The Insurrection That Wasn’t: How January 6 Became A Political Myth

amuse – January 6, 2021, has been described with unusual certainty. We were told, immediately and relentlessly, that it was an insurrection, an attempted coup, and a mortal threat to American democracy. Those claims were not presented as hypotheses to be tested. They were asserted as settled fact. The label came first, the investigation later. Five years on, that order matters because when the facts finally surfaced, they cut sharply against the story Americans were told to accept.

Begin with a simple question. What would an insurrection actually look like in the United States? At minimum, it would involve an organized effort to seize state power, coordinated leadership, clear operational objectives, and the use or credible threat of armed force. That is not a controversial definition. It is the ordinary meaning of the term in law, history, and political theory. Measured against that standard, January 6 does not qualify. Continue reading →