We Need to Talk About January 6th More, Actually
The insurrection attempt initiated by Donald Trump undermines everything conservatives believe about American politics.
Jan. 6, 2021, was four years ago today. Four years ago, thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump attended the “Save America March,” which began with a speech at The Ellipse, which he gave himself. Two months prior, Trump was defeated in the 2020 presidential election by former Vice President Joe Biden in an electoral landslide. In an election that saw record turnout, Biden earned 81,283,501 votes, more than any presidential candidate in history. He also carried 306 electoral votes against Donald Trump’s 232. The 7.1 million vote difference between the candidates was the largest in American history. By all accounts, the election was not close, nor should it have been controversial. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the election was undeniably different than the past. A record number of voters voted by mail, attempting to avoid the risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus at the polls. Of the 158 million votes cast for president, more than 100 million had already been cast before Election Day. Due to this and a record turnout, vote counts took multiple days to finalize in key states, and Biden was not declared President-elect until Saturday morning, nearly four days later.
Beginning early in the morning on November 4th, Donald Trump had already begun spreading false claims about the security of the election, and his supporters bought into them swiftly. Demonstrations formed outside polling places, with “Stop The Steal” chants breaking out among the crowd. Trump took to his favorite platform, Twitter, now X, to ignite and fan the flame on which his supporters thrived. At 5:44 am on November 4th, he said on Twitter, “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles [sic] are closed!” Later that afternoon, at 4:55 pm, he posted, “They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!” Following Biden's being named president-elect by most major news organizations, his first Twitter post was split into three parts due to Twitter’s regulation of post length. It read, “Tens of thousands of votes were illegally received after 8 P.M. on Tuesday, Election Day, totally and easily changing the results in Pennsylvania and certain other razor thin states. As a separate matter, hundreds of thousands of Votes were illegally not allowed to be OBSERVED… ....This would ALSO change the Election result in numerous States, including Pennsylvania, which everyone thought was easily won on Election Night, only to see a massive lead disappear, without anyone being allowed to OBSERVE, for long intervals of time, what the happened… ....Bad things took place during those hours where LEGAL TRANSPARENCY was viciously & crudely not allowed. Tractors blocked doors & windows were covered with thick cardboard so that observers could not see into the count rooms. BAD THINGS HAPPENED INSIDE. BIG CHANGES TOOK PLACE!” In a landslide, Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and no reasonable person can suggest otherwise. However, his narcissistic tendencies refused to allow him to concede. He refused to concede publicly, privately, and we can assume, in his mind.
He could not understand how someone like him, the only person in the world that he believes in infallible, could lose so badly. How could people have not liked me? How could people not understand how great my presidency was when everyone around me always told me how great my presidency was? When you think about it, it makes sense. If everyone you went to school with, worked with and lived with told you every day, non-stop, that you were perfect, that you were a savior to the country, and that everyone loved you, how could you not believe it? I am in no way trying to place the blame on anyone except Donald Trump. It is his fault, fueled by his narcissism, that he lives his life in an echo chamber, never experiencing any meaningful dissent. For the most part, we could ignore the crying from Trump and his supporters. On January 20th, Biden would take office, and Trump would be out of the office. But we had one more hurdle to clear.
On January 6th, Congress would meet to certify the election results officially. The day typically goes smoothly, with few objections, and the results are certified. The current president of the Senate, also the vice president of the United States, is responsible for running the certification. Right, Mike Pence. Donald Trump’s Vice President would be responsible for determining what objections would be heard, what votes would be certified, and ultimately, whether the results of the 2020 election would be certified on Jan. 6, 2021. So, where did Mike Pence stand in all of this? One would imagine that it would be challenging to turn against Trump, all of his supporters, and the majority of elected Republicans, right? Well, Pence would stay mostly quiet until January 6th. But, that day, he would refuse to hear dissents from members of Congress who objected to the results of free and fair elections. He wouldn’t break the rules to hear objections that weren’t official (in writing and signed by a House member and a Senate member). Mike Pence showed up on January 6th to certify the results of the 2020 election. Unfortunately for him, members of Congress, Capitol Police, and the soul of American democracy, Pence’s certification would not go so smoothly. During the certification, following Trump’s speech at The Ellipse, a crowd had marched from the location of the speech to the Capitol Building. A crowd of Trump supporters. A crowd of only Trump supporters. Well, Trump supporters, media, and police. Now, they’ll have you believe that among the crowd was ANTIFA, Black Lives Matter, or any number of “left” organizations (many Trump supporters, including many who were literally at the insurrection attempt on January 6th, will tell you that the crowd was only people on the left, the FBI, ANTIFA, BLM, and more government agencies attempting to falsely procure what seemed like an angry mob of MAGA supporters storming the Capitol). But, make no mistake, this was nothing but an angry mob of Trump supporters, tricked into believing a lie that the election was stolen, ignited by Trump’s tweets, speeches, actions, and lack thereof.
Trump supporters often claim the January 6th insurrection was not his fault, arguing that the violent participants were not true supporters but rather individuals seeking chaos who misused the “peaceful protest” outside the Capitol. This fosters the mistaken belief that the insurrection could have occurred without Trump, suggesting that any candidate might have behaved similarly and that their supporters would have reacted similarly under similar circumstances. This is untrue, but the right is so obsessed and attached to the idea of the Democrats being violent protestors and rioters. They will always remember the national protests and riots triggered by George Floyd's death in 2020. These demonstrations did not support any political candidate, did not aim to benefit a single individual, were not ignited by one person, and did not directly oppose American democracy. The two items cannot be compared, and I won’t suggest that one was “better” or "worse." They carried distinct meanings, led to different outcomes, originated from various motivations, and are incomparable.
Conservatives will never understand this because, again, they’re so obsessed with this false image of themselves being the party of maturity, law and order, and civility. A post made by Charlie Kirk on Twitter in November 2018 sums it up: “Hey liberals, do you notice that when conservatives lose races we don’t riot, scream, smash windows, burn cars, assault people, or need days off of work? It’s amazing how mature and civil conservatives are. Please remember this and take notes when we get Trump re-elected in 2020”. Now, every single word of his post would become verifiably untrue just two years and a few months later (literally the next time that conservatives lose a race). But you must see why it is difficult for them to accept the truth about Jan. 6, 2021.
The truth about Jan. 6, 2021, is pretty simple. It was an insurrection attempt sparked by candidate Donald Trump’s failure to accept the results of a free and fair United States election. It was perpetuated by President Donald Trump’s unwillingness to act for 183 minutes, just over three hours. During those 183 minutes, both chambers of Congress were adjourned, and its members evacuated. During those 183 minutes, MAGA forces pushed back the fighting line with Capitol Police, and many entered the Capitol building. During those 183 minutes, Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer while trying to climb through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby. At 2:24 pm, Trump posted to Twitter, “Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” At 2:38 pm, Trump finally made a minor concession: “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!” But make no mistake, this is far from the action required to end an insurrection attempt. By 2:38 pm, Trump had still done nothing. Finally, at 4:17 pm, Trump posted a video to social media platforms urging his supporters to “go home” while still fanning the flames of fury: “We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now… This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace.” After over three hours, Trump finally rose from the couch in the White House, where he felt safe, in contrast to the 538 members of Congress who nervously waited in their offices and bunkers. He had the “courage” to record a one-minute video, in which he dedicated only about a third of the time calling for peace. Donald Trump may not have appeared at the Capitol on January 6th. Still, he was the explicit cause, as well as the igniter of the riot that resulted in the deaths of four police officers in the days following the attack. Donald Trump acted as a failed insurrectionist. Many have argued that due to this, he ought to be constitutionally ineligible for the presidency. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution reads, “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” Essentially, anyone who takes an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and engages in insurrection or rebellion against the country cannot be in elected office in the United States, including holding the office of the presidency. The problem here stems from the phrase “[engage] in insurrection,” as Donald Trump never appeared at the Capitol.
Who could have predicted that less than four years later, not only would Trump be very eligible to run for president, but he would have a perfect shot at winning? Even though he was facing numerous federal prosecutions and state criminal and civil charges, even though a jury found him to have sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll, in which a judge determined his conduct fit the legal definition of rape, even though he was found guilty by a jury of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from having paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to cover up the sexual relations between the two of them to hide information from the American people so he could win the 2016 election, the people voted for him again. We need to ask ourselves why. Yes, the justice system failed the American people when it failed to hold Trump accountable for the crimes that he committed against the country and his fellow Americans. But, the people still held the key to the White House, and they chose to give it back to Donald Trump. Conservatives will try to have you believe that said election victory proves that they were “right all along.” Perhaps Trump was being unfairly targeted by the justice system, maybe he did win in 2020, and perhaps the media has been lying to you. But that’s all wrong. Those who don’t understand how any rational American could vote for Trump again, who see him as a sexist, a racist, a rapist, a criminal, who see him as a failed insurrectionist, who see him as a wannabe dictator, you’re right. You’ve always been right. Donald Trump is, and will always be, all of those things. It is an insult to the Office for it to be held by someone like Donald Trump. It’s an insult to the United States of America. Since Nov. 6, 2024, Trump’s actions, words, and Cabinet nominations have been insulting. What does it say to the average American watching Trump appoint the richest Cabinet in American history, loading it with unqualified billionaires after running on fraudulent campaign promises aimed at the “common man” and the working class? Do any of these people deserve the privilege (yes, the privilege) of serving us (yes, serving us)? No.
So, conservatives want you to stop talking about January 6th, don’t they? “Why is the left so obsessed with J6?” they’ll ask, “That was four years ago.” Here’s why: we understand how truly horrific that day was, we know who was behind it, and we’re terrified that the country we love so much could reelect someone like Donald Trump. So, no, we’ll never stop talking about January 6th, 2021. As long as Donald Trump is in politics, as long as candidates or representatives who apologize for the behavior of January 6th rioters exist in American politics, as long as rioters who harmed Capitol Police officers and tried to harm members of Congress aren’t in jail, and as long as those who entered the Capitol with nooses chanting “Hang Mike Pence” still walk the streets, we’ll never let go of January 6th, 2021, one of the worst days in American history.