This morning, I made some lists of the people involved with the planning and execution of J6 and that got me thinking.
By J6, I mean the entire, comprehensive plot in 2020 and early 2021 to install Donald Trump as an American dictator in the manner of Orban or Putin. As far as we know, based on information discussed during the Jan 6 hearings, this enormous plot entailed the following, at the very least:
- Subverting multiple elections
- Subverting investigations
- Subverting the courts
- Subverting state and federal legislatures
- Massive and relentless propaganda and misinformation campaigns
- Subverting law enforcement
- Subverting the military
- Mob-style one-on-one confrontations intended to intimidate
- Murderous violence
As incredible as it sounds, the hearings strongly suggest that none of this was haphazard or unintended. It was all planned. If one piece of the plan didn’t work, there were multiple fall backs. They were planning for all contingencies.
The hearings further suggest that something like six or seven core plotters developed the overarching strategic plan for J6 with Trump. An additional six or seven men (they were all men) were “read in” to most or all of the conspiracy. They provided operational/logistical support, and possibly contributed additional strategic ideas. A wider circle of about ten people was involved on a need-to-know basis for segments of the plan. These were men (and perhaps a few women) who, for example, directly planned and ordered the one-on-one intimidation; they had no reason to know what anyone else was doing).
Additionally, the core strategy depended upon countless mid-level bureaucrats and lackeys who would look away even though they suspected something “very, very bad” was afoot. Many of these “I-see-nothings” were simply protecting themselves from criminal exposure. Others likely needed persuasion to look away.
And then, there were the foot soldiers. These were the people who were sent out to directly intimidate people in person, collect videos (like the one from Fulton County), analyze the electoral counts, plant stories in the media and online — and also wield AR-15s, pepper spray, plastic ties, and spears.
This is a lot of people. It includes roughly twelve to fifteen in the inner circles, perhaps fifty to a hundred in each of the wider need-to-know circles, and also an uncountable number of useful idiots. And that brings up a question:
Who paid for it all?
I think that many of us assumed — if we thought about it at all — that the people involved in J6 participated for free, out of misguided fervor for Trump. But a little bit of reflection exposes this as a naive assumption. Fanatics need to pay bills like everyone else, after all. So it makes sense that at least some of the high-level planners of the murderous insurrection on January 6 were likely well-compensated. And at least some of those underpaid bureaucrats who looked away may have been remunerated for their willful blindness (i.e., bribed to keep their mouths shut).
Most low-level January 6 insurrectionists were pathetic dupes, of course, but some knew exactly what they were doing. And they required funding for transportation, housing, food, weapons, computers, couriers, war rooms, signs, communications technologies, accounting, banking, and planning. Funding was also required to support the non-violent foot soldiers sent out to collect videos, data information, and dirt on poll workers. Where did the dollars come from?
I think many people believe that the violent part of the J6 plot was funded by individuals themselves or through dozens of small donations and that the plans for a non-violent “legal” coup were executed by pro bono lawyers (with Trump possibly paying for some of that himself). While these financial streams surely contributed, I think J6 was so expensive and so carefully co-ordinated that I really doubt that at the core levels of the strategy the funding of this gigantic scheme was left to the vagaries of grass-roots fundraising and the whims of a billionaire with a reputation for stiffing everyone.
It is my sincere hope that the Committee and Justice will, as they say, follow the money. This was an incredibly costly endeavor; uncovering how it was funded will go a long way towards understanding how on earth it happened — and how to plan for the inevitable future coup attempts.