January 6, 2021 will forever be a day etched in the memory of Americans. Live on television we can see how a mob of supporters of Donald Trump breaks the doors and windows of the US Congress, forcing its members to seek refuge in a hurry.
The assault came after an incendiary Trump rally in which he spouted his lies about voter fraud. At dawn, Congress fulfilled its mission of certifying Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections and Trump’s defeat, who later became the only president in US history to overcome a second “impeachment” or political trial, this time for inciting the insurrection.
Attack on the capitol: Why this situation occurred?
It was called to be the last show of force by Trumpism before Donald Trump leaves the White House and has ended up unleashing extraordinary images of chaos and violence, the same ones that the Republican has paid for in the last four years. Hundreds of protesters have broken into the United States Capitol on Wednesday, where the two houses of Congress are meeting to certify Joe Biden’s victory in November. The raid, which has thrown the United States into turmoil, came after a crowd stormed the building’s stairs with little police opposition, prompting the building’s lockdown.
Barely an hour earlier, the president had addressed the crowd to insist on his theory of the robbery, veiledly asking his supporters to settle accounts with the architects of the discredited rigging. With the assault on Capitol Hill already perpetrated, Trump posted a message on social networks asking the protesters to withdraw, but he reiterated his unfounded theory of fraud.
The unusual image of the occupied Capitol forced the suspension of the joint session of the two chambers of Congress. Authorities closed the chamber doors and evacuated Vice President Mike Pence to ensure his safety. But even so there were moments of extreme tension. The doors of the Senate had to be blocked with cabinets, according to some photographs, but some protesters managed to enter the hemicycle. A photograph captured one of them raising his fist from the dais usually occupied by the speaker of the House. Others broke into the offices of the congressmen and, according to information from CNN, an armed confrontation broke out in the corridors of the building.
The assault leaves a provisional balance of four dead, at least 14 police officers injured (two of them seriously) and a hundred detainees, according to local authorities. One of the fatalities, Ashli Babbit, died after being shot in the chest. She was an Army veteran and Trump supporter. The other three dead, for now unidentified, died due to “medical emergencies”, as explained by the head of the Washington Metropolitan Police, Robert Contee, at a nightly press conference.
Until then, the concentration of the tens of thousands of people who have taken over downtown Washington to protest against the unfounded electoral fraud under the slogan ‘Save America’ had passed without incident. But, among the crowd, the anger, frustration and anxiety was palpable. There was a prevailing feeling among many that without Trump in power, the United States would lose its freedoms, turn its back on God, be at the expense of a corrupt elite, and become a totalitarian regime.
“Curb Theft”
“We have to fight to stop electoral theft, our freedom is at stake,” said Lisa Verdonik, a retired Navy officer. “If the left tries to turn us into a communist dictatorship, this could end in a revolution. I pray that it doesn’t happen because I’m scared.” Among the attendees were members of paramilitary militias and far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, who were the first to march to the Capitol to protest the recent arrest of their leader. All of them share hostility towards the government and a political class that they consider corrupt, one of the perceptions that Trump has insistently fed these years, in which he has divided the country, has fomented hatred and has laid the seeds for the budding insurrection. of this Wednesday.
“I ask everyone inside the Capitol to behave peacefully,” the president wrote on social media after pandemonium broke out inside. “No violence. Remember, we are the party of law and order.” The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, decreed a curfew in the city from 6:00 p.m. And the White House announced the sending of reinforcements for the National Guard and the police, forced to evict in one way or another the occupation of the building.
“I’m not armed because we don’t want to create unnecessary problems,” said ‘Squirrel’, a member of the Texas militia who drove 24 hours from his state to attend the demonstration. Dressed in a camouflage suit, tactical vest and with a dagger in his belt, he assured that the political class is destroying the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. “We are fed up with politicians who do not represent the people and are incapable of cooperating for the good of the country,” said Ardilla.
Reckoning
Trump had earlier addressed the crowd to describe the last election as “the biggest electoral fraud in history.” The president called the 80 million Americans who voted for Biden “idiots,” asked his supporters to settle accounts with Republicans willing to support certification of his victory, and said the Democrat will be an “illegitimate” president. . A gasoline that served to inflame the masses that soon after burst into the Capitol. “History is going to be made today. We will see if we have brave leaders or leaders who will have to live in shame. If they end up certifying the result, we should never forget it,” Trump told the crowd.
