The January 6 coup attempt failed. But its leaders are still at large.
Pandemic has been good for Wall St.
A year ago today, a mob of Trump supporters, including white supremacist militia groups, neo-nazis, and Proud Boys, violently attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the legitimate results of an election and install Trump against the will of the majority. Their coup attempt failed but their game plan is still intact.
To use Trump’s words, his right-wing gangs are “standing down” and “standing by.”
In the past year, 19 red state governors and elected officials have reworked their election systems to suppress the Democratic, especially in Black and Latino communities, and to give control of election machinery to partisan Republicans. The party leadership is in the process of purging any Republican official or potential primary candidate who fails to carry out the plan.
Using billions of dollars put up by wealthy Trump patrons, right-wing media has apparently succeeded in convincing a substantial majority of Republicans that Trump is actually the president and many still believe that the use of violence in his restoration to power is acceptable.
At least seven insurrectionists who were at the Capitol on January 6 have since won public office.1 They were elected to state legislatures and city councils in Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Idaho.
Democrats, on the other hand, appear to be either unwilling or incapable of suppressing the MAGA violent extremists or of prosecuting Trump, his family members, or other ranking coup leaders.
Their failure to do so will all but guarantee more of the same in 2022.
Here are today’s COVID numbers according to Bloomberg:
The number of U.S. school closings tripled in the last week.
2,518,628 — New COVID cases reported worldwide, Jan. 5
5,467,369 — Total deaths reported worldwide
643,660 — in the U.S. Most new cases today
9,292,211,227 — Vaccine doses administered in 184 countries
+33% — Change in MSCI World Index of global stocks since Jan. 23, 2020
I’m struck by what BB adds as their bottom line. For us, the numbers show human death, suffering, and misery. But for Wall Street, things have never been better. The rise before the crash? Maybe.