Operation Chaos: The Trump Coup Attempt and the Campaign to Erode Democracy

By Kevin James Shay

January 6, 2021, will live in infamy in American history, along with December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, among other dates. For the first time in the country's history, a sitting president organized a violent mob to try to overturn a legitimate election.

Veteran journalist Kevin James Shay, who has worked in Washington, D.C., for almost two decades, poured over public documents from the FBI, police departments, federal, state, and local governments, and other government agencies. He reviewed hundreds of news articles, videos, broadcasts, studies, and reports, and interviewed sources himself. He analyzed posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media feeds. Approaching this story as a true crime tale involving chaotic deceit and deception that have been ongoing for years, he pieces together the underlying story that helps readers better understand how and why the tragedy occurred, uncovering fresh details and writing the story in a moving narrative that gives a big-picture, behind-the-scenes perspective.

His conclusion: Though Donald Trump and his insatiable urge to hold onto power were largely to blame for the Capitol attack, a variety of factors coalesced that day leading to an all-too predictable result. But he tries to go beyond engaging in a blame game to help figure out a path forward in hopes that something like this doesn't happen again.

Details of the circumstances related to the January 6 attack that many miss include there being eight associated deaths, not five; some Congress members like Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona did more to incite the violence than many thought, while others like Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri didn’t do as much as generally thought; the Operation Chaos ploy that Trump resurrected from a 2008 political dirty trick by the late Rush Limbaugh to attempt to subvert the Democratic Party's primaries; the increasingly bold plans for chaos that culminated with Operation Occupy the Capitol, which was a real campaign employed by grassroots GOP operatives at the general incitement of party leaders; the role of Black Lives Matter protests that were used by both Republicans and Democrats to score political points, as well as by infiltrators to further societal chaos; the behind-the-scenes ties between key Trump aides and violent, far-right groups; the leaderless tactics utilized to ensure that top party leaders will not face prosecution, causing mostly volunteer foot-soldier scapegoats to accept the legal risks.

One theme that emerges is it's clear that January 6 could have been so much worse. And chaos was the means to a political power play that involved subterfuge, approaching the level of the CIA’s Operation CHAOS against antiwar activists and Black Panthers in the 1960s and 1970s.

NOTE: This book contains profanity that is not bleeped out to maintain the subject matter's realism. It may not be suitable for those under 18.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin James Shay
• Release date: Mar 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781881365570

Kevin James Shay

Kevin James Shay remains one of the few in his generation to actually use his journalism degree - earned from the University of North Texas in 1981 - for almost four decades. He has worked or written for more than 40 newspapers, blogs, and magazines, including The Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post's Gazette, AOL, One World News Service, Minority Business News USA, Texas Catholic, Dallas Times Herald, Medium, and Alternet.His books include Operation Chaos: The Trump Coup and the Campaign to Erode Democracy [2021], Death of the Rising Sun: A Search for Truth in the JFK Assassination [2017], It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Trip: On the Road of the Longest Two-Week Family Road Trip in History [2014], Walking through the Wall [2012], A Parent's Guide to Dallas/Fort Worth [2003], and And Justice For All: The Untold History of Dallas [2000].Shay has met and interviewed Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Robert Redford, Al Gore, Colin Powell, Oprah Winfrey, Jesse Jackson, Magic Johnson, and Tiger Woods, among others. He has exposed systemic racism in politics, government waste, psychiatric facility abuse, contracting inequities, and other societal ills. He was kicked out of the former East Germany several times, detained by authorities in the former Yugoslavia, and strip searched by guards at Los Angeles International Airport.Shay has received awards from numerous professional and community organizations, including Lincoln University's Unity Awards in Media, Maryland-Delaware-Washington, D.C. Press Association, Dallas Press Club, Bethesda Literary Festival, Texas Press Association, American Cancer Society, Local Media Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and Mental Health Association.An avid traveler, he drove his kids through 22 states and 6,950 miles across the United States and back in 17 days. That trip was certified as the most miles driven by one driver on a family road trip in roughly two weeks by a world record organization. He also walked some 5,000 miles across the United States and Europe as part of a group that set a record for the longest group walk for a cause in 1984 and 1985.Shay also does some photography and collects art, rare books, autographs, and other memorabilia. One of his landscape works placed fourth in its division in the Texas State Fair and was exhibited there. An Eagle Scout, he has been active in community organizations, including as a board member of the ACLU and Rainbow Bridge, Scouting adult leader, and youth sports coach.After his father passed away in 2008, Shay started using his middle name, James, which was his dad's name. Some of his work is under "Kevin James Shay" and some under "Kevin J. Shay." Some could also be under "Kevin Shay," as well as under "Anonymous" and other pseudonyms.

Book preview

Operation

Chaos

The Trump Coup Attempt and

the Campaign to Erode Democracy

Kevin James Shay

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin James Shay

All rights reserved. Random Publishers * Washington, D.C.

Distributed by Smashwords * Los Gatos, Calif.

ISBN 978-1-881365-57-0

This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people unless there is an agreement with the retailer. Parts of this book may be quoted in reviews and articles, and cited in academic works.

Also by Kevin James Shay:

Walking through the Wall [2020]

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Trip: On the Road of the Longest Two-Week Family Road Trip in History [2018]

Death of the Rising Sun: A Search for Truth in the JFK Assassination [2017]

And Justice for All: The Untold History of Dallas, with Roy H. Williams [2017]

Not Your Enemy: The Role of Today’s Media and How to Work with Them [2017]

A Parent’s Guide to Dallas/Fort Worth [2003]

Sex, Lies & Newsprint: Tales from a North Dallas Police Blotter [1991]

More information on books: www.angelfire.com/biz/shaybiz/catalog.html

Front cover photo of dark clouds over Washington, D.C., by Kevin Shay

Front cover photo of Trump supporters breaking a window at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, FBI file photo, U.S. Department of Justice

Most inside photos FBI file photos

Some from Baltimore photographer Tyler Merbler

More information on his work: www.flickr.com/photos/37527185@N05

Contents

Introduction

Level One: Operation Family Jewels

Level Two: Operation Chaos

Level Three: Operation Gideon

Level Four: Operation Mongoose

Level Infinity: Operation Occupy the Capitol

Aftermath

What now?

Acknowledgments

Notes

Resources

To my kids,

Preston and McKenna,

and to their generation.

Remember that truth

is always worth pursuing,

and democracy

is always worth protecting.

In all chaos there is a cosmos,

in all disorder a secret order.

− Carl Jung [1875-1961]

Introduction

After Donald Trump urged thousands of his cult to march to the U.S. Capitol and fight harder for him on January 6, 2021, after his supporters fought police and injured about 140 officers, after they destroyed windows and doors to bust into the Capitol and filmed themselves doing so, after they caused lawmakers to flee to safer rooms and violently halted the constitutional process of ratifying the 2020 presidential election, after some intruders urged police to arrest Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while others paraded through the hallways in search of Congress members with one waving a Confederate flag, after the mob built a makeshift gallows outside the building and chanted, Hang Mike Pence, after some invaders entered the U.S. Senate chamber and sat in Pence’s leather chair, after they rifled through and stole documents and one said Texas Senator Ted Cruz would want us to do this, so we’re good, a curious, shirtless figure covered with Norse mythology tattoos and patriotic face paint, wearing a furry, horned hat and holding an American flag with a decorative speared tip, burst onto the floor.

"Fucking A, man, he exclaimed, according to a video by New Yorker reporter Luke Mogelson. He surveyed the scene as he ambled to the raised platform at the head of the chamber where Pence had stood a few minutes before. You guys are fucking patriots." ¹

Then, things got weird.

Joshua Black, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, camouflage jacket and pants, boots, and vest, sat on the floor, his back against the marble-lined, ornate desk where the parliamentarian and clerks monitored official proceedings. Dried blood from a cheek wound blended in with his reddish beard. The Leeds, Ala., man later told FBI investigators he broke into the Capitol to praise the name of Jesus on the Senate floor, that he felt like the spirit of God wanted me to go in the Senate room. ²

Do you need medical attention? Capitol Police Officer Keith Robishaw asked, his empathetic tone contrasting to the chaotic scene outside that room, where senators and representatives and their staffs and families literally were running for their lives.

I’m good, thank you, Black responded. I got shot in the face with some kind of plastic bullet.

Any chance I could get you guys to leave the Senate wing? Officer Robishaw pleaded in a too-polite voice. Just want to let you guys know this is, like, the sacredest place.

By then, the man some called the QAnon Shaman, the spiritual leader of this unlikely, unorganized band of revolutionary wannabes, reached Pence’s desk and stood facing his audience. Like most of the others, he ignored the officer. A few minutes earlier, he had shouted through his bullhorn to his rowdy cohorts in the hallways that they were there to take out members of Congress. He had shouted in Robishaw’s face that this was their house, that this was his bullhorn, and, no, the officer could not use it to tell his gang to leave. I’m gonna take a seat in this chair, ‘cause Mike Pence is a fucking traitor, he proclaimed.

You should be stopping us, another intruder told Officer Robishaw.

No, he’s doing − he’s doing the right thing, the shaman said, as he flexed his bare biceps for a photo another took, his loose-fitting tan pants looking like they were about to slip off. He’s obeying his oath.

Robishaw didn’t see it that way. I’m making sure you guys don’t do anything else, he tried. Now that you’ve done that, can I get you guys to walk out of this room, please?

Yes, sir, the horned man said. But then he found a pen and wrote something on a sheet of the Senate roll call that Pence used earlier that day. IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME JUSTICE IS COMING! proclaimed the shaman’s all-cap message, which took up almost the full page on a list of senators that included Josh Hawley of Missouri, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

Federal authorities would term the shaman unstable and the most prominent symbol of a violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States government. If he was the outward symbol, he wasn’t really a leader. He didn’t plan this insurrection. He hadn’t even talked to Trump. He was more like a high school cheerleader or mascot. He was one of thousands of far-right activist types who went along for the ride and tried to figure out what to do in the heat of the battles’ moments. Some deciphered clues through Trump’s social media messages. Some prayed and meditated and even heard voices commanding their moves. Many discussed what to do on social media. That was the way it had to be. Nothing could be pinned back to the ringleaders. ³

A graduate of Moon Valley High School in the northern section of Phoenix, the shaman was born Jacob Chansley. He had attempted studies at nearby Glendale Community College, taking courses such as psychology, religion, and philosophy. College wasn’t really for him, so he had enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2005, training as a supply clerk and working at one time on the USS Kitty Hawk, a warship named after the site of the Wright brothers’ flight that would be decommissioned in 2009. After refusing to take an anthrax vaccine, the Navy dismissed Chansley in 2007. Military service wasn’t really for him, either.

So he tried his hand at acting and voice-over recordings. That might have been something he could pursue if there had been enough work. His role as the QAnon Shaman became Chansley’s most known. He embraced mysticism, meditation, and far-right conspiracy theories, believing that televisions and radios emitted dangerous frequencies and that Freemasons designed Washington, D.C., to capitalize on ley lines that amplify the planet’s magnetic field. Arizona, with its wide-open skies, spectacular canyon-filled landscapes, and Native American influence, attracted more than its share of such adherents. Chansley found many like-minded souls in pursuit of the Truth, whatever the hell that turned out to be.

QAnon suspiciously began a few months after Trump took over the White House in 2017. Behind-the-scenes messengers, who some experts said included disgruntled military and intelligence officers, possibly even retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who Barack Obama fired and Trump made national security advisor until he was forced to leave in disgrace, sent out missives about supposed Deep-State operations. They claimed Democrats like Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton were part of an international child sex-trafficking ring that also implemented a global economy and political system while preserving the Deep State, which seemed to include any government official who did something Trump didn’t like. Trump was battling this cabal, according to the sometimes cryptic messages that were spread to millions of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites. Business titans and Democratic donors Bill Gates and George Soros, Hollywood celebrities, and popular media personalities were among other targets who were smeared.

Chansley and other adherents often tagged their posts with #WWG1WGA, signifying the QAnon motto, Where We Go One, We Go All. Taken from the Three Musketeers motto − One for all, and all for one – the message signaled a shared bond, that cult leaders really cared about their followers. The messengers rarely saw their predictions materialize. Clinton had not been arrested. Mark Zuckerberg had not left Facebook and the country. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had not resigned. Firing squads for Trump’s political opponents had not been set up. The Robert Mueller investigation was not a counter-coup led by Trump. Still, believers kept believing. Trust the plan, Chansley often repeated.

The movement was basically a psyop, a psychological warfare operation, Steven Hassan, a mental health professional and author of The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control, explained on a radio program. It is not just the theory, but there are very powerful people and forces behind it, including Russia, including Mike Flynn and others. Others compared the next-level Black Ops-type campaign to the Operation CHAOS program the CIA employed to intimidate, discredit, and some say even kill anti-war activists, counter-culture musicians, and Black Panthers between 1967 and 1974. But one key difference was that current CIA and intelligence officials were likely not involved in QAnon; it was more former disaffected ones who received years of taxpayers-supported training in the black disinformation arts. ⁴

Some followers had been arrested, including Matthew Phillip Wright of Nevada who in 2018 blocked traffic on a bridge near the Hoover Dam with an armored truck containing weapons. Wright claimed he was on a QAnon-related mission to demand that the U.S. Justice Department release a report on Clinton’s use of a private email server. Followers with their Q shirts and other garb became welcome at Trump’s pep rallies. As Facebook and Twitter cracked down on the crackpot theories, adherents moved to other message boards and Parler. Eventually, the Q authors started to write in code, and believers came up with their own interpretations. Some followers who posted the messages to YouTube and other sites set up profitable enterprises based on video views and clicks, complete with requests for donations to Patreon and PayPal accounts.

Far-right lawyers Sidney Powell, who filed failed voter fraud cases even after she was dumped from Trump’s legal team in November 2020, and Lin Wood, who never officially was on it, likely did more than anyone to spread the lies. They seemed to compete to see who made the Cult45 believe the most outlandish garbage, who could rile them up the most to violent action. Wood, a Georgia personal injury lawyer who successfully defended falsely accused security guard Richard Jewell, called for the arrests of Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and Chief Justice John Roberts based on outlandish accusations. North Carolina-born Powell, who prosecuted drug trafficker Jimmy Chagra in Texas and defended Enron executives, claimed former Venezuela strongman Hugo Chavez − who died in 2013 − helped throw the 2020 election to Biden in an elaborate plot that also involved China, Russia, Iran, Soros, and Kemp. Like Trump, she apparently believed if you’re going to lie, tell whoppers.

Main Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was once revered as America’s mayor, completely destroyed what was left of his legacy by doubling down on the wild stories. Along with Flynn, they advocated for martial law and an election do-over run by the military. When publicly asked about QAnon in August and October, Trump denied knowing much about the movement that the FBI had labeled a domestic terrorist threat, while also refusing to denounce it. But in a private meeting with some Congress members in July, Trump knew so much about QAnon that he brought up Q himself, asking Congress reps what they thought about it, according to an Axios report. ⁵

Chansley became one of Q’s most fervent prophets, attending pro-Trump demonstrations in the Phoenix area wearing his horns, often holding a sign reading, Q Sent Me! He preached the gospel of Q, how The Storm was coming in which Trump would wrestle away supreme control of the U.S. government and imprison, even execute, numerous Democratic leaders and financiers. The Great Awakening was going to usher in a reverse rapture that would revamp the world as a Utopian paradise for survivors, he evangelized.

In mid-2020, Chansley self-published a book, One Mind At A Time: A Deep State of Illusion, under the pen name, Jacob Angeli, detailing views on the Deep State, metaphysics, and related topics. He professed admiration for John F. Kennedy, writing that the slain president tried to warn the American people of the deep state’s existence and was killed for doing so. The general public has become socially engineered by the deep state, he wrote. It was discovered early on by our government that the easiest way to control the public’s group mind is through fear and confusion.

Chansley took to YouTube to spread his message. He protested COVID-19 lockdowns with other far-right activists and even attended a Black Lives Matter rally to spread the Q philosophy. As Arizona election workers frantically counted votes in the razor-close presidential race in that state, Chansley was among the boisterous crowd camped outside the Maricopa County Courthouse. He spoke at a rally on November 7, the day major networks called the election for Biden. Don’t believe that lie! Chansley yelled at the crowd. They got their hands caught in the cookie jar, and we’re going to the Supreme Court!

He was among those to journey across the country for Trump’s January 6 rally, answering his leader’s call to action on Twitter. As Trump spoke about unproven voter fraud claims and incited the crowd into a violent lather, Chansley did his part. At the base of the Washington Monument, Mogelson observed him rally the troops like a modern-day Samuel Adams who wore horns and sported tattoos and forgot his shirt and almost his pants. We got ‘em right where we want ‘em! yelled the shaman. We got ‘em by the balls, baby, and we’re not lettin’ go! ⁶

A little more than an hour later, the 33-year-old man who still lived with his mom found himself presiding at the rostrum of one of the most powerful politicians in the world’s most powerful country. How did he get there? He later told an NBC reporter, I walked through an open door, dude. He was living the American Dream. ⁷

After writing his message to Pence, Chansley left the dais momentarily at the urging of the polite officer, only to return with several others there to lead a prayer. He took off his furry horns, displaying a bald dome and earrings, praying through the bullhorn from behind the vice president’s desk, as others stood and joined him, at least one raising his right arm in an evangelical gesture. Or maybe it was a Nazi-like salute, the kind Trump had rally attendees do until some questioned the practice.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for gracing us with this opportunity to stand up for our God-given rights. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for being the inspiration needed to these police officers to allow us into the building, to allow us to exercise our rights, to allow us to send a message to all the tyrants, the communists, and the globalists that this is our nation, not theirs. Outside, police officers were in various stages of distress, some still battling the mob that attacked them with metal pipes, baseball bats, clubs, bear mace, even a fire extinguisher and an American flagpole. One officer would die the following day. Two others would commit suicide a couple days later. Others would suffer severe brain injuries. One would lose an eye. Another some fingers. Others cracked ribs. But to the QAnon Shaman, the police had allowed them special access into one of the most visible landmarks of the federal government on one of its most important days.

Chansley continued his invocation, talking about filling the Senate chamber with the white light of harmony as fights raged in the hallways. At one point, Trump supporters violently threw a New York Times female reporter to the floor, terrorizing her and breaking a camera. Finally, Chansley ended his prayer, Thank you for allowing us to get rid of the communists, the globalists, and the traitors within our government…. In Christ’s holy name, we pray!

Amen! yelled those left in the chamber, where a few minutes before, senators debated whether to toss out millions of fellow Americans’ votes like they were trash. Then, the Shaman, sensing he had done all he could here, left the room. Others followed. His lawyer would blame Trump for his client’s erratic behavior that day, comparing the president to cult leader Jim Jones, who in 1978 convinced more than 900 followers to commit suicide by drinking cyanide-poisoned Flavor Aid. The only thing missing on January 6 was a big cooler filled with Kool Aid, attorney Albert S. Watkins said. ⁸

The day was unlike any in American history, a day more suitable for stereotypical Hollywood ruthless-but-largely-incompetent dictators. Some called the storming of the U.S. Capitol by thousands of Trump supporters a riot. Some called it an insurrection. Some called it an attempted coup. Some called it the worst violent breach of the building since the British burned the structure in 1814. Some just called it crazy, an insane scheme hatched by lunatics during their craziest of Cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs moments.

In truth, it was all that and more. It was the culmination of years of not really planning, but scheming without much of a clue, by Trump who only knew he wanted power, to be respected, feared. Chaos was the means; in fact, Trump resurrected a devious ploy called Operation Chaos, which was unrelated to the similarly-named 1960s domestic spying and intimidation CIA program, except in duplicity. Hatched by the late conservative radio ally Rush Limbaugh in 2008, the campaign solicited Republicans to cross over in the 2020 primaries and vote for the weakest Democratic candidate to subvert the process. When that didn’t ruin Biden’s bid, Trump ratcheted up the plans for chaos, eventually leading to Operation Occupy the Capitol.

Authoritarianism seemed like the ultimate goal, though if Trump could accomplish his loose-knit plan without hurting too many, all the better. He wasn’t smart by academic standards, but he had a certain sixth sense for the Black Ops of campaigns, the dirty tricks, the diversion tactics that made rivals focus too long on the wrong areas until it was too late to counter the more serious and damaging parts of his agenda. And he had an incredibly high energy level, especially for an overweight fast-food addict in his 70s. One of the biggest mistakes of Trump’s opponents had been to underestimate him.

Other coup attempts

U.S. history was full of instances of not holding white leaders accountable for bloody coup attempts and other crimes. The secession of Southern states and formation of the Confederacy that led to the Civil War of 1861–1865 resulted in about 650,000 deaths. President Abraham Lincoln numbered among the rebellion’s casualties, assassinated through a plot by Confederate sympathizers that also targeted Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. The attack on Seward was thwarted by his sons and a guard, though Seward was stabbed several times. The potential assassin of Johnson lost his nerve. The Confederacy failed to take over the U.S. government, but not by much.

While the government executed the top plot conspirators, Confederate leaders such as Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis were pardoned by Johnson.

Then in 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attracted the ire of conservative businessmen by advocating for programs to help poor people and cracking down on Wall Street corruption. Major Gen. Smedley Butler, a decorated Marine officer who fought in World War I and the 1910s Mexican Revolution, met with a representative of a business group comprised of Wall Street firms and leading companies. In an operation sometimes the White House Putsch, they reportedly tried to get him to join a plot to overthrow FDR and replace him with a fascist regime modeled on Germany, Italy, and Spain. ⁹

The plot involved Butler leading a violent march of thousands of veterans in Washington, D.C., to spark enough chaos to oust the president. Sound familiar? But instead of joining the putsch, Butler became a whistle blower, testifying in Congress. During the classified hearings, the conspirators reportedly agreed to halt the alleged coup attempt in return for legal immunity and thus were not held accountable. Sound familiar?  The media largely overlooked the plot, with many calling it a hoax and bad joke. But even up until FDR decided to join the Allies cause against the Nazis in 1941, businessmen and others attempted to steer the U.S. to Hitler’s side, or at least keep the country out of the war.

Some called the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Kuther King Jr. a coup, likely involving well-connected officials and benefactors who abhorred the progressive leaders. Only little-known scapegoats were prosecuted. Richard Nixon authorized a plot to assassinate prominent journalist Jack Anderson and used the FBI, IRS, and other government agencies as personal vendetta operations against political opponents, antiwar activists, and journalists. Gerald Ford pardoned him.

For many other violent acts, the U.S. government held perpetrators and alleged plotters accountable. In 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists seeking independence for their territory entered the U.S. Capitol as guests and fired shots from semi-automatic pistols at representatives debating an immigration bill. Five politicians were wounded. The terrorists were immediately arrested and sentenced to life in prison before having their sentences commuted in the late 1970s. Pedro Albizu Campos, president of the Puerto Rico Nationalist Party, was even arrested and imprisoned, though the FBI and police later admitted they had no evidence to link him to the shooting. The perpetrators of the 1998 shooting deaths of two Capitol officers by an anti-government extremist and the 1983 night-time bombing of the Senate wing by communist radicals were arrested and imprisoned. The mastermind of the September 11 terrorism acts, Osama bin Laden, was located and killed.

While many claimed that Black Lives Matter protesters got away with committing violence in 2020, the truth was that more than 14,000 such protesters were arrested. Some like Lee Percy Christian III, 27, of Arizona were locked up for days on trumped-up charges such as unlawful assembly. Edward Thomas Schinzing, 32, who was accused of setting a Portland police building on fire, faced a 20-year prison sentence. Many pointed out how police and government buildings were attacked, and some structures even set on fire, during those protests. But you have to look at who was arrested for the really bad incidents; in some cases it was perpetrators from the left, and in others infiltrators from the right. Democratic leaders did not support the violence at BLM rallies, unlike Trump, Limbaugh, and others on the right did with the Capitol coup attempt. ¹⁰

In 1991, old-school Soviet hardliners, including the prime minister, vice president, and KGB head, tried to violently oust President Mikhail Gorbachev. After that three-day insurrection failed, the Gang of Eight plotters were immediately arrested and imprisoned. By contrast, Trump and his Gang of Eight-plus were allowed to slither off into the night to continue to erode democratic institutions. Other foreign leaders got away with bloody coups, such as the 2021 violent takeover by military officials in Myanmar. Adolf Hitler was only imprisoned for nine months after leading the 1923 putsch that resulted in 20 deaths at age 34. He learned to work within the system and became Germany’s leader a decade later, leading to millions of deaths in World War II and the Holocaust.

Biden, who won the 2020 presidential election by 74 electoral votes and more than 7 million popular votes, called the mob violence from Trump’s putsch attempt that resulted in five deaths—four insurrection members and a police officer—an unprecedented assault. Commentators on CNN and other media broadcasts repeated the unprecedented label. ¹¹

While the unprecedented label was debatable, the hostility by mostly white Americans against other groups gaining power was deeply rooted in the American experience, said Columbia University history professor Eric Foner. Writing in The Nation, Foner cited examples such as the 1898 violent ouster by armed whites in Wilmington, N.C., of local government officials who included African-Americans. But ousting some local politicos, and potentially kidnapping and even killing top federal leaders to install a national leader who lost the election and likely a more authoritarian form of government were on completely different levels. ¹²

Since the end of the Civil War, many white Americans have considered votes by African-Americans to be largely illegitimate, claiming they somehow cheat more than whites, noted Princeton University historian Kevin Kruse. The fraud complaints of the 2020 election targeted large cities in which blacks comprised the largest share of residents, such as Philadelphia and Detroit, which were clearly coded for African American, he said. Trump and his supporters didn’t complain about alleged vote fraud in largely white cities like Tallahassee, Fla., and Plano, Tx., as well as mostly white suburbs. ¹³

During Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration on March 4, 1861, he was met with threats of kidnapping and killing by angry Southerners in the seven states that had seceded by then, as well as some from border slave states of Virginia and Maryland. A plot to kidnap Lincoln in Baltimore as he traveled from Illinois to the Capitol in late February was thwarted when the schedule was altered to have him pass through Baltimore at night. In D.C., soldiers positioned themselves on the roofs of houses to watch crowds for potential assassins. Calvary soldiers rode alongside the presidential carriage and bucked their horses to make a shot more difficult. Police roamed the crowd along the procession route and the east side of the Capitol, where Lincoln denounced secession as anarchy and tried to present a case against the looming clouds of civil war. ¹⁴

Even during those violent times, the sitting president did not refuse to leave and incite a mob to march on the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of the election. Confederate leaders likely incited, if not helped plan, the actions of Lincoln’s assassins. The plotters of Kennedy’s 1963 assassination probably included some high-level CIA officials who JFK fired, along with some military officers who despised him. But those schemes still didn’t involve sitting presidents.

Some presidents declined to attend