Five dead as fascists storm US Capitol, forcibly delay confirmation of Trump's defeat

Video: fascists egged on by Trump's demand to storm the US Capitol do exactly that 1 min 45 seconds

Update Jan 7: A wounded US Capitol Police officer has died in the hospital, raising the death toll to 5.

On the 6th of January, Trumpers, fascists, and Proud Boys fought their way through 4 layers of police fencing, fought the Capitol Police to the point of blood on the Capitol steps, and pierced through the police defenses. They broke a window, maced the cops, and stormed the US Capitol itself, forcibly delaying the vote to confirm Biden's victory over Trump in the 2020 election.

In the process at least one person was shot and killed. The AP claims 3 more died in "medical emergencies," others report a second shooting-and that in both cases the Capitol Police fired the shots. Another person was stabbed hours later in the streets. Police claim to have made 52 arrests, found two pipe bombs, and seized a cooler with a both a long gun and molotov cocktails inside. There were reports elsewhere of multiple gun arrests early in the day but this is not confirmed. The starting rally was behind search checkpoints, and many fascists turned around when they saw those, no doubt joining the march later with their weapons still on them.

Towards nightfall, Trump supporters began roaming the city as they were slowly driven out of the US Capitol. At Black Lives Matter Plaza, perhaps a dozen youth from SE DE showed up plus a few activists from elsewhere in town. They were there to defend the plaza as Trump supporters tried to muscle into their space. Time after time, Proud Boys and other "StormTrumpers" were held at bay or even chased away. On occasion the Trumpers resorted to violence, and the punches and pepper mace flew. Some of these incidents got rough. High winds caught and redistributed mace(this reporter was hit but not seriously), an activist's hand was injured by a Trumper's club or bat, someone took a brick in the leg, and one of the Trump supporters was knocked out.Cops intervened to separate combatants but were the smallest force present, and the first fights did not lead to arrest attempts. The later fight did end in cops chasing and tackling some of the plaza's defenders, in one case tripping over their own bike to do so.

All fights on the Plaza in this reporter's presence ended with those "big, tough Trump Patriots" retreating behind the police and leaving in disgrace. These victories show that it's one thing for fascists to overthrow the US government, quite another for them to attempt to govern any major city.

Late into the night, standoff continued between fascists and police-right outside the hotels the fascists were staying in. Those standoffs may have stemmed from protests against the curfew, the only legitimate protesting the Proud Boys have likely ever done. Curfews are after all a threat to everyone and were used against Black Lives Matter protesters in June. Had these protesters been Black Lives Matter protesters, they would have been either kettled or pursued by helicopters until some homeowner braved threats of police raids to shelter them for the night. White skin privilige goes a long way. Earlier, during the afternoon, yelling by some of these goons could be heard in the distance from BLM Plaza, and carried an air of considerable menace. Yet cops used suprisingly little force.

The woman shot and killed at the US Capitol was a pro-Trump protester. It is being reported she was trying to storm the Senate chambers, which were in fact defended by police with guns out. The Washington Post reports the Capitol police shot her, and there are unconfirmed reports Capitol Police may have shot a second person. Three dead of "medical emergencies" is suspicious. Had the crowd storming the Capitol been Black Lives Matter protesters, their would have probably been dozens or even hundreds of shootings, and use of full-auto fire from M16/AR15 selective fire rifles would not have been out of the question.

All of this happened after Donald Trump spoke to a rally on the Ellipse, flatly urging marchers to storm the Capitol and shut down the Jan 6 certification of the Electoral College vote. It took police (possibly assisted by the National Guard) until about 6PM to forcibly remove the MAGAts, Nazis, and Proud Boys from the US Capitol and return the building to its normal use. House speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that since members were already in the building after sheltering in place, the debate and vote would go on in the evening and into the night. During the night challenges from the Arizona and Pennsylvana GOP delegations demanding states's electoral votes be excluded were rejected by both the House and the Senate as the hearings resumed.

It's over for Donald Trump short of a raw-force coup or an all-out civil war. Members of Congress, random politicians, and the The Washington Post are all calling for Trump's removal, and Schumer is discussing options for a fast impeachment or use of the 25th Amendment prior to Biden's Inauguration. This would exclude Trump from leading the GOP from inside or running for President again in 2024, a campaign that may be just 2 1/2 years away. He may still command a terrorist far-right opposition but will be limited to that. Outright prosecution is also possible once he is out of office, he has even mentioned fleeing the US. Scotland (where he owns some land) has stated they will refuse to admit him due to covid restrictions.

Fascists delayed the hearings but failed to stop them, with one of the members of Congress saying "your insurrection failed!" This in fact is a serious defeat for Donald Trump even after the hours-long occupation of the Capitol, as keeping Trump is office was the objective, not holding the Capitol itself. Storming the Capitol was a means, stopping Biden and keeping Trump in office was the end sought and that failed.

Words used to describe this deadly fascist uprising in the Washington Post and on WTOP Radio included "attempted coup," "sedition," "insurrection" and even (quoting a protester) "civil war." If there is to be a civil war fought over Donald Trump, history may record that it may have started today. Alternately, history may record that it started in May with the uprising sparked by George Floyd's murder, that it started in Charlottesville (Aug 12 2017), on J20/2017, or even back in the Obama years when protesters carried rifles to Town Hall meetings about the Affordable Care Act. Certainly there is enough hate in the US to sustain a very bloody and violent civil war, like the one in Syria but in a far larger country.