Let's not and say we did

May March 4th be boring

If there’s another coup attempt, they’ll need a new horned insurrectionist. This one’s tied up in court.

Happy March 4, the traditional day — until the 1930s — of the presidential inauguration.

It is also, for the crazy year that is 2021, a date when members of the U.S. House of Representatives have decided not to meet because of the threat of yet another armed insurrection from the folks who brought us the first one, QAnon, white nationalists, and Christian nationalists, among others. (And yes, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., Jan. 6 was an armed insurrection, so you can just take a seat.)

Why make another run at a coup? The chatter is that today, the other guy will roll off his beach towel and return to Washington to be inaugurated.

I am not making this up.

In 1933, Congress ratified the 20th Amendment in an attempt to shorten the long lame-duck period that stretched from the presidential election to the oath of office. This is not an amendment that usually gets much discussion. It’s like lemons. We know lemons exist, so why discuss it?

But QAnon likes to cherry-pick and misinterpret the Constitution in a way that only a fundamentalist Christian who cherry-picks and misinterpret the Bible can appreciate. QAnon insists the 20th is not valid. Why? Puh-leez. If you already embrace as fact there are tunnels under the United States through which bold-faced named Democrats shuttle children whom they torture, well, it’s pretty easy to dismiss the random Constitutional amendment, isn’t it?

(Be afraid. These touched-by-the-moon nutters already have QAnon and QAnon-adjacent senators and representatives, and with their very own super PAC, they’re looking to buy more.)

There’s discussion among law enforcement agents as to whether this threat is aspirational as opposed to operational. Considering the hearings that are exploring why so many of the Lord’s Army were able to breach the capitol in January, the concern is understandable. According to the U.S. Capitol Police:

We have obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group on Thursday, March 4. We have already made significant security upgrades to include establishing a physical structure and increasing manpower to ensure the protection of Congress, the public and our police officers.

Our Department is working with our local, state, and federal partners to stop any threats to the Capitol. We are taking the intelligence seriously.

As of this writing, the Senate still planned to meet.