Thursday thread: Where do we go after the coup attempt at the Capitol?

Trump supporters, inspired by the president, stormed the People's House, rioted, looted and broke into the House Speaker's office. An insurrection, yet no one were arrested.

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I know many of you are as emotional and angry about what happened yesterday as I am, so please jump into this thread with your thoughts and feelings.

It took me hours to process what happened — and some sleep — even though I went on the air for my SiriusXM show yesterday within minutes of the attack on Congress as legislators were certifying the election of President-elect Joe Biden. As I was reporting on it live, I felt almost disconnected from reality — it wasn’t until later that it began to sink in.

Rebecca Tan @rebtanhs

Please, please, please do not let your friends and family piece together an account of what happened today from posts or conspiracies on social media. Send them our story — it’s the joint work of dozens of reporters who were on the ground.

washingtonpost.comTrump supporters storm U.S. Capitol, with one woman killed and tear gas firedThe chaotic, violent scene was like no other in modern American history.

I’m enraged that something like this could happen. The president of the United States inspired his supporters to engage in an attack on the Capitol. They broke in, damaged the historic building, looted items, sat in the chair of the Senate president, got into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

And yet, none of them has been arrested though their photos are everywhere, and their names now are being circulated too. Some of them took selfies with some of the Capitol Police, some of whom appear to have let them in through a gate (others did come to blows with the protesters for a while, so this wasn’t all of the police).

And Trump is still president, still able to do enormous damage. Twitter gave him a 12-hour suspension. That’s it. Why isn’t he being impeached immediately? We’re hearing talk of the Cabinet discussing the 25th amendment, but if they haven’t done it yet do you really think they will? This man could do anything in two weeks — and after he did this there’s no telling what is next.

Four people died, one of whom was identified as a Trump-supporting woman who was a military veteran and was shot, and many were injured, including more than a dozen members of law enforcement. Many of the people at the event were Qanon members, deep in a sick and twisted cult. They engaged in crimes based on conspiracies, and yet, the police mostly moved them off like it was the end of a rock concert instead of rounding them up, hand-cuffing them and carting them off to jail.

When Congress re-convened at 8 p.m, suddenly we had Mitch McConnell and other Republicans speaking of the “insurrection” and condemning what happened —- when they enabled Trump and this kind of attack for years. Some even pulled back on their plan to object to Biden’s certification in an attempted coup by the GOP. But none mentioned Trump.

But some GOP senators, including Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas — both aspiring to run for president in ‘24 and working the bigoted, violent and twisted Trump base — and a lot of GOP House members, still went forward with their doomed-to-fail plan of objecting to the election, keeping Congress in session until early this morning, when Biden was finally certified the winner. It’s just pathetic and grotesque that this action didn’t change their course.

What are you thinking and feeling right now, and where do we go from here? Please join the discussion, and I’ll be jumping back in as well.