Maybe this is pedantic but I'm not willing to attribute any sort of strategic objective-setting to the coup. It was a raving mob. Trump deserves a lot of blame for actively encouraging them to do something (there's enough plausible deniability to say he didn't call for any specific acts of violence but not enough deniability to say he didn't call for any violence). There were no doubt lots of people who joined the mob with their own individual objectives (e.g., I'm sure the zip tie cosplayer wanted to tie up... someone).
But I haven't seen any evidence of anything coordinated on any noteworthy scale to, e.g., kill Pelosi, kidnap Schumer, hang Pence (???), or other strange claims I've seen floating around the internet in the last four days. If there were coordinated efforts, it's safe to say that law enforcement would have been able to detect and neutralize it given th publicly-planned and not-at-all-discrete nature of the demonstration. That's not to say the coup wasn't dangerous or filled with frothingly-mad people, just that it's unsupported to say there was a coordinated or universal objective.
Just like modern American conservatism is almost singularly defined by fighting over culture war symbology, the primary objective of the riots was a vague and symbolic show of anger, power, force, and resistance. But it's hard to be much more specific than that. The tell here is that of the people entering the capitol, >90% of them wandered aimlessly like dogs who caught the car. Listen to the testimonies of people entering the capitol and most of what they were willing to say to cameras was platitudinous drivel about demonstrating their power. That sense of chaotic and unpredictable energy is still very dangerous, and I think compared to the suite of possible outcomes we ended up with one of the less-violent and destructive ones. But it's different than coordinated effort with a set of well-defined objectives.
The planning for Wednesday’s assault on the U.S. Capitol happened largely in plain view, with chatters in far-right forums explicitly discussing how to storm the building, handcuff lawmakers with zip ties and disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election — in what they portrayed as responding to orders from President Trump.
This went far beyond the widely reported, angry talk about thronging Washington that day. Trump supporters exchanged detailed tactical advice about what to bring and what to do once they assembled at the Capitol to conduct “citizen’s arrests” of members of Congress. One poster said, “[expletive] zip ties. I’m bringing rope!”
I personally don't think the
entire mob was organized to do more than overrun the Capitol after being incited by Donald Trump, Giuliani and Trump Junior. (The existence of the mob
was engineered by Trump and his enablers.) However it looks to me like there are signs that parts of it were more organized and targeted.
Some on-the-ground examples in addition to the above Washington Post reporting:
*to quote
one officer describing the attackers,
They had radios, we found them, they had two-way communicators and earpieces. They had bear spray. They had flash bangs ... They were prepared. They strategically put two IEDs, pipe bombs, in two different locations. These guys were military trained. A lot of them were former military,”
*military and police intruders who
"flashed their badges and I.D. cards" as they entered the building
*
protesters found the unmarked office of Majority Whip Clyburn*
some police standing aside and letting Trump's mob in*
at least two attackers had zip-tie handcuffs*After the violence had started,
Giuliani was on the phone to Trump allies inside the Capitol trying to delay things.
And while I can't find the videos now, I clearly remember watching and noticing coverage of organized Proud Boys in their orange caps, an organized file of fit males deliberately moving through the crowd and into the Capitol, and attackers with what looked like rappelling gear on terraced walls outside the Capitol.
And speaking of the "publicly-planned and not-at-all-discrete nature of the demonstration" ...
Why
so few officers on duty with such comparative light gear?
And then there are the still unclear
delays in response.
Reportedly some police allowed the breach and intrusion before later being called into action,
Eventually, I did see some cops inside. They seemed to be standing by, waiting for orders. I’ve been to plenty of protests in the past year, and let me tell you: They don’t usually wait for orders. I’ve never seen anything like it. There was a guy smoking a cigarette, and a cop actually walked over, gently placed his hand on the guy’s shoulder, and asked him to put it out. And that was it.
Eventually, word must have come down. The cops started to smack through crowds with their batons and push them back. They pepper-sprayed people. Eventually, the officers retook the concourse outside the House side of the Capitol by using percussion grenades and tear gas. They had a fire extinguisher that appeared to be filled with pepper spray that they would explode in people’s faces to keep them outside. By then, rioters were using barricades to try to smash back through the doors. They were trashing the place.
Although there was a mob incited to violent sedition by Donald Trump, that does not appear to be the entirety of the story
