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On Wednesday night, reeling from events, I wrote this piece about how to best understand the attack on the Capitol. It came out Saturday (edits, etc) I'm not here to rehash the definitional debate again, I want to talk about accountability instead https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/09/was-us-capitol-riot-really-coup-heres-why-definitions-matter/
One of the things I said was that understanding it as an insurrection directs our attention to those who are enabling Trumps action and how best to disable and hold them accountable.
Already, a number of moves have been made in this direction. For example, consider this long list of companies that provide communications services for Trump or Parler who are finally willing to enforce their ToS: https://www.axios.com/platforms-social-media-ban-restrict-trump-d9e44f3c-8366-4ba9-a8a1-7f3114f920f1.html
When Trump is forced off mainstream social media platforms, he will lose many followers. FB and Twitter are simply better designed, Parler is probably a crappy experience, and now banned to boot.
This doesn't mean there will be no more Trump content on Twitter. Others can still rebroadcast what he is saying elsewhere. He can keep a blog somewhere. But he will lose direct unmediated access to large numbers of people.
Also (sorry for the pause) we are seeing moves to cut off funding for people who enabled the attack. For example, talk show hosts are being told to cut it out or lose their jobs
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/16/magazine/uncounted-civilian-casualties-iraq-airstrikes.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/16/magazine/uncounted-civilian-casualties-iraq-airstrikes.html
Sorry, the correct URL is this: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/business/media/cumulus-election-fraud-bongino-levin.html
Some corporate donations to politicians who speciously insisted that there had been a stolen elections are stopping. These are mainly corporations vulnerable to boycott (like Marriott) but I think more will follow: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/10/marriott-campaign-donations-congress/?fbclid=IwAR0euKz1oI_n7F4Gv7wNWRNwjGUvgPIrwwnL7WmPmbFz1nsQcwfTyPFOgU8
The powerful National Association of Manufacturers is now calling for Trump's impeachment. Hopefully they will also hold accountable his enablers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/08/trump-policies-corporate-america/?fbclid=IwAR1AOw77Ge7EIli9BDepLRtXxMFzXiK7iL4zXxFjnVUH3FH-rG42dQLv8vo
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/08/trump-policies-corporate-america/?fbclid=IwAR1AOw77Ge7EIli9BDepLRtXxMFzXiK7iL4zXxFjnVUH3FH-rG42dQLv8vo
I'm hoping there will be still more. Some of it will be silent, large GOP PACs or donors will realize that funding politicians whose actions encouraged a mob that might have killed Mitch McConnell or Mike Pence is probably a bad idea. I suspect Mitch has a long memory.
Why do I think we will see more corporations, PACs and donors slamming the door on the Hawleys of the world? Because of something I learned while studying coups, that power is social. Nobody is willing to pull money when others will stay, they will be punished & for no gain. BUT
If you see everybody else pulling out, it is safe for you to do so as well. In fact, you don't want to be one of the last donors supporting Hawley when the Lincoln project goes after you, or when you have to have a meeting with a Senator who lived through the attack.
So I think that we will see more tech companies acting (especially now that the Presidency, Senate and House are all Democratic & the mob was openly murderous). And more sources of money. And if enough do this, it will seriously handicap Trump/Trumpers in the near future.
