“Shocked but not surprised” is an overused turn of phrase, especially with regard to the absurdities of American politics in the last six years. But it’s also kind of empty nonsense meant to register a sense of something closer to like “well of fucking course that would happen” or “I told you guys to expect the unexpected! See how smart I was? I expected something like this would happen even though I did not see it coming specifically!” like a smug asshole does.
That’s probably the best way to describe the Capitol riot on January 6th, 2021. It’s exists in a superposition of being shocking but not surprising and also not shocking but surprising.
Look at these:
gene4791 • 3 years ago
️The strength of rural America. WAY out in the country? Ever see a “No Shooting Sign” that did not have about a 100 bullet holes in it?Civil War Part II. Many are ready. Bring it on!
Sun, 4/21/2019 2:28 PM on ‘Rural America’s future isn’t written’
Jwe • 3 years ago
️You’d think the left wouldn’t be so desperate so as to foment civil war.
Wed, 3/20/2019 9:26 AM on ‘Trump dismisses court packing: ‘It will never happen”
Karma • 2 years ago
️Trying to overthrow a elected president is a pathetic low life worm move.
You tools are going to start a civil war.
Tue, 9/24/2019 10:48 PM on ‘Pelosi backs impeachment’
RA • a year ago
️You’ll know when the lead starts flying I guess. Fraud is not victory and you will learn this. Your dead voters and fraudulent ballots won’t help you in the coming fight that you invited.
Fri, 11/6/2020 1:09 PM on ‘Has Congress captured Russia policy?’
One4Life • a year ago
️So it’s war
Fri, 12/11/2020 6:43 PM on ‘BREAKING: US Supreme Court Throws Out Texas Lawsuit Against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin’
TNcowboy • a year ago
️If it’s war they want so be it
They’ll soon and too late regret their choice
Tue, 12/22/2020 7:13 PM on ‘UPDATE: The Friday Night Oval Office Meeting Was EVEN MORE EXPLOSIVE Than We Thought – GENERAL FLYNN Saved the Day!’
The fanboys talked shit like this for years. And it wasn’t just the clowns on The Hill and the Gateway Pundit. It was real members of the Republican party, like the Mississippi State Senator who wanted to “succeed” from the United States, and the Texas GOP Chairman who spelled it correctly and we doubt they meant it peacefully. Then there was Louie Gohmert five days before the riot:
All of the warning signs were there in the lead up. And we didn’t take them so seriously, half because of the inevitability, half because the MAGA trolls always talked a lot of shit, long before the 2020 election. The authorities in DC, the Capitol, and the Pentagon let their guard down – possibly on purpose for a very complex but important reason – but also because there was no plans for Antifa to show up. There were at least three major post-election MAGA protests in DC between election day and the sixth, none of which saw any significant unrest directed government buildings.
This was on December 12th, 2020:
There was violence between MAGA goons and counterprotestors that night, and again on a larger scale the night of January 5th, 2021, and while the Trump fans did clash with cops, it was because the police got in between them and Antifa, not in between them and a second Trump term.
Yet it was clear as day that morning:
My first dispatch from today’s Trump protests is live. So far, every protester I’ve talked to has raised the prospect of violence / another civil war if Trump doesn’t win today. https://t.co/HVY2NhEZuh
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) January 6, 2021
This does not in any way excuse the inaction. But even then, from our perspective and probably the Capitol police’s, it just seemed like shit talk. A year earlier Trump’s first impeachment came and went without his fans storming Capitol Hill. Two years earlier was the government shutdown over Trump’s wall tantrum and the Kavanaugh confirmation. How many threat assessment memos did they get before those? All the warning signs were there – just as they probably also were for the previous threats that didn’t end up materializing. They weren’t the only ones caught off guard:
There are so many angles this retrospective could have taken. We could have gone step by step through our coverage that day, tossed in a bunch of tweets and links and Disqus comments from The Hill as it happened – and add in all of the items that got reported filling in the blanks of the aftermath. That would have been the happiest medium of them all. We already did the excuses and cover up attempts by Republicans in the aftermath, how they’ve evolved into a massive self-contradictory morass of bullshit. The impressive work of the House January 6th Select Committee – and it is impressive, don’t kid yourselves libs – has been well covered here and its too long of a list to put into one neat summary anyway – at least at this point. The whole grand analysis, big picture, “this is a Battle for the Soul of the Nation”, “every day is January 6th now” so on and so forth kind of piece is something you can find written on every site on the internet tonight.
You can also find a summation of Trump’s guilt, his inaction, how it was part of some plan but spun out of control and yeah he’s fucking criminally liable too, et cetera. Go read those after this.
But first, remember how you felt when you watched this clip, published on National Zero at 10:34 AM EST on January 6th under the headline Don Jr warns Republicans he’s coming for them if they don’t fight and holy shit this is freaking pathetic if you really think about it.
The one immediately before it at 10:16 AM (sourcing Will Sommer of the Daily Beast’s report, same as the tweet above) had the headline “Violent Caucasians descend on nation’s capital to scream at sky“. Was that overly glib and hubristic of us to write? Did you not feel the same, that these clowns would just blow their shofars and bob their heads awkwardly to a bizarre MAGA rap concert? If you were tuned in at that point did you think the certification would take 18 hours because of the objections and end without incident? (Yeah, it still took 18 hours, with incident).
January 6th, 2021 was the final act of the most consequential period in American politics since the September 11th attacks in 2001. Unlike 9/11 however all the warning signs were very much in public. It’s like as if every American who was paying attention knew exactly what tickets the hijackers bought, even what seats they were sitting in, on exactly what day they would try it. We watched in disgust as the Saracens rampaged into the castle, shocked but not surprised, surprised but not shocked all the same. The Capitol riot itself was an incompetent shitshow, a desperate plan by a desperate loser and his desperate fans that failed in its objective of blocking the certification of the 2020 election. It was a disgraceful black eye on democracy, but not a bullet to the head. Now we’re taking these scumbags seriously, no shocks or surprises, God willing.
77Corvette • 3 years ago
️Nancy, you will start a civil war if you win.
Tue, 10/16/2018 8:43 AM on ‘Pelosi: Dems would start with campaign finance reform if they take House’