‘Horrible, wretched people’: The internet won’t forget January 6th horrors
Today marks the four year anniversary of the assault on the U.S. Capitol building carried out by Donald Trump supporters on January 6th, 2021. Despite Trump’s best attempts to claim that the day of infamy was a “day of love,” the internet is intent on reminding him of its horror.
“Horrible wretched people” wrote political commentator Brian Krassenstein on X, above a posted video showing MAGA protestors clashing violently with police.
Despite the fact that less than half of Republicans admitted that January 6th was violent a year after it took place, police at the scene called the day “medieval” and a “trip to hell.” The day would lead to the death of five police officers, four of whom took their own lives in the days and months following the event. The fifth officer, Brian Sicknick, passed away from injuries sustained on that day when he was hit by a thrown fire extinguisher and sprayed in the fact with a chemical irritant. The US attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew said it was “likely the largest single-day, mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history,” and the Department of Justice estimates that over 140 police officers were attacked that day.
“My country is better than MAGA” wrote another user.
“January 6th will NEVER be forgotten!” wrote another, posting a photo that showed lawmakers huddled on the floor of the Capitol building while members of the mob scaled the walls of the building outside.
MAGA supporters on the platform have fought back. The comments section of Brian Krassenstein’s original post is littered with posts that claim that January 6th was “planned, coordinated, and instigated by corrupt politicians and agencies.” The conspiracy theories abound, with some claiming that the federal government was responsible for the “fedsurrection” as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Another claimed that protestors were set up for “entrapment” by “26 FBI informants dressed as Trump supporters.”
In response, one user summed up the far-right conspiracy theories succinctly: “And as usual, conservatives cannot take responsibility for themselves.”
It’s a well known fact that the riot was staged by private citizens and not federal employees, and that private citizens were the ones behaving violently. In some cases, the rioters’ aggressive actions had severe consequences. 35 year old Ashely Babbit was fatally shot by law enforcement while attempting to climb through a broken window leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. 34 year old Rosanne Boyland meanwhile was crushed to death in a moment when a mob surged forward in an attempt to fight through a police line.
“And soon a criminal will take the oath of office,” writes another user. That convicted criminal is Donald Trump – the man in whose name the riot was waged. Trump may remember it as a “Day of Love,” but the internet will forever to remind him that January 6th, 2021 was anything but.
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