Back on November 15th, I wrote a piece saying maybe it’s a good thing Trump is still dragging this out. Premised on the idea that a that point, twelve days after the election, MAGA Nation believed that the Supreme Court would somehow intervene, or the Electoral College slates would be replaced with pro-Trump electors, or the state certifications would be overturned, or some other deus ex machina fantasy would happen that would keep Trump in office another four years, that the violence we’d all expected before the election if Biden had won was being put in forbearance until it the reality of the loss sank in.

January 6th was when it all came due. These fuckers rushed the Capitol in a desperate last ditch bid to overturn Trump’s defeat. Nobody had any real plan, but they were acting out their rage. We knew this was coming, and it was shocking and horrifying to watch nonetheless.

Still though, was it as bad as it could have been? The building’s still standing. It wasn’t blown up or burnt to the ground. No members of Congress were killed. Yes, five people lost their lives, one of whom was a police officer, but we’re not talking dozens or hundreds, which could have easily happened had the mood been a little different. The psychic wounds are deep, the images indelible, but so will be the consequences for the scumbags who did this. We’re talking thousands years in federal prisons, no parole, that will be served collectively, if the ten year minimum that was originally aimed at BLM and Antifa trashing Confederate monuments is to be applied.

So with that all said, did we get off kind of easy, all things considered?