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Connect the Dots to Trump and The Insurrection [1]

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Date: 2023-01-29

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“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th, 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country, will be forgotten no longer. Everyone is listening to you now.”

-January 20th 2017- President Donald Trump’s inaugural address

“As this enormous crowd shows, we have truth and justice on our side. We have a deep and enduring love for America in our hearts. We love our country.

We have overwhelming pride in this great country and we have it deep in our souls. Together, we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people.” -January 6th 2021-President Trump at rallying Washington D.C.

As children, most of us did the connect-the-dots activity books. It was numbered dots on a sheet of paper and when connected in order would reveal a picture of a cartoon character, animal, person, etc. I want to take that same premise and use it to connect the dots that make the picture of the four years of the Trump Presidency and the events and actions that lead to the insurrection on January 6th.

The 1st Dot- Trump’s Inauguration Day

One of Trump’s greatest strengths and most consistent strategies has always been growing and maintaining a very large and loyal base. During his inauguration speech he reinforced the fact that he is one of us and not a career politician. He referred to the “forgotten men and women” of our Country and let them know he understands them. He told the people that he will give them back control of our Country and Government. He promised that it will be “America first”. Building his base is key for Trump to build and keep his power.

The 2nd Dot- Liar, liar!

“..I made a speech. I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, million and a half people.” Trump stated about his inauguration crowd. He claimed that his crowd went all the way to the Washington Monument. These claims were proven wrong but Trump maintained his lies. He doubled down on his lies by saying that the media was being “dishonest” about their reporting of the inauguration crowd. This began a history of chronic lying during his four years in the White House. In the end, his biggest and most dangerous lie was telling the Country that the 2020 Election was stolen from him. These lies were fuel to his followers on January 6th.

The 3rd Dot- Chronic turnover

The Trump administration was marred by firings and resignations of senior leadership throughout all four years. The revolving door started with National Security Advisor Michael Flynn being forced to resign within the first month of Trump being in office. Flynn was followed by H.R. McMasters, who later resigned after a rocky relationship with the President. He was followed by John Bolton, who later was asked to resign by Trump. This is just one example from one position. Other big names of individuals who were asked to resign are Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, Steve Brannon, Dan Coats, are Tillerson, Mark Esper, Jess Sessions, and countless others. With this chaos and lack of leadership underneath The President, This leaves Trump could run unchecked.

The 4th Dot- Autocratic Rulers

President Trump found himself drawn to autocratic world leaders. He has called Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey a personal friend. He has defended and praised Vladimir Putin of Russia openly. He has gushed over his relationship with North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. He still talks about the letters that the two leaders exchanged. Trump has always been envious of these leaders absolute power. Trump’s style of leadership during his presidency was that of a wanna-be autocrat. He demanded loyalty from those around him, he ruled with anger and fear, and he made most important decisions based on his own options and feelings. He ruled over his MAGA followers like a cult. This cult would defend him on January 6th.

The 5th Dot- I hear you but I do what I want

Donald Trump highly respects and listens to one person above all others, and that is Donald Trump. From day one Trump let everyone in the White House know that he was the final word on almost all decisions. Those in his administration who did not fall inline with Trumps decisions did not last to long in his White House. Most important decisions were made without the full facts, since he never read morning briefings and barely sat down and paid attention during meetings. Basically, when he had an idea in his head it was hard to talk him out of it.

The 6th Dot- COVID will magically disappear

When the Country needed leadership and guidance the most, Donald Trump chose to ignore the experts, lie about the severity of COVID, worry more about his building back the economy and his legacy over human lives, and consistently spread false facts. As hospitals struggled to maintain the influx of patients and the death toll rose day by day, Trump worried about letting everyone know that before COVID came along he built the greatest economy. He was holding rallies and large events, ignoring all the precautions. He saw wearing a mask as a sign of weakness. Trump worried more about holding power then saving American lives.

The 7th Dot- Shady characters in Trump’s inner circle

Donald Trump has a history of associating with people of questionable character. After coming to the White House President Trump brought some of them along. He appointed, controversial media executive, Steve Bannon chief strategist and senior counselor. Bannon, who is a self proclaimed Nationalist, was the executive chairman of Breitbart, who has published inflammatory pieces about women, Muslims, Jewish people, and others. Recently, he was sentenced to four months for defying a subpoena from lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. Bannon was one of many questionable people in Trumps circle. Others like Qanon followers Micheal Flynn and Roger Stone, unhinged and disheveled former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, ultra-partisan Fox New host Sean Hannity, and countless others. PresidentTrump often took the advice of these people over more experienced sane voices.

The 8th Dot- Uncontrolled Ego

In Donald Trump’s opinion he is never wrong, he is never at fault, and he is a genius. He often boasts that he is the best. He says over and over that he is the best President, the best business man, the best negotiator, the best golfer, the best of anything he does. It’s this HUGE ego that will never let him admit publicly that he lost the 2020 election and lead to the events of January 6th.

The 9th Dot- This Election Will Be Rigged

Months before the election even happened President Trump already starting to plant the seeds of a rigged election. He put doubt on the integrity of mail-in voting, claiming there was a lot fraud with the ballots, including fake ballots and sending ballots to unsolicited voters.This was just the beginning this attack on the upcoming election. During the July before the election Trump was asked if he would accept the results of the election if Biden won and he said "I'm not going to just say yes". He continued to preach about the steal all the way up to the election.

The 10th Dot- Trump’s Loyal Followers

Trump’s followers are his lifeblood and the fuel for his ego. He is energized when he looks across a rally crowd and sees waves of red MAGA hats. He has bragged hundreds and hundreds of times about his crowd sizes. These followers are just as passionate about Trump as he is of them. They eat up every word and believe every lie. To these followers, Trump is their leader today, tomorrow, and forever. Most of them are on the ready to run through a wall if Trump asked. On January 6th they ran through that wall.

If you take out a pencil and connect each one, dot by dot and you connect the facts, you can see a clear picture and path to events, actions, and behaviors that would lead to the Insurrection orchestrated by President Donald J Trump on January 6th.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/29/2149925/-Connect-the-Dots-to-Trump-and-The-Insurrection

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