Remember the January Sixth insurrectionists carrying plastic handcuffs? That was scary, right? We know the U.S. Capitol Police leadership deliberately weakened Capitol defense. They knew their officers would face thousands of violent, well-prepared attackers. Imagine the insurrection had beaten their way through that thin blue line a little faster. All they’d need was a few minutes more time, and they’d have had their hands on lawmakers and staff.

Would the traitors have killed hostages? “Hang Mike Pence!” was the chant of the day, after all. Would they have “Shot Nancy Pelosi in the brain!” That was a popular post right after the storming. The gallows were a sham, but that didn’t matter with a crowd that would beat people to death and then laugh about it later. Imagine the corpse selfies on Facebook.

Think not? Imagine the mob had captured someone that conservative media have sexually demonized, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Ilhan Omar? All those Incels with the pretty girls? Can anyone believe that would have ended well?

Thankfully, the police only shot one of the attackers. It could have been worse. If the police line had collapsed the way their leaders intended, would that have changed the death toll? Suppose the insurrectionists breached the chambers while legislators were still fleeing. The Secret Service would have no choice; they’d have opened fire on the mob, killing and wounding many. Would that carnage have changed the insurrectionists’ actions toward any of the hostages still living?

Suppose calmer heads prevailed. (And by that, I mean the insurrection organizers were close enough to the hostages that their armed and trained squads could get in before the mob beat people to death.) Then what? You have a few random legislators lined up against a wall with their ankles cuffed together and their hands zip-tied behind them. If the invaders got lucky, they might have kidnapped one or two high-profile people. Pretend they got, say, Katie Porter and Chuck Schumer. Would the insurrectionists have tortured them a little? You know, in a friendly, non-partisan way? Would our representatives have any fears for their safety?

We know the organized planners meant to take hostages. They arrived with all the tools. Ever wonder why? Would they have made demands? How would that have played out?

Now, consider the police response to rioters torturing and killing hostages. You’d get every SWAT team and National Guard force within driving distance ringing the Capitol building with military firepower. We know that many people in Trump’s sedition theater were armed. Imagine that firefight. Oh, yeah, and don’t forget about the White Supremacist jump-out squads and the unknown mad bomber, too. I’m sure nothing would have gone wrong there.

Here’s my point. It’s hard to express how big a catastrophe that riot could have become. If the insurrection had been even a little more successful, we’d have seen massive death tolls. We overuse the word, but the Capitol Police, DC Metropolitan Police, and Secret Service were truly heroic that day. They were a few hundred police against tens of thousands of rioters, and many attackers were better equipped and supplied. The police were betrayed, first by their leadership and later by Trump’s White House. Despite all that, they managed to save lives both inside the Capitol and in the angry Trump mob. These heroes prevented a terrible disaster of our own making.

There were subgroups in the mob. The majority look like ordinary vandals, full of inchoate frustration, looking to break something. The hardcore insurrection platters hid inside that larger crowd. They meant to harm our nation badly and willingly injured hundreds of police officers that stopped them from overrunning the Capitol. And then, what? Stop the count? That was for the rubes. The organized core wanted hostages. We all saw the zip-ties.

I don’t think either group understood the stakes. The death toll would have been horrific if they’d gotten any closer. None of them sounded like they planned to sacrifice themselves. They were ignorant cannon fodder.

So, I have one last question. If the Capitol insurrection hadn’t failed, there would have been carnage and the proverbial “blood in the streets.” Who would have wanted that kind of bloodshed? Did Trump or his handlers plan to use that disaster? If Trump declared Martial Law, could he have parlayed that into a Trumpian Presidency for Life?

OK, I lied. One follow-up. If Trump succeeded in overthrowing the election, how long before the real plotters removed that idiotic, unreliable, borderline-psychotic narcissist from power? I don’t think he’d have lasted a week.