House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has quite the taste for theater — political theater. Fresh on the heels of exploiting the Capitol riot to impeach former President Donald Trump a second time, filling the capitol with 26,000 National Guard theater props (5,200 of whom are still there being malnourished), and then setting up a bogus investigation followed by a highly politicized “9/11-type” commission into that riot, Pelosi and other Democrat leaders loudly canceled Thursday’s House session after receiving warnings of a “possible” plot by more militia groups to storm the Capitol today.

See! they’re saying. We can’t even govern because of Trump’s army. Talk about a flair for the dramatic.

The Department of Homeland Security and FBI released a joint intelligence bulletin regarding the alleged risk because some members of the loony QAnon conspiracy fringe think Trump “will be inaugurated on 4 March or will return to power on 20 May with the help of the U.S. military.” March 4 was the original inauguration day (unless it fell on Sunday) until 1937, when it first occurred on January 20. And FBI Director Christopher Wray warns that the threat of domestic terrorism is “metastasizing across the country.”

Part of this is CYA on behalf of DHS and the FBI, which have been criticized by both sides of the political aisle for not being more prepared for the January 6 riot. Of course, as we have noted before, Trump supporters had exactly zero history of that sort of behavior.

But the bulk of this cancelation is opportunistic political theater for Democrats.

For example, there are reports that Democrat leaders “couldn’t ignore” the warnings of threats because many lawmakers were worried about being in the Capitol. And we all remember how distressing (not) being in the building on January 6 was for one particularly melodramatic member.

We don’t know the veracity of the intelligence that led to this warning. It is possible that a handful of malcontents were or are planning something for today. It is also entirely possible that this threat is made up out of whole cloth, or that it’s 10% substance and 90% fragrance. Besides, what are the National Guard there for if not to stop anything like this?

Either way, Democrats are using it for maximum political advantage. It is “evidence” of interfering with “the people’s work” in Congress, and all of Donald Trump’s supporters bear responsibility. If something happens, they will have been right. If it doesn’t, they will have appropriately prepared for and thwarted it. Heads they win. Tails we lose.

Update: By daybreak Wednesday, it was clear the Pelosi “Capitol threat” hype was, in the words of The Washington Post, “A mirage.” According to Wapo: “Outside the fence, the neighborhood’s streets were quiet. People walked their dogs in the morning sun and masked students sat on steps drinking coffee. … The oppressive security measures have become increasingly controversial in recent weeks, particularly among the people who have to live with them every day.” Once the charade was exposed, even Pelosi “played down the decision to suspend votes, arguing that the move was as much about accommodating Republicans attending an annual retreat as it was about any possible danger.”