The January 6 Breach was predictable

A few months ago the U.S Capitol was breached as a mob stormed the building. January 6 has etched itself into U.S. history in the same way 9/11 has; if you mention the date people know exactly what day and event you are talking about, without any reference to the year or what might have transpired on that day. People already know exactly what you’re referring to.

A lot has been revealed in the past few months about how this day was planned and how its planning was ignored by intelligence and security, and that the intelligence and security apparatus that requested assistance to prevent and stop the breach was ignored or ordered down. We know a lot about of what motivated people to show up that day at the rally that was intended to be violent, and a lot about their personal history.

We can’t be surprised that this day happened, and not because people were openly planning it on social media. Shortly after the economy collapsed in 2008 the Tea Party movement began. Not a political party by nature, but more of a conservative populist movement, the Tea Party advocated for massive reduction in the size of government and used methods ranging from protests to political candidates. Although no candidate runs under the Tea Party on the ballot, a significant portion of the Republican caucus in government likely adheres to its ultra-conservative standards and a lot of the conservative electorate moved farther right because of it. It’s not a conservative movement, but more of an anti-government movement.

This is not to suggest that the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol were adherents to Tea Party. But the Tea Party – which took the Republican Party farther right – that advocates for a small government combined with libertarianism, right-wing populism, and anti-elitism is representative of the groups that led the mob. The elected elites simply had no right to sit in the U.S. Capitol affirming the results of an election.