{"id":4008,"date":"2021-02-24T07:51:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T12:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4008"},"modified":"2021-02-24T07:51:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T12:51:48","slug":"their-wildest-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Their Wildest Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Testimony<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The United States Senate took testimony yesterday on how January 6th<\/sup>, the day of the Insurrection, could have happened.   How was the Capitol so unprepared for what many who view social media saw as foreseeable and predictable?  Testifying were the three on the front line who take direct blame for the \u201cfall\u201d of the Capitol:  the former Chief of the Capitol police, the former Sergeant of Arms of the Senate, and the former Sergeant of Arms of the House.  All three resigned from their posts soon after the insurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also testifying was the Acting Chief of the Washington Metro police.  He was the \u201coutside\u201d man who tried to pick up the pieces when the Capitol called for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They thought they were ready.\u00a0\u00a0They had all the intelligence, all the information.\u00a0\u00a0The Capitol weathered the Million MAGA march, and they were \u201cprepared\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Prepared for a \u201cFirst Amendment\u201d event, as they call it, with the possibility of violence.\u00a0\u00a0What they now admit they weren\u2019t prepared for, weren\u2019t able to even contemplate, was a full assault on the Capitol building.\u00a0\u00a0They were ready for people chanting on the Mall, and screaming at the doors.\u00a0\u00a0But they never even drilled their forces for incursion into the building.\u00a0\u00a0It was beyond their wildest dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good Men<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The witnesses are good men:\u00a0\u00a0decades on the Capitol Police force or in the Secret Service.\u00a0\u00a0They had all of the connections, friends in command at the National Guard, and intelligence sources they depended on.\u00a0\u00a0They have spent literal lifetimes building their careers and reputations.\u00a0\u00a0The former Sergeant of Arms have been on the Presidential Protection detail.\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t knowledge that failed them, and it wasn\u2019t some vague orders from either Nancy Pelosi (the National Guard would look bad) or even Donald Trump (let them in).\u00a0\u00a0It was a failure of imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to blame them.  America is a nation of protests.  The Capitol building has been the target so many times:  of demonstrations and complaints, of crowds chanting and sometimes getting out of control.  In 1932 the \u201cBonus Army\u201d, more than 40,000 World War I veterans demanding a promised bonus from Congress, camped on the Mall in front of the Capitol for three months.  It took the US Army, led by General Douglas MacArthur, to drive their former comrades off and raze their camp. Two were killed and fifty-five injured, in what MacArthur called a rebellion. But they were simply trying to get Congress to pay their veterans bonus in 1932, at the depth of the Great Depression,  instead of the original 1945.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But though they were an \u201carmy\u201d that wanted something from Congress, they didn\u2019t attack the Capitol.  They wanted action, not destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tradition of Protest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There have literally been thousands of marches on the Capitol.\u00a0\u00a0And there has been \u201ccivil disobedience\u201d actions, where folks refuse to leave, or sit in the halls of the Congressional offices and chant.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ve seen them led out of the buildings with \u201cplastic handcuffs\u201d, even some in wheelchairs.\u00a0\u00a0More recently Reverend Raphael Warnock, now Senator Warnock of Georgia, was arrested in protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s what the Capitol Police were prepared for:\u00a0\u00a0angry and vocal Trump supporters, demanding that the Congress rescind the results of the 2020 election.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s also why the House and the Senate continued in session for so long on that fateful day, seeming oblivious\u00a0\u00a0to the violence at their doors. But from the outside view, it seemed obvious that things were wholly different than any protest before.\u00a0\u00a0The Members were used to hearing the chanting, the yelling, and the \u201cpressure\u201d of the crowds outside.\u00a0\u00a0Congress prides itself on completing their business, regardless of the what else is going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this time the protestors were coming in\u00a0\u00a0— for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone on social media, the possibility of more than just a \u201cfirst amendment\u201d or \u201ccivil disobedience\u201d event was more than clear.  Violence was always part of their movement, at the Trump Rallies, at the demonstrations, and in the \u201clore\u201d of QAnon and the other right-wing conspiracies.  And, as many said at the time, they believed that they were acting \u201cfor America\u201d.  They were convinced that the election was corrupt, that \u201ctheir\u201d candidate was the true winner, and that they were trying to \u201csave\u201d the Nation.  Once they took the first step \u2013 accepting the \u201cBig Lie\u201d about the election \u2013 everything else was foreseeable, perhaps even inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not for the leaders of the Capitol protection services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are still many questions to answer.  Why did the National Guard take so long to deploy?  How did our Intelligence services \u201cmiss\u201d what was obvious to so many \u201cregular\u201d citizens?  And the biggest question of all, how did our Nation come to the point where one political leader was willing to defy two-hundred and thirty-four years of Constitutional precedent, and try to remain in office after losing an election?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 9-11 we found that the intelligence of the plot to fly planes into buildings was right in front of us.  The failure was in the communication among the intelligence agencies to put it together.  And more importantly, there wasn\u2019t the imagination to see flying fully loaded passenger planes into buildings as a real threat, even though it was the central plot of a popular Tom Clancy book (Executive Orders) <\/em>just five years before.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three should have resigned, they failed in their duty to protect on January 6th<\/sup>.  But their failure wasn\u2019t so much in action.  It was a failure of imagination.  A militant attack on the Capitol wasn\u2019t in their wildest dreams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Testimony The United States Senate took testimony yesterday on how January 6th, the day of the Insurrection, could have happened.   How was the Capitol so unprepared for what many who view social media saw as foreseeable and predictable?  Testifying were the three on the front line who take direct blame for the \u201cfall\u201d of the Capitol:  the former … Continue reading “Their Wildest Dreams”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTheir Wildest Dreams : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Those responsible for protecting the Capitol on January 6th testified yesterday. There error was apparent- they couldn't imagine the attack.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Their Wildest Dreams : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Those responsible for protecting the Capitol on January 6th testified yesterday. There error was apparent- they couldn't imagine the attack.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-24T12:51:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-24T12:51:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"Their Wildest Dreams\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T12:51:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-24T12:51:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":990,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/\",\"name\":\"Their Wildest Dreams : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T12:51:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-24T12:51:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"Those responsible for protecting the Capitol on January 6th testified yesterday. There error was apparent- they couldn't imagine the attack.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/24\\\/their-wildest-dreams\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Their Wildest Dreams\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration\",\"description\":\"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\",\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":480,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Marty Dahlman\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dahlman.online\",\"https:\\\/\\\/m.facebook.com\\\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/martydahlman\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Their Wildest Dreams : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","description":"Those responsible for protecting the Capitol on January 6th testified yesterday. There error was apparent- they couldn't imagine the attack.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Their Wildest Dreams : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","og_description":"Those responsible for protecting the Capitol on January 6th testified yesterday. There error was apparent- they couldn't imagine the attack.","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2021-02-24T12:51:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-24T12:51:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"Their Wildest Dreams","datePublished":"2021-02-24T12:51:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-24T12:51:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/"},"wordCount":990,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/","name":"Their Wildest Dreams : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-24T12:51:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-24T12:51:48+00:00","description":"Those responsible for protecting the Capitol on January 6th testified yesterday. There error was apparent- they couldn't imagine the attack.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/02\/24\/their-wildest-dreams\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Their Wildest Dreams"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dahlman.online","https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","https:\/\/x.com\/martydahlman"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4009,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4008\/revisions\/4009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}