Since there is now a deep partisan divide over what happened on January 6, it’s helpful to remember that there is extensive video footage of the events. Some footage was taken by the media, some by video cameras installed in the Capitol, some by police body cameras, and some by the participants who wanted to have a record of what they did. Hundreds of arrests have been made of participants in the riot; many recorded their actions. Others were identified by friends, acquaintances, and family members who recognized faces in the video and reported them to the FBI.
Anyone who believes that nothing unusual happened in January 6 should watch these videos, as should anyone who believes the intruders were peaceful. They were not peaceful. They brutally beat officers of the law that day.
On January 6, our democracy was in peril. If the intruders had managed to capture Vice President Pence or Nancy Pelosi or any other members of Congress, there might have been political assassinations. I give Vice President Pence credit for refusing to turn the election over to Trump, as Trump wanted.
How close we came to a disaster. Imagine this mob beating, abusing, even murdering the leaders of Congress in public view. Thanks to the Capitol Police and other law officers, our nation was spared from such an atrocity.
This is the video that was shown at the first meeting—July 27, 2021– of the House Committee investigating the events of January 6. It lasts 5 minutes.
This is the Washington Post video, published on January 16, 2021. It was the first effort to provide an overall picture of what happened.
This is the New York Times’ video, probably the fullest account available. It was released June 30, 2021. It lasts 40 minutes.
This video was released by CNN on December 24, 2021. It is new video footage taken by security cameras inside the Capitol. CNN wrote:
CNN)—The Justice Department this week released a three-hour video of a battle between rioters and the police at the US Capitol Building on January 6 where rioters brandished weapons, officers were viciously beaten, and a member of the mob died on Capitol steps. The assault on the Lower West Terrace was one of the most violent confrontations between Capitol Police and the crowd. Officers held the line until the building was cleared without letting rioters inside. Some officers have since said they did not know the Capitol had already been breached in other areas. The video, taken from a Capitol security camera, does not have sound. It starts as officers retreat, helping each other as they stumble inside and washing their eyes out with water from chemical spray. Rioters crowd in behind them, coordinate efforts to attack and push through in infamous moments that have haunted the public, and officers, ever since.
The Justice Department released the videos after CNN and other outlets sued for access. It is the longest video from the riot released by the government thus far.
January 6, 2021, was the day we almost lost our democracy. Those who say that nothing happened or that the crowd was peaceful should watch the videos.
January 6 was an insurrection, planned by scoundrels to overturn the election of Joe Biden and maintain a sore loser in power, a man who knows no history and never read the Constitution that he wanted to shred. Having failed, he has spent the past year doing his best to persuade the public that our system of elections is corrupt. Having failed to destroy democracy by mob violence, he now hopes to weaken Americans’ belief in democracy itself. Trump has succeeded this far in destroying and corrupting the Republican Party, which repeats his lies and dutifully accepts his leadership. We cannot allow him or his lackeys to return to power.
Thank you for this post, Diane.
trumpsy’s rePUG-ni-CONS are JUST THUGS who don’t think and want to destroy anything of value. They are DESTROYERS of good. These people don’t build … they can only destroy … just like the dump.
So SAD that these people are filled with *&^% and must live miserable lives behind their shattered glass doors of SHAME and DECEIT. KARMA, the physics of life, is gotta bite them where it hurts.
Anyone who says that nothing special happened on Jan. 6th is a lying piece of anti-democratic detritus. It’s like saying up is down and that the mad dog ripping your leg off is just a gentle lamb. It’s worse than hypocrisy, it’s active lying and purposeful misinformation propagandizing.
In the South we say, “Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.”
perfect for this
Joe Jersey
I agree completely.
Also…
And another way to see the past year. Probably the best and most honest.
Bravo! Referring
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse and commented:
Never forget Traitor Trump’s failed coup attempt that happened on January 6th in the US Capital, a day worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in New York City. What makes January 6th worse? For the first time in US history, a mob of crazed fascists, US citizens (not Japanese soldiers or Islamic fundamentalists from the Middle East) attacked our capital with a goal to execute Vice President Pence and members of Congress that stood in Traitor Trump’s path to become the first ruthless dictator for life in the US.
Lloyd,
I worry because this sentence you wrote feeds into the absolutely false narrative that the Republicans are now pushing and the media is legitimizing:
“For the first time in US history, a mob of crazed fascists, US citizens (not Japanese soldiers or Islamic fundamentalists from the Middle East) attacked our capital with a goal to execute Vice President Pence and members of Congress that stood in Traitor Trump’s path to become the first ruthless dictator for life in the US.”
But that isn’t the real outrage. What should be repeated over and over again is this:
“For the first time in US history, one of the two political parties and their leader – the sitting president of the United States – which had just lost an election attempted to stay in power using violence and threats, after all of their legal challenges failed because they could not provide a single bit of evidence to support them.
This major political party and their leader – the soon to be former president of the US who had just lost an election – conspired with others to lead a mob of crazed fascists, US citizens (not Japanese soldiers or Islamic fundamentalists from the Middle East) attacked our capital with a goal to execute Vice President Pence and members of Congress that stood in Traitor Trump’s path to become the first ruthless dictator for life in the US.”
The right wing propaganda want us to make this all about a “mob of crazed fascists” — but it is not. It is about Trump, Bannon, Navarro and all their enablers in the Republican party willing to do anything – including inciting a mob and leading that mob to the Capitol – to stay in power after they lost an election.
This isn’t about a mob. It is about the entire Republican party (sans a few) who don’t believe in democracy. They are no different than Putin.
Don’t believe the new false narratives they came up with to rewrite history over the last year. They are as ridiculous as the emperor’s new clothes.
Lloyd, I’ll never forget the day I saw 3,000 people murdered right in front of me.
flerp,
I won’t forget those 3,000 lives, either, nor will I forget the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. Including some of my own relatives.
You didn’t ask me to forget the people who died in the Holocuast, but I just wanted to let you know I wasn’t going to forget them since I agree with you that it is important to remember all the people who died at the hands of those who would kill innocents to get their way.
But Lloyd’s post was specifically about remembering January 6 and how many Americans were willing to act out violently in order to destroy democracy and install a political leader who lost an election.
Thanks for clearing that up, I mistakenly thought Lloyd was saying January 6 was worse than 9/11 in New York City. My memory is that 9/11 was worse, because of the murder of thousands of people. But I see I misunderstood his comment.
9/11 was unique. So was 1/6.
9/11 was far worse in terms of loss of life. It became the rationale for 20 years of war, which cost many thousands of additional lives. Whatever word you use—tragedy, disaster—it was a horrible event. Those of us who saw it, heard it, smelled the burning debris for many weeks, will never forget that awful day.
1/6 was worse as a direct threat to the survival of our democracy. The Capitol Police were vastly outnumbered. Imagine if the mob had grabbed Pelosi and Pence and others. They might have been slaughtered. A mob is irrational. We came very close to a massacre and a coup.
Yes, you seemed to have missed the rest of the Lloyd’s comment where he explained why he felt January 6 was “worse” — because democracy itself almost died that day – killed by its own people – and continues on life support to a very possible end in the near future.
Democracy died in Germany, which is one reason why 6 million Jewish men, women and children were exterminated.
9/11 was a terrible event. Kristallnacht was – in terms of loss of life – a less terrible event. But the day that fascists began their march to ending democracy in Germany – which led to the deaths of millions and millions of people in the Holocaust – was even worse. The end of democracy results in events like 9/11 becoming acceptable, every day occurrence to deal with those who might threaten the power of the fascists.
The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 were rightly condemned. The terrorists who attacked democracy on 9/11 are celebrated by one of our major political parties. Once that party seizes power, and democracy dies, the massacre of millions becomes acceptable and not condemned. That is very scary.
Perhaps our lowest moment–except for the bravery of handfuls of gallant Capitol police and other reinforcing officers who saved our legislators (even the Trumpist traitors among them) and stopped the so-called “stop the steal.”
Jimmy Carter: “US ‘teeters on the brink of a widening abyss'”
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/588451-jimmy-carter-says-he-fears-for-democracy-our-great-nation-now
It’s come to this. Close to 50 years after Watergate.