What strikes me most is how bold and brazen the terrorists were.
Smiling boldly t cameras when they desecrated, destroyed and brazenly stole.
Assaulting police officers while filming it.
And they did all initially walk away.
They are still being bold and brazen and are planning something on the 17th, or so the news on Parler goes. We are not out of the woods yet!
It is becoming clear that they intended to murder members of congress.
Why should they act any different? They know they have white privilege and on top of that, they have Trump and many congressional Repubs on their side. So what did they have to fear? They know nothing is likely to happen to them even after they left the capital. They are politically above the law and they know it. Protesters on the left know bitterly how much that's not true for them.
I believe the capital police, at the command level, were involved in a large conspiracy that went all the way up to Trump, and some of the rioters, no doubt, were aware of this conspiracy on their side, so they knew they would be treated lightly by most, if not all, of the law enforcement and military at the capital.