by Lily
Overview
Congress met to debate the electoral college results of the 2020 U.S. election
President held rally encouraging a protest at Capitol
Peaceful protest supporting Trump turned into a violent mob that pursued to trespass the Capitol, sending Congress into lockdown
Trump demanded peace, but violence continued leaving one DOS/and several pronounced dead for the days to follow
Plans for more events like these are currently circulating on the internet
On Wednesday afternoon, the nation’s Capitol building was breached by a rioting crowd, interrupting the electoral vote count in progress at the time and sending Congress members (all members of the Senate and House of Reps. combined) into lockdown. PolitiFact reports, “A man hung from a balcony in the Senate chamber. One shirtless man held a megaphone and screamed "freedom" in a gallery. Another walked around the Capitol carrying a lectern, while another took over a chair in the Senate.” A scene never seen before in history now dominates the media. “One man made his way into Pelosi’s office and wrote "we will not back down" on a folder on her desk. Lawmakers in the House were told to put on escape hoods as protection from smoke or tear gas as they moved around the Capitol.”
Let’s begin at where it all started.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Trump had given a speech close to the Washington Monument, a great symbol of leadership, to excite his crowd, questioning the integrity of the election. After repetitive fact checking, no proof of the alleged election fraud has been found. After telling his crowd to protest at the Capitol, promising his presence, the mob of Trump-supporters did just that. However, the President’s command triggered chaos; around 1pm, the crowd stormed up the steps, fighting against law enforcement’s restraint, and several people trespassed into the building, raiding private offices and the Senate chamber itself. To this, the President asked on Twitter “...for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence!” Even after this, the violence continued leaving blood at the scene. After several demands for a public speech from his colleagues, some from his own party, and the President Elect, he recorded a video message: “… We have to have peace… We love you, you’re very special…” he said, in reference to his supporters even after the act of insurrection¹.
Now, wide-spread controversy reaching out as far as South Africa, Sweden, and the U.K. Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven speaks out, tweeting, “Deeply worrying developments in Washington, D.C. … The democratic election process must be respected.” Luckily, staff members, including Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, were brought to safety after the scare at their place of work.
Additionally, VP Pence, who once sided with the President’s claims of fraud, now saying in a letter, “"It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not," (CBS News, 2021) to which Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution…”. This, along with most of his other tweets from Wednesday, were flagged by the media platform because “[the]... claim[s] about election fraud… [are]... disputed”, and some have even been removed for violating Twitter’s policies. Donald Trump’s account was frozen (he cannot post any content) until he deleted the posts in question. Days after, his account was permanently banned “due to the risk of further incitement of violence… “.
Alongside the raid, major progressions were made in the short time that senate was able to debate the coming decisions concerning the electoral count² and the consideration of election fraud in the process. Mitch McConnell is now in agreement with many Democrats that President Trump’s claims of election fraud are baseless and shouldn’t be considered a threat to the coherency of the election. After a curfew was emanated, the proceedings continued. The United States Congress concluded that President Elect Joe Biden is still winning with 306 electoral votes in comparison to President Donald Trump’s 232 electoral votes. The Georgia runoff, happening just days before the caucus, had projected Jon Ossoff (Dem.) the winner of the senate race with a mere 35,615 majority vote, a historic transition from a long-time red state to blue (270 To Win, 2021).
This historic event is like no other; the last significant attack on the Capitol was in 1983 when a bomb was placed in the Senate chamber, blowing out a wall but hurting no one. But a second, much larger, armed “protest” is expected to be held at every capitol building in the United States the day before Joseph R. Biden’s inauguration into office.
Insurrection¹: a violent uprising against an authority or government.
Electoral count²: the U.S. has a total of 538 electoral college votes, 270 of which are required for a new president and VP to be elected into federal office