William A. Jacobson "It’s often hard to understand the impact an event will have in the future when you are going through it in real time or soon after.
"Today’s storming of the Capitol, including rioting, is one of those real-time events about which I’m comfortable reaching some conclusions.
"The first and most obvious conclusion is that while peaceful protests outside the Capitol are appropriate, fighting with Capitol Police outside, breaking into the building in a violent and menacing manner, fighting with police inside, and then proceeding towards and into the House and Senate chambers requiring evacuation of representatives and Senators is not acceptable. A woman being shot dead by police, while not inevitable, was a consequence. It’s even more unacceptable when Congress is performing a constitutional duty to open and count electoral votes.
"The fact that we have seen violent conduct from the left in recent years also directed at key institutions does not excuse it. Yes, among many other events, we saw anti-Scott Walker protesters take over the Wisconsin statehouse and menace lawmakers, and Antifa/BLM assault federal courthouses and turn sections of cities into war zones. And yes, Democrats and the media excused such violence, and there is a double standard as there always is where pro-Trump “mostly peaceful” protests are not given the same consideration as mostly violent leftist protests. And yes, it’s possible (but not clear) that some of the violent rioters were outside agitators. Politics is not fair, and it’s never been more unfair than how Trump supporters are treated by the media.
"But there was something uniquely offensive to our form of government to have such violence directed at the U.S. Capitol on such a constitutionally meaningful day.
"Which leads me to the second point about which I am confident. Today has forever changed the trajectory of the Trump movement." . . .
