American Unreality

[The Minsky Moment]

Further to the above, from the Post:

The violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 came perilously close to Vice President Pence, who was not evacuated from the Senate chamber for about 14 minutes after the Capitol Police reported an initial attempted breach of the complex — enough time for the marauders to rush inside the building and approach his location, according to law enforcement officials and video footage from that day ...

About one minute after Pence was hustled out of the chamber, a group charged up the stairs to a second-floor landing in the Senate, chasing a Capitol Police officer who drew them away from the Senate.

Pence and his family had just ducked into a hideaway less than 100 feet from that landing, according to three people familiar with his whereabouts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. If the pro-Trump mob had arrived seconds earlier, the attackers would have been in eyesight of the vice president as he was rushed across a reception hall into the office.

Although the mob might not have literally hung Mike Pence from their makeshift gallows, it is fortunate the proposition didn't have to be tested.

[Sheilbh]

There were similar elements of wish-fulfillment and role playing in the French Revolution and with the Muscadin dandies of Thermador.  One reason these elements seem so prominent in last week's attack and that the Trumpist coup seems so unreal is that the effort was leaderless, shambolic, inchoate in organization and purpose.  If we hypothesize a counterfactual of the same march but led by a critical mass of a Leninist vanguard element it could have turned out quite differently, particularly if the mob had moved quickly and accurately enough to seize some legislators or get its hands on Pence.  The US was in one sense unlucky in that the defenders of the Capitol were so unprepared for what happened, but lucky in the sense that the invading mob was equally surprised at their own unexpected success and at a loss of what to do once their initial objective was obtained.  But emphasizing the fantasy aspects risks trivializing a reality that there is a hard ideological backing here which is driving the action, albeit incoherent in expression, one that is violent, racist, and anti-democratic at the core an that has deep roots in bowels of American history and politics.

Agreed on all of that - although as I say I think understanding the fantasy/wish-fulfilment side of this doesn't do down the very real risks. If anything I think those risks are increased because the fantasy/wish-fulfilment side may be a large part of what draws people in and makes a crowd turn up.

I always think of people who have actually participated in Trotskisty or Leninist groups and note that they never thought revolutionary leftism would involve so many meetings and so much admin.  If a movement can combine the fantasy with an actual organised core I think this (which was dangerous enough) would be even more alarming/dangerous.

On the American history point I was listening to a podcast with Jill Lepore who casually mentioned as an aside that there's something interesting in the American right's focus on the American revolution v the American left's focus on the civil war. Which I would like someone to research and do a long-read on

[The Brain]

Further to the above, from the Post:

The violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 came perilously close to Vice President Pence, who was not evacuated from the Senate chamber for about 14 minutes after the Capitol Police reported an initial attempted breach of the complex — enough time for the marauders to rush inside the building and approach his location, according to law enforcement officials and video footage from that day ...

About one minute after Pence was hustled out of the chamber, a group charged up the stairs to a second-floor landing in the Senate, chasing a Capitol Police officer who drew them away from the Senate.

Pence and his family had just ducked into a hideaway less than 100 feet from that landing, according to three people familiar with his whereabouts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. If the pro-Trump mob had arrived seconds earlier, the attackers would have been in eyesight of the vice president as he was rushed across a reception hall into the office.

Although the mob might not have literally hung Mike Pence from their makeshift gallows, it is fortunate the proposition didn't have to be tested.

One unfortunate woman tried to enter a room in which Pence was alone.

[Caliga]

Uh oh, please don't tell Mother.

[Sheilbh]

Uh oh, please don't tell Mother.

mother! (Mike Pence, 2017)