I will be honest to say that I expected much much worse. This is based on what happened in
1992 during Ayodhya saga when our neighborhood kids(infact all over the country) got involved in the political rallies out of the need for
some action. These people are not disciplined to march to the orders, don't even know what the ideology or politics is. So they do what their hormones dictate, so do other forces merge with them or use them as cannon fodder to do what they think wanted to do.
As the story goes, disintegrated little pieces of the opposition parties coalesced into 2 factions ( one around social justice and the other around Hindu religion) along with the so-called secular Congress party that ruled most of the time by the late '80s. The more religious faction was stopped/harassed/arrested, the more support they enlisted volunteers from the general population(80% of the population are Hindus) to replace a 500 years old Masjid that supposed to have been built on the old Temple.
We all wondered How this leader of the Hindu party L.K. Advani (Modi's mentor until recently) is going to control the mob of people came from all over the country by all means for some action. Even the Secular Prime Minister of the Country gave up and allowed the ruling Hindu party state (Uttar Pradesh) to stay despite the demands to suspend the state govt. The showdown date came in 1992, the entire state/district/locked down, but people anyway went in, destroyed the entire Masjid with rods despite the repeated attempts by Party leader to stop it. Whoever came back alive even brought the rocks of masjid as souvenirs. There is nothing anybody can do. Even the Secular PM reasoned that "If I suspend the local state government, who is going to take the blame?". It is a circus, but it is what we got after thousands of years of revolutions and experimention with governance. But, don't say "Matrix", that is a conspiracy that magically produces cognitive dissonance and wipe out common sense.
Sure, it was a 3rd world country and considered 40 years behind the West. But after looking at the world events over time, I tend to think 'ahead' and 'backward' is on a circle.
Controlling the passions of the people when the amygadala is hijacked, 'Now or Never' scenario and in a Mob setting is almost impossible.
Based on what I've read here (e.g., the post by psychegram) and online, it does seem that the group storming the Capitol was a mix of agent provocateurs and 'normal' people, who got worked up and excited enough by the AP:s to participate – they let their emotions take over instead of thinking rationally (as Joe pointed out, maybe they thought that this was 'The Storm' à la Q).
What I'm wondering is, why was this PSYOP needed? I mean, the 'Deep State' already pretty much had the victory in the bag, especially since it was clear even before the proceedings started that Pence wasn't going to object/intervene in any way. Was this just to pour more salt on the wounds, a shot across the bows with a message like "See? We can do this any time we like"? Was this to make sure that those Republican representatives who were still on the fence would cave in (it appears that some did, as a result of it)? Was it also to make it possible to remove Trump by force (even if not necessary) to completely humiliate him?
You already answered your question. Trump needed support from other lawmakers, military and even cruising until yesterday . Nobody even know what Trump had in mind or mostly he is taking one day at a time. There is no doubt some 5th column or antifa stuff exists, but that is expected in these type of situations.
C's comment on 'Boldness' is interesting. Trump is playing different cards at different sides - "Chinese Did it" is a big one, however silly it is. If Chinese crime is to print some digital documents which they can't even read properly, then entire USA is filled with that. Anyway, everybody needs some excuse, picked that and it worked like a charm. But, in the end, yesterday's events undone everything. Trump reduced the deathtoll by asking everybody to leave it.
Now Deep State is back with vengence and will deliver what it can do best - TOTALITARIANISM.