"Trial By Combat"

Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right - Wikipedia

"TRIAL BY COMBAT" - A war cry? These were the words uttered by Rudy Giuliani, former New York City Mayor and attorney for the current sitting US President, Donald Trump yesterday at a "Save America" rally held at the White House.

At the rally President Trump continued to utter baseless claims of voting fraud in the recently concluded US General Election which saw voters legitimately select Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect respectively, and effectively ending Trump's single term in office. However he refused to concede.

Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol where congress was in session to formally certify the results of the election - something that is usually done as a formality a couple weeks before the next Presidential Inauguration which is carded for January 20 2021.

Trump had earmarked January 6 2021 from before as a "day of reckoning" - and his supporters heeded his call by committing acts of domestic terrorism which resulted in 4 civilian deaths and over 50 arrests. Why weren't these threats taken seriously? Media outlets in the US described it as a coup and an insurrection.

What was alarming was the apparent lack of security mechanisms in place at the Capitol - armed citizens were able to easily breach and enter the Capitol, causing destruction and creating fear, panic and chaos - a stark contrast to what was witnessed earlier this year when Trump deployed the same security mechanisms to quell anti-police brutality marches in Washington and other areas across the US. Congress was suspended and members evacuated to undisclosed locations - including Vice President Pence who was overseeing the certification of the vote at the time. Law enforcement agencies were only able to quell the uprising after more than 4 hours with the DC Mayor enacting a 6PM to 6AM curfew in a bid to get rioters off the streets.

In reviewing the footage it was clear that Capitol law enforcement personnel were grossly unprepared and overwhelmed by the rioters as they were able to easily breach the building. Additionally two pipe bombs were discovered on the premises, making it clear that rioters were armed and dangerous. There was a marked delay in the deployment of the DC National Guard, and later it was revealed that by the time they were activated, a previous request for reinforcement was denied by the President.

The event shocked the world, with many noting that it could have been predicted given the utterances made by Trump in the days leading up. It also seems that internal threat scenarios are not considered in tactical incident command preparations - which is odd...and leaves more questions than answers.

The events of yesterday also leave glaring questions over the security preparations for the Presidential Inauguration on January 20 2021 - there was no direct condemnation of the attacks by Trump and based on several actors (neo-nazis, Q-Anon, Proud Boys etc) seen at the Capitol, it can be assumed that repeat events of this kind may be real possibilities in the days leading up to, or even on the day of the inauguration.

Why weren't the threats uttered by a sitting US President taken seriously and additional security measures deployed? Would additional security mechanisms be deployed to ensure the inauguration occurs peacefully? Would the outgoing President encourage additional violence over the days leading to the inauguration? Would considerations be made to remove some live aspects of the inauguration and incorporate some virtual aspects as part of additional security measures?

And lastly, how will President Trump be held accountable for the events that occurred yesterday?