January 6, 2021 Topic: Politics Region: Americas Tags: Donald TrumpRiotsU.S. CapitolGOP2020 ElectionsNational Guard
Mission Failure: How the U.S.
Capitol was Stormed
As the
instigator of the worst assault on America’s democratic institutions in more
than a century, Donald Trump has probably shattered his prospects of returning
to the White House in four years’ time.
Units of the 173rd Airborne
Brigade can deploy anywhere in the world on eighteen hours’ notice. So too
can one of the brigades of the 82nd Airborne Division. But the DC National
Guard, which certainly had at least eighteen hours notice that trouble was
brewing in the Capitol, tarried for hours while rioters egged on by the president
of the United States besieged the seat of America’s legislature, breaking windows
and climbing through them to wander around the building at will.
Washington had not witnessed such a violent assault on its federal
institutions since 1814, when the British set fire to the building during
the War of 1812.
Unlike the state National Guards,
who take their orders from their respective governors, the DC National Guard is
under the command and control of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The
policymakers in that office are a group of recently appointed “acting”
officials, Trump flunkies all. Acting Secretary Christopher Miller and his
minions not only did not move to mobilize the Guard in the absence of an
explicit order from the White House. They apparently were not prepared even to
suggest that the Guard be deployed in anticipation of the trouble that
ultimately materialized in a manner no one, with the possible exception of
Donald Trump, could possibly have anticipated.
Indeed, it has been reported that
when DC Mayor Muriel Bowser requested that the Guard be mobilized to protect against
what she sensed would be rioting and even bloodshed—indeed, a woman was shot on
the Capitol grounds and has since died—the Pentagon turned her down. Its response
was rather different from the haste with which it ordered
National Guard units both to protect the Capitol from Black Lives Matter
protesters and to deploy to environs of Lafayette Park in order to confront
protesters and to make way for the president’s ludicrous photo-op in front of
St. John’s Church.
In the absence of the Guard, the
Capitol Police seemed overwhelmed. They did virtually nothing to prevent the rioters
from climbing into the Capitol building and roaming through its halls and
offices. Indeed, it was not at all clear whose side at least some of the police
were on; several took selfies with those they were meant to control. And
despite all the mayhem, virtually no arrests were made until after Bowser’s 6
PM curfew came into force.
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Country Would Enter 'Death Spiral' If Election Was
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Coordination of the federal law
enforcement agencies responding to what can only be called an insurrection fell
to Vice President Mike Pence, who had been extracted from the Capitol and
whisked to an “undisclosed location.” On the other hand, once he had whipped up
a crowd of his supporters to march on the Capitol—even suggesting that he might
accompany them—President Donald Trump went AWOL. His silence during the first
hours of the riot was deafening. When Trump finally emerged from wherever he
was hiding, it was to release a video tweet in which he told his supporters, whom he said
he “loved” to “go home.” Of course, he had to add the election had been stolen
from him, which had the effect of enabling the rioters to justify to themselves
their seditious activities.
Many leaders of America’s allies
have expressed shock at the events in downtown Washington. On
the other hand, the likes of Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and the
Ayatollahs can only be smirking at America’s misfortunes. None of this appears
to matter to Donald Trump. His only concern is somehow to reverse the outcome
of the presidential election, by whatever means that remain available to him.
Not only will he not succeed, but as the instigator of the worst assault on
America’s democratic institutions in more than a century, he has probably
shattered his prospects of returning to the White House in four years’ time.
And should that be the case, America will be much better for it.
Dov S. Zakheim
served as the undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial
officer for the U.S. Department of Defense from 2001–2004 and as the deputy
undersecretary of defense (planning and resources) from 1985–1987. He also
served as the DoD’s civilian coordinator for Afghan reconstruction from
2002–2004. He is vice chairman of the Center for the National Interest.
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