The Jan. 6 committee has presented 'excruciatingly detailed' proof that Trump planned a coup: conservative

13 July 2022

During a series of hearings in June and July, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s select committee on the January 6, 2021 insurrection has presented a mountain of damning evidence against former President Donald Trump. MAGA media have responded by either ignoring the hearings or trying to disparage the witnesses, including former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson — who testified that Trump knew some of his supporters were armed that day but wanted to march with them to the U.S. Capitol Building anyway.

But not everyone on the right has been attacking the hearings or jumping through hoops to defend Trump. In articles published by The Bulwark, Never Trump conservatives Amanda Carpenter and Charlie Sykes analyze the testimony — Carpenter on July 12, Sykes on July 13. And both of them argue that the committee has presented concrete proof that Trump, following the 2020 presidential election, tried to pull off a coup d’état. Carpenter focuses primarily on the January 6, 2021 march by Trump supporters to the U.S. Capitol Building, while Sykes offers a more general analysis of Trump’s post-election activities.

“Donald Trump’s defenders can finally drop the idea that he just happened to extemporaneously order the mob that he knew was armed to march to the Capitol in the course of his speech on January 6, 2021,” Carpenter writes. “On Tuesday, (July 12), the House January 6th Committee revealed new evidence that activists coordinating activities for the day were well aware of Trump’s desires in advance.”

Carpenter continues, “And at least one of them knew that the planning was supposed to be kept secret because of all the trouble it would cause…. After speaking with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 2, Trump campaign aide Katrina Pierson e-mailed fellow rally organizers: ‘POTUS expectations are to have something intimate at the ellipse, and call on everyone to march to the capitol’…. Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander texted a conservative journalist on January 5: ‘Tomorrow: Ellipse then US capitol. Trump is supposed to order us to the capitol at the end of his speech but we will see’…. As all of this suggested he would, Trump then called on his supporters to march to the Capitol during the course of his speech. Several times, in fact.”

Carpenter adds that the select committee “provided evidence” that former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon “also appeared to have knowledge of what was going to happen on January 6.”

Sykes, meanwhile, praises the January 6 committee for, on Tuesday, July 12, presenting a detailed “timeline” of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

“On Tuesday, the January 6 Committee connected some dots,” Sykes explains. “And even if you knew the basic outlines of Donald Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election, the committee drew a dramatic timeline of the attempted coup. December 14: Electoral College votes. —> December 18: The most unhinged Oval Office meeting ever. —> Early a.m., December 19: Trump tweets about January 6, ‘Be there, will be wild.’ —> Right-wing media amplifies Trump’s call —> Mobilization of domestic violent extremists (DVE) —> Trump plans march to Capitol —> January 6 insurrection.”

Sykes continues, “The 2020 election ended when the Electoral College voted in mid-December. Trump was told repeatedly by his campaign, his staff, and the DOJ, that it was over. But he was determined to hang onto power, anyway.”

Sykes stresses that the January 6 committee has been incredibly comprehensive.

“The point is, none of this would have happened without Trump,” Sykes writes. “As the committee has shown in excruciating detail, Trump wasn’t passively advised of his ill-considered actions. At every crucial decision point, Trump actively sought out yes-men and women. He relentlessly pursued people who told him what he wanted to hear and would do as he said. How else does someone like Steve freaking Bannon ever serve as an official White House advisor?”

Sykes adds, “Trump was president of the United States. The cast of clowns that stumbled into the Oval Office willing to seize voting machines, cancel votes in states (Joe) Biden won, object to Biden’s certification as president, and engage in dragged out, hours-long screaming matches didn’t stumble into one of the most secure places on the planet by themselves. Trump did it. All of it.”

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