WASHINGTON — Under

battle flags bearing Donald

Trump’s name, the Capitol’s

attackers pinned a bloodied

police officer in a doorway,

his twisted face and screams

captured on video. They mortally

wounded another officer

with a blunt weapon and

body-slammed a third over a

railing into the crowd.

“Hang Mike Pence!” the

insurrectionists chanted as

they pressed inside, beating

police with pipes. They

demanded House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi’s whereabouts,

too. They hunted any and

all lawmakers: “Where are

they?” Outside, makeshift

gallows stood, complete with

sturdy wooden steps and the

noose. Guns and pipe bombs

had been stashed in the vicinity.

Only days later is the extent

of the danger from one of

the darkest episodes in American

democracy coming into

focus. The sinister nature of

the assault has become evident,

betraying the crowd as

a force determined to occupy

the inner sanctums of Congress

and run down leaders

— Trump’s vice president

and the Democratic House

speaker among them.

This was not just a collection

of Trump supporters

with MAGA bling caught up

in a wave.

That revelation came in

real time to Rep. Jim McGovern,

D-Mass., who briefly

took over proceedings in the

House chamber as the mob

closed in Wednesday and the

speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi,

was spirited to safer quarters

moments before everything

went haywire.

“I saw this crowd of people

banging on that glass

screaming,” he told The Associated

Press on Sunday.

“Looking at their faces, it

occurred to me, these aren’t

protesters. These are people

who want to do harm.”

“What I saw in front of

me,” he said, “was homegrown

fascism that was out

of control.”

Pelosi said Sunday “the

evidence is that it was a wellplanned,

organized group

with leadership and guidance

and direction. And the direction

was to go get people.”

She did not elaborate on that

point in a “60 Minutes” interview

on CBS.

The scenes of rage, violence

and agony are so vast

that the whole of it may still

be beyond comprehension.

But with countless smartphone

videos emerging from

the scene, much of it from

gloating insurrectionists

themselves, and more lawmakers

recounting the chaos

that was around them, contours

of the uprising are increasingly

coming into relief.

___

THE STAGING

The mob got explicit

marching orders from Trump

and still more encouragement

from the president’s men.

“Fight like hell,” Trump

exhorted his partisans at the

staging rally. “Let’s have

trial by combat,” implored

his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,

whose attempt to throw out

election results in trial by

courtroom failed. It’s time to

“start taking down names and

kicking ass,” said Republican

Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama.

Criminals pardoned by

Trump, among them Roger

Stone and Michael Flynn,

came forward at rallies on the

eve of the attack to tell the

crowds they were fighting a

battle between good and evil

and they were on the side of

good. On Capitol Hill, Republican

Sen. Josh Hawley of

Missouri gave a clenched-fist

salute to the hordes outside

the Capitol as he pulled up

to press his challenge of the

election results.

The crowd was pumped.

Until a little after 2 p.m.,

Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell was at the

helm for the final minutes of

decorum in partnership with

Pence, who was serving his

ceremonial role presiding

over the process.