances, he has all but checked out of the fight against a pandemic that has already claimed the lives of more than 316,000 Americans and that is projected to kill more than 560,000 by April.(2/4)
motherjones.com/coronavirus-up…

GOP rat-fucking America Again ⤵️

Rosenstein secretly took steps in ‘17 to narrow Mueller’s investigation, which prevented investigators from looking into whether the president’s personal & financial links to Russia posed a national security threat.
nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/… Rosenstein never told the FBI about his decision to narrow the Special Counsel’s mandate, leaving the FBI with the impression that Mueller would take on the investigation into the president as part of his investigation, thereby curtailing the FBI’s counterintelligence probe.

As this administration attempts to create the specter of #Antifa as an extremist threat, we should take a moment to go through some of the actual violence caused by right wing extremist. (1/6) 10.22.18-11.1.18: Cesar Sayoc Jr., a fervent Trump supporter, mailed 16 bombs to people he considered to be Trump’s enemies. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty. (2/6)
nytimes.com/2019/08/05/nyr…

Bannon’s arrest perfectly captures the cynicism and self-dealing among leaders of the American right at this moment. As the president seeks reelection, the moral rot of Trump and his retinue has spread to the core. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… At the NRA, chief exec Wayne LaPierre and other leaders have drained millions of dollars from the organization, the New York attorney general alleged this month, much of it for private jets, security, yachts in the Bahamas and personal payouts.
washingtonpost.com/politics/nra-l…

A free press is an indispensable part of our Constitutional system of checks & balances. It disinfects government by shining a light into the back rooms & dark places where power corrupts. The only thing a free press is enemy to is authoritarianism. “Republics…derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.”

#BenFranklin