Capitol invasion was criminal

Somebody’s head should roll for the horrible failure to stop the invasion and sacking of the Capitol Building on January 6.

There was plenty of warning and ample opportunity to put security forces in place to prevent the riotous swarming of the nation’s most important legislative center. Whoever was in charge of such things, perhaps then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen, certainly dropped the ball.

Rosen was in an acting capacity because the job fell open in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency when William Barr abandoned the position in December. That could be considered an excuse but Rosen was deputy AG before being promoted. He should have been prepared to land running.

The signs that trouble was brewing and the likelihood that the Capitol would be in jeopardy were very strong, so it should have been no surprise that the invasion took place. In late December the conservative newspaper Epoch Times reported that massive caravans were forming up for the drive to Washington and major demonstrations were in the works.

Not only did the Trump administration fail to head off the invasion when the rioters approached the Capitol Building, some security guards welcomed them to the building and waved them inside.

Such behavior is absolutely unacceptable, but the failure of security personnel to block the rioters is better understood in the conduct of former President Donald Trump. Our most recent president was actually encouraging the invaders because they were protesting the November 3 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

Former President Trump is in deep doo for his role in the craziness that roiled the Capitol on January 6. The U.S. House impeached him for his role in the riot, his second impeachment (a new record for an American president).

His first impeachment was for soliciting the assistance of the government of Ukraine in a bid to rig the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden. When the first impeachment was tried by the Senate in early 2020, Trump was acquitted. The second impeachment is still pending trial.

The two impeachments seemed to result more from anger by his opponents over his often irritating behavior than from official violations of federal law. President Trump can certainly get on the nerves of his opponents, but that seems more an ability to get under their skins than from any obvious illegal behavior.

Trump’s second impeachment came on January 13, just a week before his term was scheduled to end. He is no longer president and his behavior leading up to the sacking of the Capitol certainly seemed outrageous.

But the main impact of convicting him, if the Senate does so, will be preventing him from ever running for office again. Right now Donald Trump seems quite likely to run again four years from now if he can. He is only 74 and on election day in 2024 he would be 78, which is President Biden’s current age.

By any measure except personal behavior, Trump’s presidency has been a success. And for that reason he has many fans who cheer him on when he gets especially outrageous. They love him.

So stay tuned, election fans, our past president may yet return to the arena and make a run at getting his job back.

Tom Brennan is an Anchorage columnist and author of six books. He was a reporter/columnist for The Anchorage Times and an editor and columnist at The Voice of The Times.