The storming of Capitol Hill on January 6th, 2021 was a polarizing event for our nation, which shall be cited as a day of defiance in American history. Resistance occurs in a myriad of forms; however, this mutiny is particularly unnerving given the political tension that is currently being observed in the United States. In order to comprehend the embedded motivation behind these violent attacks that put the Capitol building in lockdown, it is necessary to first recognize the undemocratic nature of this insurrection. With Inauguration day being a presence, the American people should be questioning if this violence is only a preview of what is to come within the next week. 

Prior to the conundrum at the Capitol building, there was a substantial amount of civil unrest among right-winged extremists brought about by election results. The 2020 Presidential race concluded with Joseph R. Biden declared as President-elect. For conspicuous reasons, the outcome was not an ideal culmination to this election for the members of President Trump’s audience. There were even unsupported claims of the election being fraudulent circulating in the media. The lack of credibility in this situation is sourced from the problematic nature of reasoning for this illogical claim. Several conservative figures took the approach of identifying oddities in the statistical analysis of vote returns as fraud. The primary concern was with a series of analyses that had several implications of voting activity among deceased people. These accounts, however, were proven to be very error-ridden as many of the designated dead voters were in fact, alive and identified by multiple sources. Even without proof of information released by the conservative media to be discredited, it is crucial to register that the theoretical ability to commit fraud is not fraud in itself. Although election repercussions played a role in initiating the Capitol attack, the majority of motivation for this violent riot was invigorated by President Trump himself. It is difficult to even measure the severity of this political figure’s harmful image when his Presidential rallies have the tenacity to result in domestic terrorism. 

When President Trump publicly encouraged his supporters to rally against the ceremonial counting of electoral votes to confirm the results, his loyalists were already gathered at the Capitol perimeter. The insurrectionists made several attempts to enter the building and succeeded after being mildly subdued by Capitol police. In the early afternoon, hundreds of pro-Trump rioters forcefully broke Capitol barriers and entered the building. An armed standoff unfolded between law enforcement officers and rioters, which unfortunately resulted in five casualties. It has been confirmed that the armed terrorists had planned on taking several House Representatives and Senators as hostages. A retired Air Force officer who partook in the mob validated these claims by implying he had plans to kidnap, restrain, and perhaps execute several government officials. The rioter made menacing statements in a social media post last week: “Patriots on the Capitol. Patriots storming. Men with guns need to shoot their way in.” (Bleiberg 2021) In the midst of chaos, several government officials were evacuated and the Capitol was reclaimed after about four hours of continuous hazards. This demonstration of brutality is unjustifiable; however, the more unsettling concept is the potential that this breach had to be a notable American tragedy if the chaos escalated further. The general population had already been perplexed by the failures of Trump and his supporters to accept the election loss with grace; however, this sentiment has only become more prominent since their showing at the Capitol. 

If there was an assertion to summarize this experience, it would be that President Trump and his supporters are imminent threats to American democracy. These acts of terrorism at the Capitol were mistakenly disguised with patriotic rhetoric by several conservative figures and news outlets. Right-winged extremist social media accounts have been projecting false claims about the election results as well as inappropriate remarks in regards to the nature of the Capitol attack. Many of these ill-advised claims have been voiced by President Trump himself, identifying the violent instigators as “Great Patriots.” (Moore 2021) These professions are incredibly fabricated and aid this nation’s recovery to no avail. The Capitol’s breaching and President Trump’s actions during the raid were unconstitutional, which is supported by the fact that America’s renowned trademark is being a beacon of democracy. The United States has been able to witness this concept in action this year as many peaceful protestors have used their voices for various causes including racial inequality and women’s rights. These occurrences, however, have been abused by conservative media over the past week as a means of justifying brutality at the Capitol. There is no comparison of expression between these two sides of the political spectrum, because the human rights protests were executed peacefully with the exception of a few aggressive outbreaks in the month of June. It is important to recognize that the minuscule amount of aggressive Black Lives Matter protests were heavily influenced by the brutality of police officers. The stark difference in hostility from officers during Black Lives Matter protests compared to the violent Capitol outbreak was astonishing to many Americans. The looming threat of authoritarianism becomes more prevalent with each day Donald Trump is still in office. 

Although the United States is seemingly in an adverse position amidst the pandemic and civil unrest, there is a great amount of hope present within the heart of this nation. The first official days of Joe Biden’s presidency are underway, which is a comforting idea for many. Joe Biden delivered a reassuring speech to Americans on the day of the riot, which expressed sentiments of unity and peace. The American people deserve a proper recovery from this continuation of unceremonious events, which will expectantly be delivered in the near future. 

Works Cited

Bump, Philip. “Analysis | There Is Not and Has Not Been Any Credible Evidence of Significant Fraud in the 2020 Election.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 15 Dec. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/14/there-is-not-has-not-been-any-credible-evidence-significant-fraud-2020-election/. 

Lee, Michelle. “Here's What Happened When a Georgia Lawmaker Scrutinized the Trump Campaign's List of Allegedly Illegal Votes.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 Dec. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/heres-what-happened-when-a-georgia-lawmaker-scrutinized-the-trump-campaigns-list-of-allegedly-illegal-votes/2020/12/10/1400d628-3b06-11eb-bc68-96af0daae728_story.html. 

Leatherby, Lauren, et al. “How a Presidential Rally Turned Into a Capitol Rampage.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Jan. 2021, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/12/us/capitol-mob-timeline.html. 

CBS News. “Retired Air Force Officer at Capitol Riot Intended ‘to Take Hostages," Prosecutor Says.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 15 Jan. 2021, www.cbsnews.com/news/larry-brock-arrested-capitol-riots-intended-take-hostages/. 

Bleiberg, Jake, and Associated Press. “Prosecutor: Capitol Rioter Aimed 'to Take Hostages'.” Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 15 Jan. 2021, www.startribune.com/prosecutor-capitol-rioter-aimed-to-take-hostages/600010725/. 

Moore, Mark. “Trump Calls His Supporters 'Great Patriots,' Says They Will 'Remember This Day Forever!'.” New York Post, New York Post, 6 Jan. 2021, nypost.com/2021/01/06/trump-calls-his-supporters-great-patriots/. 

NPR, — Laura Wamsley |, et al. “'The Words Of A President Matter': Read And Watch President-Elect Biden's Speech On Violence At Capitol.” LAist, laist.com/latest/post/20210106/biden-capitol-siege.