They say that they believe an election was stolen (without evidence), and that they want the democratic election to be overturned (according to their signs).
According to some of the more conspiratorial comments in this thread, a coup.
The actual answer is probably that they do not believe the claims of election fraud have been sufficiently investigated. I'm sure they want a more thorough investigation to be held before the election results are officially recognized by congress.
That and they're just angry people who have resorted to rioting - like how a toddler resorts to a tantrum when it doesn't get its way. This appears to be an increasingly common theme with modern US politics.
Let's be honest, no amount of proof would convince them. They would move the goalpost as far as necessary for them to get what they want. They just KNOW they WON the election and I fail to see what would budge their belief.
I think it's a mistake to think that these people argue in good faith. I tried listening to what they have to say and they're not consistent, they're not coherent, they're not honest and they want the truth only if it confirms their beliefs.
I agree. I'm not saying these people's demands are reasonable. I don't believe they are. OP just asked what their motivation was and I tried to give a serious answer.
I understand. I just happen to side with OP on this, from where I'm standing, it looks like a coup attempt. It doesn't look conspiratorial at all. It looks like they're saying "fair elections" but they're meaning "Republican rule".
People are reasonably concerned about whether Trump will cooperate with the transition of power. But I still think it's really reaching to call this a coup.
There is no organization. There is no plan. There is no sign of a premeditated attempt to overthrow the government. There is just a mob of angry rioters barging into a government building.
Did you hear the rhetoric coming from Don Jr, Giuliani and Trump during the morning of the rally? Certainly sounded like they were calling for action... the opposite of what they tweeted after the lady lost her life in the capital building. No way this protest/mob happens without Trump gassing them up for months without evidence. Trump has disgraced this nation and some of his loyalists are hoping for civil war (as made clear by there custom made ‘MAGA 1/6/21 civil war’ t shirts).
It's not conspiratorial! The president has stated, repeatedly and at length and to many different people, that he'd like to invalidate the election results and make himself the winner. This reflexive dismissal that he could mean what he says is coming very close to ending the country.
That does not make this a coup. This is a riot. While there is no doubt that the rioters want the election results to be overturned, there is no indication that they have the ability or intention to use force to make that a reality.
These are angry people being disruptive and destructive. That's what a riot is. Calling it a coup is conspiratorial.
There are many indications that they have the intention to use force to make it a reality. There was one protester standing at Pence's spot in the chamber, demanding that he come back and deliver the election to Trump!
It's true that they don't seem to have the ability. But they didn't seem to have the ability to take over the Capitol building either. It's very dangerous to look at people trying their hardest to do a coup and dismiss it just because it'd be an uphill battle to make it work.
If 60 failed court cases wasn't enough, what could possibly pacify these people. There were dozens upon dozens of opportunities to make the case election fraud had occurred. The courts would have listened if they had anything to present.
I'm starting to believe we need some kind of regulation for companies who profit off of proliferating and re-enforcing echo chambers, though I'm not sure what that would even look like yet.
This comment seems bizarrely aggressive. I read CivBase as expanding on your point—the reason people are refusing to acknowledge the results is (at least in part) because they’re in the echo-chambers being run for profit. Not sure where you got the accusations of shilling from.
Comment removed. Unfortunately, it incorrectly read as a low-brow way of suggesting my perspective was just some corporation pushing a view. On a second read, that wasn't the most judicial interpretation of the comment, and HN rules necessitate applying the strongest plausible interpretation, which is yours.
Question worth asking. I'd suspect this is a huge tactical error because it forces mainstream politicians to pick a side between fascists and non fascists. Presumably most of them are going to pick the non side. This marginalizes the fascists which seems like a forced error.
Not ignorant, especially if trying to understand something!
The idea with Nazi Germany was that it didn't suddenly pop into existence, as many would believe. It had a long, gradual, slide into it.
In 1932 there was The Beer Hall Putsch [0] when the nazis tried to get the power but failed. As a consequence, Hitler was jailed and wrote his book and after he got out he continued his ascent.
The scary implication of the comment is that even if this coup attempt fails, the USA is down a long slide out of democracy and this is just the beginning.
It is quite scary for me as a non-US citizen because I used to look up to the US. Not anymore. The current world order is supported by US hegemony. Upending this could end up badly for the rest of the world, since transitions of power on the world stage are rarely peaceful.
It's scary because the US seems heading down this road that is eerily similar to what happened in the past. And they say that history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
Weimar post-WW1 trauma::Global War On Terror slow pull-out quasi capitulation
Rosewood massacre::Floyd,etc
Ruhr occupation::China's covid resurgence, and next step across the Strait
Treaty of Lausanne ending the Ottoman empire::End of the USA's role-model status
Cooking it slow...
Ps. From Wikipedia: Hyperinflation in Germany has seen the number of marks needed to purchase a single American dollar reach 353,000 – more than 200 times the amount needed at the start of the year.
... I guess this makes it a good target for BTCUSD...
Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government or its citizens to further certain political or social objectives.