The Attack on Capitol Hill
AJ Tenser ‘23
In one of the greatest attacks on modern democracy, on January 6, 2021, a mass of Americans stormed the Capitol building, wreaking havoc, and embarrassing the nation in an attempt to disrupt the count of electoral votes to confirm Joe Biden as the 47th President of the United States.
Despite the inauguration being slated to take place on January 20, some citizens of the United States still have not accepted the results. This stems from the repeated claims, even preceding the election, that the results were rigged against the 45th president, Donald Trump.
On January 6th, a joint session of Congress was planned to formally count the electoral votes and finalize the results of the election that had happened two months prior. The process began but was interrupted soon after when they were evacuated upon the throng of people encroaching on the House and Senate.
The attackers of democracy were able to scale the walls that surround the Capitol as well as overpower the underprepared police on the perimeter. Once inside of the Capitol, they damaged and defaced valuable pieces of furniture and art.
Not only did the rioters cause property damage, but they also tarnished the reputation of America and its position as a model democracy. Leaders from countries like Iran and Venezuela have responded critically, countries whose governments are not even democratic. Other leaders from countries around the world responded to the incident with harsh words, criticising the people who took part in the riot and also the former president for his disrespect of the democratic election process.
The majority, if not all, of the people who participated in the insurrection, were believers that Donald Trump rightfully won the election, and some were members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys and believers of conspiracy theory QAnon.
While the mob was successful in breaching the Capitol walls and vandalizing one of the most important buildings in the United States, they were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempt to prevent Joe Biden from being confirmed as the next president of the United States.
5 people died due to the insurrection: four rioters, killed by gunfire, heart attacks, stroke, and trampling, and one police officer killed by head injury following a fire extinguisher being swung at his head. After the events, a police officer was found dead by suicide. Very few publicly applauded the actions of the group of people, some calling it an act of domestic terrorism.
Prior to the storming of the Capitol, Then-President Trump spoke in favor of violence to his supporters who had gathered in advance of the attack. After facing heavy criticism from many on both sides of the aisle for his role in the incitement of the rioters, the House of Representatives moved to impeach him for a second time on January 13th; the trial is expected to proceed in the Senate in early February. As well as his impeachment trial, Trump has been banned from many social media sites including Twitter.
Since the storming, many arrests have been made using the camera footage from inside the Capitol as well as photos that were taken while the event was unfolding. This incident has sparked many investigations involving what and how this happened and led to the police chief of Washington D.C. to step down. To prevent a similar event from occurring, 25,000 soldiers of the national guard were on site for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president.
After this incident, hopefully, as a country, we will grow stronger.
