A Day to go Down in History

January 6th, 2021 will go down in history, not like any other day in American history. Wednesday was the day that there was a powerful breach in the U.S capitol since the British fired during the war that took place in 1812.

Donald J. Trump supporters who called themselves “patriots” stormed their way into the Capitol while congress was counting electoral votes. Many of the congress members were forced to take cover on the floor, while police guarded the doors. They were moved to a safer location after a while; although some of them remained on the floor, fearing for their lives (Romboy, n.d.).

The riot started as a peaceful protest and nobody was that worried about it. At 1 pm that Wednesday they began trampling/breaking through the barriers that were set up to keep them off of Capitol Hill’s grounds. They fought with the police for multiple minutes before they got through.

While they marched into the Capitol, Donald Trump finished his rally for that day urging them on, “We’re going to the Capitol,” he said. “We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” (Tan et al., n.d.).

After Trump’s speech ends, the people that were at his rally begin to make their way to the capitol where they had already gotten past the barriers.

Just five minutes after these events, the Congress and House members are told that there was a mob of people breaking into the building. Many members were forced to hide on the floor, or they were escorted out to the best of the abilities of security. Mike Pence could not be moved off of the property due to safety reasons, I do not know where they kept him during this, but the 48th Vice President was unharmed.

At 3:15 p.m a woman was shot, no one knew her identity until hours later. Her name was Ashli Babbitt, she was an Air Force veteran, and did not die until hours later. Babbitt was shot by a Capitol Police Officer while trying to break into the Speaker's Lobby.

President Biden went live on t.v confronting Trump and his Supporters, asking the Former President to call them off and to tell them to go home. Trump then responded with a video telling the Rioters to go home and that he loves them. Few rioters listened to him, but the crowd did thin after this video came out.

Finally, the curfew took place, and despite what people think, the police didn’t actually do anything until about 10 minutes before it took place. (I was watching this happen live, and did not see any of the national guard/ and or police make people leave the property until 5:40 pm (EST).) Everyone was pushed back from the streets, and from the curfew over 60 people were arrested for unlawful entry and breaching the curfew. Before the curfew at 5:40/45, the NAtional guard began to take control over the property and escorted multiple people out of the house, and off of the property. All of Trump’s social media accounts are suspended permanently for inciting violence.

The senate finished going over their electoral votes, confirming President Joe Biden as the United States’ next President.

(As of 10:31 a.m January 26th): National Guard Commander (D.C) talks about how the Pentagon restricted him shortly before the events of January 6th, requiring him to get approval from a higher authority figure. (Sonne, n.d.)

Quick personal viewpoint: Imagine what this caused our enemies to see.. They saw us as weak that day, they were stressing as well. Just as fearful as all of us were. Imagine what Iran saw, or Russia. They could have taken the chance to attack, because how could our forces win against them if they can’t even control the people. A country is considered weak when it can not run an orderly country. They could have taken the chance to strike while we were weak. Distracted. (Thank God they didn’t.).

1. Romboy, D. (n.d.). Jan. 6, 2021: Another day that will live in infamy for Americans. Deseret News. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/1/8/22217485/donald-trump-capitol-insurrection-infamy-democracy-congress-mitt-romney
2. Sonne, P. (n.d.). Pentagon Restricts Commander of D.C National Guard ahead of Capitol riot. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/dc-guard-capitol-riots-william-walker-pentagon/2021/01/26/98879f44-5f69-11eb-ac8f-4ae05557196e_story.html
3. Tan, S., Shin, Y., & Rindler, D. (n.d.). Visual Timeline: How one of America’s ugliest days unraveled inside and outside the Capitol. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/capitol-insurrection-visual-timeline/