> what do you think would have happened if the rioters captured every single congressperson? what if they were all killed?
Then Congress would have been unable to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, at least until the states appointed replacements. Meanwhile Trump would have been shouting "I really won". That still doesn't add up to anything close to a successful coup, unless the newly-appointed Congress people change their votes based on fear for their lives.
What it would have been, though, is potentially the start of a civil war. It would depend on how determined (or deluded) Trump was, to carry on the claim that he won, and how many people in the population believed it.
Then Congress would have been unable to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, at least until the states appointed replacements. Meanwhile Trump would have been shouting "I really won". That still doesn't add up to anything close to a successful coup, unless the newly-appointed Congress people change their votes based on fear for their lives.
What it would have been, though, is potentially the start of a civil war. It would depend on how determined (or deluded) Trump was, to carry on the claim that he won, and how many people in the population believed it.