“Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
-- Trump tweet on December 20, 2020
For weeks, extremists repeatedly expressed their intentions to attend the January 6 protests, and unabashedly voiced their desire for chaos and violence online. Per BuzzFeed's reporting, the plans to storm the Capitol cropped up on both niche right-wing forums as well as mainstream social media sites, and reached a fever pitch in the days before the riot.
One Parler user said in a comment reported by Bloomberg ...
"Just imagine if ALL the Patriots who are gathered in DC right now were to Rush the Senate, the Supreme Court and the Halls of Congress and take them over."
(Isobel Asher Hamilton. “Plans to storm the Capitol were circulating on social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Parler, for days before the siege.” Insider. January 07, 2021.)
On Facebook, Trump supporters banded together in private groups. On January 5, BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac identified a Facebook group called Red State Secession, with nearly 8,000 followers, that was calling for a "Second American Revolution" on January 6.
We all know what happened next. The President of the United States organized a deadly insurrection. Trump's guilt cannot be denied – if he would have agreed to a peaceful transition of power, none of this would have occurred.
However, it is clear the vast majority of Republican senators will not vote for his impeachment, allowing the criminal to go scot-free. It appears a president is above the law and Republicans continue to court the political cult of a crazed autocrat.
The following is a timeline of one of the darkest days in U.S. history. The sequence shows how Trump gathered his forces and supported their deadly mission.
Timeline of Insurrection (January 6, 2021)
12:00 p.m. – President Trump begins his over one-hour speech, including the following remarks:
“Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down — (APPLAUSE) — we’re going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol — (APPLAUSE) — and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. (LAUGHTER) Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
12:53 – Rioters begin to react
About 20 minutes before Trump’s speech ends, some people in the Capitol crowd harass officers posted at the barricades and start to get physical.
1:12 p.m. – Trump's speech ends
“So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.” And, Trump ends his speech with an exhortation, urging the crowd to give Republicans “the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
2:24 p.m. – Trump tweets:
"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!"
1:58 p.m. – Barricades are breached
A YouTube live stream captures the exact moment a massive crowd also breaches a separate, larger barricade on the east side (where the police presence is smaller). This is the last physical barrier protecting that side of the Capitol. The mob is about to reach the doors of the building itself.
2:10 p.m. – Final barriers to the Capitol are breached
Back on the northwest side of the Capitol, another YouTube livestream captures the mob chasing officers up the steps and breaching the final barrier on that side.
Violent clashes with the police have been ongoing for more than an hour by the time the mob finally breaks through.
The mob approaches an entrance near the Senate chamber, one floor below where senators continue to debate.
2:11 to 2:16 p.m. – Mob breaks into the Capitol
Rioters on the west side break into the building around 2:11 p.m. Two minutes later, as they reach the stairs next to the Senate chamber, the Senate is called into recess.
Rioters continue to stream into the building. They enter through a door and a broken window on the northwest side.
2:17 p.m. – Donald Trump Junior tweets
An aide calls Trump Jr. and suggests he immediately issue a statement urging the rioters to stop. At 2:17 p.m., Trump Jr. hits send on a tweet as he boards the plane: “This is wrong and not who we are,” he writes. “Be peaceful and use your 1st Amendment rights, but don’t start acting like the other side. We have a country to save and this doesn’t help anyone.”
But the president himself is busy enjoying the spectacle. Trump watches with interest, buoyed to see that his supporters are fighting so hard on his behalf, one close adviser said.
2:17 to 2:38 p.m. – Congress urges the president to call for an end to the violence
Several Republican members of Congress also call White House aides, begging them to get Trump’s attention and have him call for the violence to end. The lawmakers reiterated that they had been loyal Trump supporters and were even willing to vote against the electoral college results — but are now scared for their lives, officials said.
Meanwhile, the vice president fields calls from congressional leaders furious that the National Guard had not yet been deployed, an official said. Pence, from his secret location in the Capitol, speaks with legislative and military leaders, working to mobilize the soldiers and offering reassurance.
Even as his supporters at the Capitol chant for Pence to be hanged, Trump never calls the vice president to check on him or his family. Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, eventually calls the White House to let them know that Pence and his team are okay, after receiving no outreach from the president or anyone else in the White House.
2:38 p.m. – Trump finally tweets for peace
The group finally persuades Trump to send a tweet: “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” he writes. “They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
But the Twitter missive is insufficient, and the president has not wanted to include the final instruction to “stay peaceful,” according to one person familiar with the discussions.
3:13 p.m. – Another Trump tweet
Less than an hour later, aides persuade Trump to send a second, slightly more forceful tweet: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful,” he writes. “No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”
Later in the Day – Repeated tweets from Trump
Trump continues his series of mixed messages as the law enforcement officials clear the Capitol building of his mob of supporters who disrupted the congressional certification of Joe Biden's victory.
Trump issues his fourth tweet on the matter Wednesday evening after telling supporters he 'loves' them in a video message that also urged them to go home.
6:01 p.m. – Tweets keep coming
Trump throws more fuel on the fire Wednesday night with a tweet that said of the attack on the Capitol, these things 'happen' when an election is stolen. Twitter quickly deletes the tweet.
Trump tweets: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
The Damage Done
Trump ultimately – and begrudgingly – urged his supporters to “go home in peace.” But the six hours between when the Capitol was breached shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and when it was finally declared secure around 8 p.m. that evening “reveal a president paralyzed – more passive viewer than resolute leader, repeatedly failing to perform even the basic duties of his job.”
(Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, and Philip Rucker. “Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump's failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol.” The Washington Post. January 12, 2021.)
As a band of Trump's Republican congressional supporters – nefarious Republican lawmakers prepared to advocate overturning a democratic election – were making formal speeches inside the Capitol, a mob inspired by Trump stormed the Capitol, occupying offices and laying siege to the floor of the House.
The mob was looking to kill select members of Congress and Vice President Pence. In the mayhem, they injured at least 138 officers from the Capitol Police and from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington. Three officers lost their lives amid the aftermath of the attack.
By the way, after three days of refusing to lower the flag, Trump finally issued a proclamation ordering that the American flag at the White House and at all federal buildings and grounds be lowered in honor of the U.S. Capitol police officers who died after the violent riot.
As of January 9 (Still?), Trump also had yet to reach out to the family of Brian Sicknick, The New York Times reported. There is no report of Trump viewing the Sicknick's remains that lay in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. The record of indifference speaks for itself.
These rampaging members of the Trumposphere – motivated by a mixture of rage, cultlike devotion, and QAnon conspiracies – followed Trump's orders to stage a coup to change the results of the election. He told them in his speech on January 6 to “fight like hell” because if they didn't they would lose their country. This deceitful address was Trump's grand finale to incitement.
Trump came to power as an outsider and an insurgent, and he claimed to be a representative of the aggrieved and disenfranchised. In truth, he was nothing but a lying criminal, a disgrace to the office of the presidency.
And blame for the insurrection must be shared by the Republicans who supported Trump. They used him to cover their tracks and to convert themselves into jingoistic right-wing populists. The reality is that they got what they wanted out of a Trump presidency: a stacked Supreme Court, conservative judiciary, and massive tax cuts … not to mention a cult of white nationalistic bigots.
How did Trump manage to hoodwink so many? The same way he incited the mob to invade the U.S. Capitol. For years, he told his crowds that something rightfully theirs had been taken away (their jobs, their income, their future, their privileged place in American society). Trump made them believe they were true patriots who were just taking back a nation. He justified their hatred and violence. He convinced them that “America First” meant “My America, One and Only.”
The last act in Trump's evil reign was to tell his supporters they had been cheated again, this time in a rigged election. He told them on January 6 that he had the answer to their angst – destroy the electoral system and declare him the winner. They actually believed this would allow Trump to overturn the free and fair election. All they had to do was storm the Capitol and the kidnap the lawmakers within.
Trump proudly told them, "We’re going to walk down there and I'll be there with you" only to get in his Secret Service SUV and head back to the White House. This was just another lie he perpetrated when no other alternative was left. He enjoyed the destructive show that unfolded until others finally forced him to call off the dogs.
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