Trumpers planning "This is our Inauguration" riot on Jan 6

As if the violence of the last two "Million MAGAt Marches" was not enough, Donald Trump is now telling his supporters to descend on DC as Congress votes to certify Biden's election on Jan 6. He is telling the Proud Boys etc to "get wild" and claiming "this is our Inauguration." In any other country this would be considered a call to a coup attempt, perhaps like Mussolini's "March on Rome."

The words "get wild" in the context of the last two Trump marches are clearly intended to incite rioting and violence. Both of the last two Million Magat Marches devolved into both figurative and quite literal knife fights as community activsts desperately defended DC from armed racists of the Proud Boys and related groups. Guns were also seen on Trump supporters both of the last two times. Real worst case is an all-out infantry battle on the streets of DC, either fought to impose a coup directly or as an excuse for martial law used in a last-trench effort to throw out the 2020 election. At any rate, Jan 6 and (if it even occurs) J20/2020 are likely to make J20/2017 look like a peaceful candlelight vigil outside a Starbucks.

Bowser could call out the DC National Guard against these racist hatemongers, or order MPD to use the same tear gas and baton rounds so enthusiasticly used against Black Lives Matter protests. For that matter, when one of the Proud Boys stabbed a cop on Dec 12, MPD could legally have opened fire on at least that Proud Boy and probably gotten away with shooting down their entire front line. Had they been BLM activists stabbing a cop it is a near-certainty MPD would have opened fire.

The loyalty of Bowser's troops would be suspect in a fight with Trump's "Thin Blue Line" thugs however. This is often the case when a coup is the subject of the battle. Last time around, MPD made some limited efforts to block outright invasion of BLM Plaza, but only because activists had cancelled all counterprotests to defend the plaza and a major battle fought with weapons on the plaza she named would have been terrible optics. While BLM Plaza is in fact known to many in DC as a battlefield after the events of Summer 2020, an armed assault on the plaza by Proud Boys resisted by the community at a terrible price in blood would have made that reputation national and created "city out of control" press very damaging to Bowser.

In the past, GOP thugs and Proud Boys have been permitted to overwhelm small numbers of defenders and vandalize BLM Plaza to their heart's content. On both Nov 14 and Dec 12 however, this wasn't enough for them, and they roamed the streets committing hate crimes against random DC residents not involved in any part of the fighting. The church attacks and gaybashing alike were hate crimes pure and simple. When Proud Boys were kept off BLM Plaza by cops setting lines between Proud Boys and the Plaza's defenders, the Proud Boys turned on the police, hurling bottles in return for pepper spray. Even then, heavier munitions like rubber bullets, stingball grenades, and tear gas were never used.