REBOOT — ‘Gradually, Then Suddenly’ - A Requiem for January 6
REBOOT — ‘Gradually, Then Suddenly’ - A Requiem for January 6
Originally published Jan. 8, 2023 — A compilation of my reporting on January 6, as the coup is ongoing
**Please take out a paid subscription to support my work. Thank you!**
To honor and mark the third anniversary of the darkest day in modern US history, I am rebooting a compilation of some of my key reporting on January 6.
In the year that has passed since I wrote the post below, my RadPod team has interviewed Sgt. Aquilino Gonell and introduced him to the Bette Dangerous community, I have become friends with Jeff Sharlet and Harry Dunn — a newly minted Congressional candidate — and I have continued to relentlessly report on the ongoing coup attempts to push the West toward fascism.
The struggle is real, but so too are the efforts of the millions who are rallying in defense of democracy. I take Harry Dunn running for Congress as a most beautiful sign of things to come.
I write about monsters, but I also write about heroes. Together, we can and will move mountains.
♥️
Report below originally published January 8, 2023.
♥️
‘Gradually, Then Suddenly’ — A Requiem for January 6
I knew I had to be in Washington D.C. on January 21, 2017 to document reality. A fake reality was being pushed on humanity, and I needed to be where it was real. On January 6, 2021, I knew I had to stay away from Washington, D.C. We were bait, as my colleague Jim Stewartson warned the millions who relied on his Twitter feed. The fake reality being pushed on humanity resulted in real death and destruction.
With those who were part of the true resistance to the fake world Trump and his allies had crafted not present in Washington on January 6, radicalized Americans who showed up for war had only police officers to violently assault. In perhaps one of the most stark examples of how far down the rabbit hole MAGAnon adherents had descended, they came to kill cops and the Vice President. That is undue influence.
Today, as we witness the violence that began on January 6 infecting Brazil, it is uncomforting to think it was all so predictable.
As Wesley Clark Jr. noted: “It's so similar to January 6th you'd almost think there's a worldwide network of authoritarians that share resources and methods to destroy democracy.”
Clark, the son of the former head of NATO, has experience with this network. He was the target of traumatic psychological operations - as documented in the new series, American Psyop.
Jim Stewartson documented Steve Bannon and other Trump allies pushing the Big Lie election fraud propaganda in Brazil. He wrote, “Bannon is helping Bolsonaro with a coup. This is a test to see if they can successfully steal an election.”
As my colleague High Fidelity said: “By now it should be obvious to the entire world that Russia’s ham-handed attempts to foment chaos and coups in liberal democracies across the globe is derived specifically from the playbooks of Black, Manafort, and Stone - The Torturer’s Lobby - with constant revisions and updates as their plans continue to fail.”
Professor Jason Stanley, who wrote How Fascism Works, said we need accountability for the January 6 Insurrection at the highest levels:
“The point of the January 6 coup was to overthrow United States democracy. And if you don't punish that, there's no answer to that. You must punish the attempt to overthrow U.S. democracy. I'm fine with letting all the minor actors go relatively unpunished, but Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, these are the leaders that tried to overthrow U.S. democracy. Donald Trump, Michael Flynn - Flynn is leading a true fascist, violent fascist movement right now. Also, the Michigan and midwest billionaires - it’s very, very dark stuff.”
With these men still walking free, and as I noted in my report Tech bro, Soldiers, General, Spy - the unholy alliance between global criminals continues to infect our world and risk the future of liberal democracies.
The second Insurrection, which is taking place in the halls of Congress, is being orchestrated by many of the same chaos agents who championed the first Insurrection.
Democracy isn’t broken, the people pushing for fascism are.
As RadPod learned today in our interview with Keir Giles, this network is filled with veteran criminals - their corruption is what unites them.
Giles’ new book, Russia’s War on Everybody is the definitive analysis of this global fight that Russia is waging and that traitors in America are furthering.
‘Gradually, Then Suddenly’
I have attempted to piece together my reporting from January 6 so there would exist a repository for reality. But I am finding it difficult to look back. That accountability that we so desperately need in America has not been forthcoming. Yes, there have been hundreds of prosecutions, but the architects of the coup are still free to spread their propaganda. If past is prologue, then America is still in grave danger.
I have always believed this work I do is civic duty, so despite suffering from post-traumatic news syndrome, I returned to my archives, and pulled out what I think are my most vital pieces offering a historical record of the facts of January 6, 2021.
Here are my Top 12 investigations:
A BRAINWASHED DEATH CULT - My first interview with Jim Stewartson, in which he explains how people were radicalized to be the foot soldiers of January 6, and who did the radicalizing.
‘THIS IS HOW I’M GOING TO DIE’ - My reporting on the words of the police officers who defended our country from a violent army of militias. I knew these officers would become the targets of trauma merchants and felt an urgency to honor and document their truth.
DO THE RIGHT THING - Here, I report on the criminal investigations into Trump for the January 6 Insurrection.
MISOGYNY AND WHITE SUPREMACY - My investigative partner Sian Norris and I document how groups linked to Trump and the January 6 Insurrection were also linked to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
‘MIKE DESERVES IT’ - I report on the shocking emergency hearing by the January 6 Committee revealing Trump’s callous disregard for the life of Mike Pence, and how he knew the army of militias were armed and violent.
‘PURE INSANITY’ - I report on the pardons requested by Greene, Gaetz, Biggs, and others, as well as the raids that occurred by federal agents of the electronic devices of Trump’s lawyers, and how Trump’s future freedom was now in question.
THE BIG GRIFT - I document the hearing where we learned that Trump raised a quarter million dollars on the Big Lie, which he knew was a lie.
TRUMP WAS AT THE CENTER OF THE CONSPIRACY - In the opening day of the January 6 Committee hearing, we learned that Trump was at the center of a violent attempt to overthrow democracy.
INSURRECTION AT THE CAPITOL - One Year On - The Race War - Sian and I investigate how the white supremacist aims of the Insurrectionists led to a far-right capture of education policy.
INSURRECTION AT THE CAPITOL - One Year On - How QAnon Went Mainstream - Sian and I report on how QAnon captured the Republican Party and had devastating human consequences.
INSURRECTION AT THE CAPITOL - One Year On - The Militarisation of Far-Right Resistance - Here, we expose both the militarisation of the insurrectionists and the failures of the security forces to respond to a war-like threat.
INSURRECTION AT THE CAPITOL One Year On - The Dark Money Funding Trump’s Coup - In arguably our most important investigation, Sian and I do a deep dive into the dark money that funded the Insurrection.
These are the stories that I could bear to look back on. There were so many more. There were podcast interviews on Byline Time Podcast and brilliant guests interviewed on RadPod, who see the attempted overthrow of our government and the assassination attempt of Mike Pence with clear-eyes.
As Ruth Ben-Ghiat has taught us, we don’t memory hole any of this. Members of the GOP have committed multiple crimes, and the chaos agents within will try to make us forget with distraction and vileness.
I will forever be haunted by the words spoken at the first hearing in 2021 by former Virginia Rep. Elaine Luria, who said the following about how such things happen: “Gradually, then suddenly.”
She was quoting Ernest Hemingway.
Despite what is happening today in Brazil and despite the second Insurrection occurring in Congress - as HiFi noted, it’s getting easier to see Putin’s hand, easier to see the network.
A Special Counsel who prosecuted Kosovo war crimes in The Hague is now in charge of the investigation. The criminals, emboldened by their freedom, are also desperately creating violence. They know they are traitors and criminals. Their only choice is to create more harms in the hopes of winning power and avoiding prosecution.
I am not confident we are still a rule of law country, but I am hopeful.
Isn’t it pretty to think so?
(Originally published January 8, 2023)
****
Author Coda, January 6, 2024:
Here are a few more reports reports from 2023 I would like to add to the above compilation:
****
Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded publication. Thank you to all subscribers, and thank you to those who generously donate coffee tips and those who supplement my work with venmo donations. The next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ for paid members is Sunday, 1/7, with Rich Logis of Leaving MAGA.
(Below, photo from January 6 Committee Hearings)
