1) It's always risky to make definitive factual assumptions or statements in the immediate aftermath of such a rapidly-evolving situation, but it should occur to people to ask why every major conservative/pro-Trump demonstration has been peaceful until today.

2) One of the first things we need to know is the numbers. How many tried to breach the capitol, and how many normal protestors never even tried to get close to it?

3) The other is identifying the rioters. I'm sure there were a few Antifa plants in the mix, but we can't just blame it all on them. Right now the picture we have is a fringe of Trump supporters crossing the line, and identifying those who were arrested should further clarify.

4) Aside from the usual Antifa speculation, there's another fringe group we need to consider here: Groypers. How many of the rioters weren't mainstream MAGA, but Nick Fuentes' band of creeps?

5) Either way, the question remains: why now? Previous MAGA protests never got violent. Again, this is early speculation, but there are a couple of partial explanations make sense to me.

6) First, it seems to me this type of event -- 2 weeks before Biden's inauguration, centered around fantasies of some miracle that'll save Trump -- could've drawn a more disproportionate share of more, shall we say, Lin Wood-friendly attendees than the usual political rallies.

7) Second, and probably most importantly, it's likely that many of the rioters simply snapped. Anger, fear, and helplessness built up over weeks of feeling disenfranchised, and finally exploded at the worst possible time. People often handle desperation badly.

8) And where did that desperation come from? Partisans and hacks will lay it all on Trump & his allies, but that's a cop-out. The simple fact is that there ARE reasons to question the result. Politicians HAVE ignored valid concerns. Government HAS shirked its duty to investigate.

9) That Team Trump & hangers-on like Wood have mixed bad info with good, or pushed dead-end solutions, is largely irrelevant to this point. If politicians pushing misinformation & false hope to people was all it took to trigger violence, our streets would be a constant bloodbath.

10) As SHOULD BE needless to say, none of this excuses the rioting. I want jail time for all of them. But the historically literate should not be surprised when injustice gets a destructive reaction.

11) As the Founders understood, such dangers make it all the more important that officeholders take public anger seriously to channel it in healthy directions, not throw gasoline on the fire -- which is precisely what the Swamp's "sit down and shut up" chorus did.