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A hundred or two hundred people couldn't overthrow the government. They could certainly hurt prominent people and cause mayhem, but it wouldn't have a serious effect on our country's government, it's not like they could start passing laws and affecting the country's infrastructure, like what happens in Coup d'etats in third world countries or where this is a heavy militia behind it. It got out of control because they didn't use lethal force until absolutely necessary. If they said "get any closer and we open fire" it would have been over in a few minutes once all those pussies started seeing their other "freedom fighters" gunned down in front of them. self preservation is the first law of nature. They would have scattered like cockroaches at the first sight of light.
You're getting down voted, but I think your point makes sense ... at least on the surface.
Ultimately though, it would've caused a constitutional crisis if Congress was unable to swear in Biden. It would basically be up to the courts to decide who the president is, and Trump could presumably ask for emergency powers from the reduced head count (likely of loyalists) in Congress ... which would've created further conditional crises. Not to mention martial law was something Trump's team (it hasn't yet been proven to be spoken of directly by Trump or to Trump) was considering using along with the instruction act to squash protest.
Basically, it would've depended on two things:
And that's never where you want your government to be. It might not have made the table collapse itself, but it certainly would've made the table wobbly and put it in a weakened position where it could be much more easily smashed.
It really depends on how much faith you have in institutional leaders and members of those institutions to "see through" the county. If the military leaders or a large majority of the rank and file went "TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP" and state governors got behind the overthrow (or didn't react quickly enough to replace important seats in Congress) that probably would've spelled the end of the US.
Fortunately, we didn't have to find out how that version of the story ends.
I think a lot of people are exaggerating the outcomes, yeah it may have delayed having Biden sworn in, but not by long. Also I don't think Trump could have outright instated Martial Law, especially when he was the one causing the disruptions. The president isn't all powerful, the system of checks and balances exist, and not everyone was for Trump in the government, so there definitely would have been pushback against a lot of things. For all we know, if it actually did happen, he could have been forceably evicted from the office and charged with treason outright for essentially becoming a dictator. Stuff like this has never happened in our country so whose to say what would happen exactly.
Like you said, it definitely would have made things messy for a bit, but I highly doubt it would have led to "the downfall of the US". Hell, The Civil War couldn't even bring the downfall of the US over 150 years ago and that was multiple states banding together with tons of guns and support, over the course of a year or longer (I forget how long it lasted). This was like 200 people with no guns, it was only scary because the Capitol Police didn't use deadly force (except in one case) so you had mobs of angry people, which is always scary no matter where it happens. I can guarantee you that if shots started to ring out, 90% or more would have said "fuck this, it isn't worth dying for" (even though they say they'd die for Trump) and ran for cover.
I think you're probably right. There's still those seeds of doubt in my mind though
😊
Of course there is always the "what ifs" that pop up and some of our imaginations tend to run wild with these things. It's important to keep a level head and look at past conflicts that have been quelled. Our government isn't a house of cards on a folding table.