ANALYSIS – Since the day after January 6, 2021, I have been saying that the violent riot at the Capitol, which I observed as a risk consultant, not a participant, was outrageous, ‘ugly' and ‘criminal.'
I denounced the violence in no uncertain terms. However, I also argued it wasn't a coup, or an insurrection.
I have steadfastly stood by my position since and documented FBI findings and many other sources that contradicted the deliberately false and partisan “insurrection” narrative. (RELATED: Comedian Systematically Destroys Liberal Narrative About Rittenhouse Shooting)
And now a Harvard study appears to back me up.
It shows that only a very few of the rioters were motivated by a desire to start a ‘revolution' or civil conflict. (RELATED: First Jan. 6 Rioter Convicted by Jury Receives Lengthy Prison Sentence)
The vast majority believed they were there to defend democracy and Trump's election.
As The Western Journal reports:
According to the study conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, more than 40 percent of rioters were motivated by former President Donald Trump's claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, as well as a desire to see him re-elected.
According to The Harvard Crimson, researchers found that 20.6 percent of rioters were motivated by wanting to support Trump, while another 20.6 percent of rioters cited Trump's election claims as the reason they stormed the U.S. Capitol more than 18 months ago in a bid to thwart certification of now-President Joe Biden's election.
None of these reasons qualifies as wanting to start an insurrection against the government nor have an unlawful coup.
To be precise, the study found that less than 8 percent of those rioters were motivated by a “desire to start a civil war or an armed revolution,” the Crimson reported.
“The documents show that Trump and his allies convinced an unquantifiable number of Americans that representative democracy in the United States was not only in decline but in imminent, existential danger,” the study said.
In other words, most of those who breached the Capitol believed they were there to defend America's democracy — the exact opposite of “insurrection.”
As someone who has seen up close real insurrections, revolution and political violence overseas, this wasn't it.
As TWJ writes: “An insurrection has traditionally been defined as an organized attempt by a group of people to defeat their government and take control of their country, usually by violence.”
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University, wrote in his online column that the study showed the attack, while at times violent, was not a serious, organized attempt to take over the U.S. government.
He says, “It was clear that this was a protest that became a riot.”
Turley added something which I have also been repeating since day one, that most of the tens of thousands of people who showed up in the nation's capital on Jan. 6, 2021, only wanted to peacefully protest.
And only a very small number came prepared for violence.
Turley wrote:
There is no question that there were people who came prepared for such a riot, including some who are extremists, who likely would have welcomed a civil war. Yet, the vast majority of people on that day were clearly present to protest the certification and wanted Republicans to join those planning to challenge the election.
This all simply backs the FBI findings I wrote about in August 2021, based on reporting by Reuters.
That reporting a full year ago noted that:
The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.
“Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases,” said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. “Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages.”
Stone, a veteran Republican operative and self-described “dirty trickster”, and Jones, founder of a conspiracy-driven radio show and webcast, are both allies of Trump and had been involved in pro-Trump events in Washington on Jan. 5, the day before the riot.
FBI investigators did find that cells of protesters, including followers of the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys groups, had aimed to break into the Capitol. But they found no evidence that the groups had serious plans about what to do if they made it inside, the sources said.
This also shows that the partisan Jan. 6 Committee is far off the mark in trying to make former President Trump somehow criminally liable for inciting an insurrection. (RELATED: Jan. 6 Committee Says It Has Enough Evidence to Indict Trump)
While his actions, and inaction, on that day can be strongly criticized, he wasn't trying to overthrow the government.
And neither, it is now clear, were the vast majority of his supporters who rioted at the Capitol. ALD
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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ANother idiot trying to create something from nothing! This gathering of persons at the capital was mixed. There were genuine Trump supporters, and the dumbest acts performed by this group was to carry Trump Flags and wear Red MAGA hats. Their conducts were not as this writer egergiously mistates: “Violent, crimina and ugly.” Harvard is ugly. And has been due its deluded and moronic leftist pro-socialist stance since a long way back. There is very little stemming from Harvard of today that can be trusted as honest, true, real and factual even when this author is attemptiing to call this gathering what it is – “”a peaceful right to assemble.”” I do not think this person uses these terms but to deny American people the right to assemble but simulataneously cover up a heineous murder of a peaceful participant Aimie Babbitt equals in my view complicity in this Pelosi Election Fraud sham!! If there was an insurrection that effort would have faced equal or greater opposing forces. That didnt happen and so in August 2022, one and one half years after a small legal protest – Leftist loser cowards continue to gaslight with nefarious stories as this fooling no one but themselves into beliveing that this murderous mess will not fly back into their faces. We the People are not going to stand for Election stealing, mail in ballots nor leftist communist politicians who have co opted their useless souls to foreign concerns and Soros style money, to currupt our form of governance so that they might appease these UnAmerican and vile elements for greater enrichment. Even though this poor soul from Harvard tries to call things as they were – I cannot support him or his story because facts are that this “insurrection” was designed by FBI and the mediocre and ignorant persons siting in Congress. Were this truly an insurrection by January 7th 2021 we would all have known for certain and in detail. TO perpetuate a lie and fraud is typical of the Left and its loser style. RED WAVE 2022 Get all these charlatans OUT of DC State adn local politics.
Democracy is a threat to our Liberty.
duh.
If Jan 6 wasn’t an insurrection, then why is the Government still holding dozens of people without bail or formal charges? Why are there still troops stationed in the DC area? Why is the Jan 6 Committee still making false claims that it was an insurrection and no official media or mainstream academia are raising objections?
Because the media is nothing but a left wing bunch that are an extension of the DNC, and that’s how they want the j6 kangaroo court to keep lying to the American people.
Yes, Gus Richards. The media has been as you describe for many years. Anyone, try proving Gus wrong.
Because the deep state is running the show and fear mongering. troops are there because the perps like Pelousy, Schumer, et al who created the mess are in fear for themselves…..nothing more.
DON’T MESS WITH THE USA’S HIGH PLACE!
Washington D.C.’s Capitol is the biblically egregious Constitutional Republic’s High Place (and her Congressmen and women her high priests and priestesses) that must not be defiled!
The uproar from her priests and priestesses is essentially no different than the uproar from the idolaters in Acts 19 enraged at the Apostle Paul and his companions for defiling the Temple of Diana, who, in turn, cried out for two solid hours “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
Americans, ironically led by alleged Christians, have been crying out for over 230 YEARS :”Great is Constitution of the Americans!”
That’s right, we’re talking about idolatry!
Idolatry is not so much about statues as it is statutes, such as what one considers the supreme law of the land. There can only be on supreme law: 1) The Constitution, per Article 6, or 2) Yahweh’s moral law, per the Bible.
To attempt to futilely meld the two is to be as double-minded as were the Israelites on Mt. Carmel with Elijah: Why halt ye between two opinions? If We the People (a contemporary form of Baal) be God, serve them. If Yahweh be God, serve Him!
For more, see Chapter 3 “The Preamble: We the People vs. Yahweh” of free online book “Bible Law vs, the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective” at Bible versus Constitution dot org. Click on the top entry on our Online Book page and scroll down to Chapter 3.
Then Chapter 9 “Article 6: The Supreme Law of the Land.”
Find out how much you really know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the sidebar and receive a free copy of the 85-page “Primer” of “BL vs. USC.”
See also blog article “Could You Be a Disciple of Baal and Not Know It?” Search title on our Blog.
Excellent summation Ted…It’s hard for people to believe that our country is one set up in idolatry….the result of that blunder we are where we are now in America…
Shut down J6 Comm , Your Invalid
AND LET THE PRISONERS GO!
Trump did nothing wrong. He asks for help from the Guard, and you denied it and said the capital police could handed and they didn’t handle anything. So quit blaming Trump for everything that happens in this world. He did more for our country than any other President. Also, he didn’t call people to come protest.
While the author, rioters (and other commenters) may think they were not trying to overthrow the US government, by storming the capitol and trying to prevent the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes and install the person that lost the 2020 as president, they were supporting insurrection.
They may think of themselves as patriots but their actions are against the constitution of the United States. Trump lost the election, lost in courts had been advised that there was no fraud on the scale that could overturn the election yet he persisted in telling his supporters he was cheated.
In your own words, you say the rioters were “supporting insurrection”. So, who exactly was conducting the so called insurrection? A real insurrection would have evidence of an organized plot. You have no evidence. No text messages, emails, voice messages – nothing. This was a protest that got out of hand.
First there was an FBI investigation. Then there’s the January 6th committee investigation. Now there’s the Merrick Garland DOJ investigation. Yet nobody should believe Donald Trump is being hunted down like a dog to keep him from ever being able to run for president. It’s all about democracy.
Nothing would be better than watching Trump take the oath of office in front of the entire world AGAIN!
AMEN BROTHER!! THE REAL ENEMY HAS BLINDED THE EYE’S OF SO MANY PEOPLE THEY CAN’T SEE “THE FOREST THROUGH THE TREES” BUT TAKE HEED, WHEN OIR REAL COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF RETURNS EVERYKNEE SHALL BOW AND EVERY TOUNG CONFESS, “JESUS IS LORD”
President Trump accomplished his — ONE of his — aims: to alert the population of the quiet takeover by DAVOS, using socialist violence, MSM and relentless pressure from the “anointed” in D.C. We KNEW the election was rigged. He warned us because he had all the evidence (does anyone think he was blind?). JoBama was installed by the worldwide globalist money and power handlers. The U.S. population is the BIG TUNA that every DAVOS participant wants to capture. ALL the people leading the PEACEFULLY assembled citizens into the Capitol were plants. Bought and paid for by OUR taxes. FBI. Antifa. Blackrock. The commissions and debates will go on forever, and will conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald was really the lone shooter. Ruby Ridge didn’t really happen, and David Koresh didn’t really exist. It’s all planned. Only YOU and I stand in the way of despotic slavery to evil. Evil that has been bought and is controlled by Davos. Yet, there are still those out there who will complain, “Well, I just couldn’t stand the way he TWEETED!” They don’t know what to DO with real freedom, the gift given to us by men who bled and women who mourned in the fight to establish this nation 250 years ago. And now, they will be swooning that “gas prices are DOWN to $3.50/gallon”! I PRAY that people will NOT get the “Jab.” And no “boosters” for those who already have. Pray. Talk. Vote. Ask for God’s WILL to favor our nation. Can there be any clearer sign that evil is intrenched here than the murder of unwanted, pre-born babies? Only God will have the answer.
How about a link to the study referred to? Can’t find it anywhere !!