There are plans for another January 6, but I wouldn't freak out

Hope all of you and yours are having a very happy Halloween. Today was my last day at my job, and between that and trick-or-treating this evening, it was a busy one. I think the kids went trick-or-treating too, but I bet they didn't get as many compliments on their costumes as I did. I would hope not, anyway. I spent barely any money on theirs.

If the holiday was not sufficiently scary for your tastes, here's a big article about Trump supporters' schemes to overturn the election if Harris wins. I know a lot of Harris supporters are worried about a repeat of January 6, 2021, and I think it is wise to expect the possibility of shenanigans along those lines. I mean, as the article makes clear, there are conservatives straight-up saying they're planning them. If it doesn't happen, that's great—just don't be surprised if it does.

Whatever goes down, there are important differences from four years ago. The biggest is that Trump isn't in the White House right now. Maybe the most frightening part of January 6 was that he controlled the military at the time. While it's not clear the Pentagon would have obeyed if he'd ordered U.S. troops deployed against Americans, that's not the kind of thing you want to find yourself wondering about. There are right-wing militias that support Trump, and they could get more involved in some kind of riot or attack than they did last time, but honestly, the track record of right-wing militias who take on the American government is not good. I would say the chief threat to a Harris victory comes from the Supreme Court, because it has already intervened in one election on behalf of Republicans in our lifetimes, in 2000, and these folks tend to return to the tactics that have worked for them. And the court hasn't gotten any better since then.

But as far as direct full-scale physical assaults on Congress or other government institutions go, I am not a master strategist, but I believe generally, you are at a real disadvantage if everyone already knows you're planning an attack. The scary thing about January 6 was that nobody was expecting it. Now everyone is primed to expect it, and more.

The Fun Part

In October 2007, the second episode of season two of 30 Rock introduced the world to a new, instant-classic Halloween hit:

If you're not familiar with "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah," or didn't realize they’d written and recorded a whole actual song just for one short joke, I envy you. You're in for a real treat. (Or, okay, that might be overstating the case. It's funny. But "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" will not change your life. Set your expectations accordingly.)

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