>When does an insurrectionist turn into a revolutionary?

They don't. The terms are synonymous.

>Obvious disclaimer: I don’t hold a candle to this fight in either direction but can empathize with both sides

Why is that obvious?

And as to the idea that you can "empathize with both sides," Who do you think those "sides" are?

They are most certainly not those of the two major political parties in the US.

They are not even those who consider themselves "conservative" or "liberal."

In reality, one side supports our constitutional form of government and the rule of law. The other side despises the rule of law and seeks to use violence, intimidation and lies to destabilize my home in an attempt to seize power.

The former are 98%+ of my countrymen (many of us disagree about a great many things, but not about our constitutional republic and the rule of law), and the latter are a tiny minority who wishes to impose their will on everyone else.

If you see things differently, I'd love to hear your arguments.

> When does an insurrectionist turn into a revolutionary?

A reasonable question in the abstract, but in this case the distinction is rather simple: 1776 was people revolting against a king to create a democracy. What we saw this month was quite the opposite - trying to undo democracy (i.e. negate the results of popular vote).

People used their voice to express their concern. Everyone dismissed them. They are the ones asking for a congressional oversight review and being rejected. They think something is being covered up. I thought the same way about 9/11 when it happened. It’s one of those believable far-fetched scenarios. But no one is legitimizing it and people are upset about it. Rather than be human about it we’re laughing them off then acting shocked and surprised when that group acts out.

For contrast, black people were claiming police abuse decades ago and the country turned a cheek towards it. Police abuse increased until technology put the power back in our hands. It’s very hard to look at where the protestors are coming from but it is very easy to dismiss it because of status quo.

Just a warning, and my downvotes are proving my point. No one wants to talk about it, they want to sweep ideas they don’t agree with under the rug. Just like my police encounters in the late 90s.

I’m sure at one point in your life you have said “my vote doesn’t matter, the president will be picked regardless of my input”. That’s what these people are upset about, and the solution seems about as attainable as politicians cracking down on abusive cops in the 1990s

Everyone dismissed them apart from all the states that held recounts, 60+ court hearings, endless media appearances aso on. They're being laughed off because of things like press conferences held at 'Four seasons total landscaping', attorneys making wild claims in press conferences and the meekly walking them all the way back in actual courtrooms, and bizarre public and private statements - like the President calling state officials in Georgia and spending an hour begging/threatening them to find votes for him.

Your downvotes aren't proving a point. Trump's and his supporters' complaints about the election were given extensive public airing but none of them have been sustainable under closer scrutiny, and many claims about procedure, constitutional law and so forth have ben flat wrong. I don't understand how you can claim Trump supporters don't feel listened to when there has been a non-stop barrage of accusations from them over the last 2 months. Why don't they listen to the opinions that come out of the courts?

In your own text you interchanged they to mean trump and his administration and then his supporters and then insinuated his voters. You are unable to distinguish the three. I don’t care about trump, I do care about how we handle the claim of election fraud. I do want to see a congressional hearing just like we did with Russian interference.

Would you agree at this point in time the two events are similar? A bogey man messing with the election that was only proven after the fact? I don’t care about trump losing and you should not either. You should be concerned that a lot of people think there is election fraud and as such the American government has a duty to investigate. Democracy?

That's a reasonable point but the context of trying to prevent an incumbent from being turned out of office suggests these insurrectionists were more reactionary than revolutionary - that is, they were trying to prevent rather than institute change. Admittedly, this a rather fine semantic distinctions, and many Trump supporters consider their guy to be fighting against institutional corruption in DC.