So What Happened on January 6th?

Written by Haley Smith

January 13th, 2021

On November 7th, 2020, Joe Biden was announced as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, defeating incumbent (and incapable) Donald Trump. It was a landmark day in our country’s history.

January 6th, 2021 will be a day that lives in infamy. After attending a Trump rally, thousands of Donald Trump’s supporters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol. Many stormed the building to disrupt the Electoral College vote count to prevent the formalization of Joe Biden’s victory. These rioters, white supremacists, and domestic terrorists breached police perimeters, occupied, vandalized and looted the Capitol for hours. This violent assault led to an evacuation and lockdown for the members of Congress, along with five lives lost. One week later, Donald Trump was impeached for the second time in his presidency – making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice. Quite the legacy he is leaving… but let’s backtrack a bit to what was a notorious start to 2021. It’s almost as if 2020 never ended!

Called to action by Trump himself, his supporters gathered in Washington DC on January 5th and 6th in support of his false claim that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him, and to demand that Vice President Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden’s victory. At a "Save America" rally on January 6, Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and several members of Congress incited a crowd of Trump supporters. Speaking like the megalomaniac President he is, Trump told his crowd to "fight like hell" to "take back our country," encouraging them to march over to the Capitol. Giuliani called for "trial by combat," and Trump Jr. threatened the President's opponents by saying "we're coming for you," and had previously called for "total war." Just the words you want to hear from three of the biggest names in politics! After marching to the Capitol and defeating scanty police barricades, many rioters became violent. They assaulted Capitol Police officers (note the irony between Blue Lives Matter and the Trump supporters’ actions) and reporters, erected a gallows on the Capitol grounds, chanted "Hang Mike Pence" (just lovely to see), and attempted to locate lawmakers to take hostage. Aside from Pence, whom they wished to harm because he refused to comply with Trump's wishes regarding the counting of the electoral vote, they also intended to harm House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That is a lot to take in, but there’s more.

As the rioters entered the Capitol by breaking through doors and windows, Capitol security evacuated the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. Several buildings in the Capitol complex were vacated, and all were locked down. Rioters broke past interior security to occupy the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers drew handguns to defend the evacuated House floor. The offices of many members of Congress, including Pelosi, were looted and vandalized. Explosive devices were found on the Capitol grounds, as well as at offices of the DNC and RNC. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died from the events, while dozens more were injured.

Trump initially resisted sending the District of Columbia National Guard to stop the mob. In his Instagram and Twitter (which have now been permanently disabled) video, he called the rioters "great patriots" and told them to "go home in peace" while repeating his false election claims. Again, not really a surprise here. Let me refresh your memory. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter peaceful protests this past summer, Trump said “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” I would like to note the irony in this statement. It was not Trump who called in the guard, it was Pence. Let’s also take a step back. Imagine if these rioters were Black. Think about that.

Pressured by his administration, the threat of removal, and numerous resignations from notable leaders, Trump committed to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement. (But did he really?) The crowd was dispersed from the Capitol many hours later, and the counting of the electoral votes resumed and was completed the next morning. Pence declared President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris victors and affirmed that they will assume office on January 20. As if we didn’t already know Biden & Harris were the rightful winners of the 2020 presidential election, still, it was nice to hear.

The events at the Capitol were widely condemned by political leaders and organizations in the United States and internationally (shocker, the US putting on a spectacle and showing how dumb we look to other countries.) Senate Majority (now Minority!) Leader Mitch McConnell called the storming of the Capitol a "failed insurrection" and affirmed that Trump's claims of election fraud were false. Several social media and technology companies suspended and/or banned Trump's accounts from their platforms, and many business organizations cut ties with him, which I might add is long overdue.

To sum up the storming of the Capitol: treason, insurrection, sedition, domestic terrorism, white supremacy, and an attempted coup. The FBI has opened over 150 cases into the attack about its origins and what allowed it to get so out of hand.

If it wasn’t clear – breaking into the Capitol is bad. Especially if it hasn’t been done in over 200 years! And just another fun fact for you, the Confederate Flag had never flown in the Capitol EVER until January 6th, 2021. If we are talking about flags, down below is a flag of Georgia. No, not the state in the midst of a runoff election, but the country in the Middle East. The United States education system!

We don’t know what January 20th, the inauguration day of Biden and Harris, will bring, but we certainly kicked off 2021 with a bang.

Originally, January 6th was supposed to be a landmark Georgia election, so it only feels right to end it with those results. Democrats Jon Osoff and Raphael Warnock defeated Georgia’s two incumbent GOP senators, putting Democrats in control of the Senate. Shoutout Stacey Abrams and other black women who were PIVOTAL in the Georgia runoffs.