Part VI: Day of Infamy: Domestic Style

Day of Infamy – Domestic Style. 

__________ 

“And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” 

President Donald J. Trump

__________ 

 

JANUARY 6, 2021: The stage has been set. The scenery is painted. The actors have memorized their lines. Rehearsals are over. The curtain is about to rise on an American Horror Story, produced and directed by President Donald J. Trump. The last-ditch plan to keep the undeserving President of the United States in power is about to unfold in a violent Act III. 

So, let’s start with this fact. 

Donald F**king Trump is President of the United States for twenty-four hours, on that terrible day. 

(He proves much worse than useless.)

Injuries suffered by one officer on January 6.

 

“We will win the Presidency.” 

Donald is still awake at 12:45 a.m., too excited to sleep, in anticipation of the hell he hopes will be unleashed in the coming hours. “Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!” he tweets.

 

If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back! 

 

It doesn’t require superpowers to understand, as soon as the sun comes up, that danger is brewing. Rep. Liz Cheney is concerned enough about potential violence to hire a former Secret Service agent for protection. 

At 7:11 a.m., she takes to Twitter to blast GOP colleagues for their plan to challenge the electoral vote: “We have sworn an oath under God to defend the Constitution. We uphold that oath at all times, not only when it is politically convenient [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted].” 

 

Bear spray, guns, knives, and even a pitchfork.  

At 8:06 a.m. Secret Service agents are alerted. Ten thousand people are waiting to pass through security checkpoints to enter the “Save America” venue, and hear President Trump speak. Some are “wearing ballistic helmets, body armor and carrying radio equipment and military-grade backpacks.” 

Jeremy Brown, left foreground, dressed for January 6.

Jessica Watkins - dressed to riot on January 6.

 

Trump has to be getting notifications – or you have to believe he’s in a medically induced coma. 

Nope. He’s up and wide awake. And angry. At 8:17 a.m. he tweets:

 

States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN [emphasis added]. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!

 

Promptly at 9:00, the “March to Save America” rally commences. Homeland Security personnel notice hundreds of backpacks left outside the venue, as rallygoers choose not to pass them through metal detectors. 

(That’s clearly a bad sign.) 

 

At the same time, Vice President Pence calls the White House. He informs Mr. Trump that he has concluded he has no authority to block the certification of the electoral votes. 

At the rally, Rep. Mo Brooks is first to stride to the podium and speak. He offers these soothing words: “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass,” he says.

 

…Today, Republican senators and congressmen will either vote to turn America into a godless, amoral, dictatorial, oppressed and socialist nation on the decline or they will join us or they will fight and vote against voter fraud and election theft and vote for keeping America great.

 

Then he promises: “But we are not going to let the socialists rip the heart out of our country. We are not going to let them continue to corrupt our elections and steal from us our God-given right to control our nation’s destiny.” 

(Rep. Brooks will later admit that Trump continued to ask him to  “violate the U.S. Constitution and federal law,” even after January 6.) 

 

The National Park Police at the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial report that Trump supporters carrying “shields and gas masks” are gathering. This particular warning, at 10 a.m., comes from officers at the Washington Monument: “Just for safety, there’s a guy, a White male, walking around the flag circle with a pitchfork.” 

The president has wasted ten f**king hours. 

 

Up next at the rally, Rudy Giuliani has a turn to speak. He tells the crowd that Vice President Pence can do what Thomas Jefferson did when he was vice president and challenged the electoral vote. 

This is horse manure. Rudy is mixing up the story of 1800, when Jefferson and Aaron Burr both earned 73 electoral votes. Unfortunately, the Founding Fathers had never considered a situation where a tie between two men of the same party occurred – or a scenario where the man voters clearly intended to be vice president (Burr) saw a chance to snatch power from the man electors clearly intended to be president (Jefferson). 

Rudy insists that all Trump wants is a ten-day delay to examine all the claims of fraud Donald, Rudy, and other crackpots have made. “Who hides evidence?” he asks the crowd. “Criminals hide evidence. Not honest people.” 

(We won’t know this till later, but let’s mention it now. When investigators start looking into events surrounding January 6, and alleged plots to steal the election for Donald J. Trump, Rudy and a whole busload of Trump pals will start hiding evidence and plead the Fifth. Yeah. Not honest people. 

 

“I think it’s a hijacking of the Constitution.” 

Signs of serious trouble are multiplying, as Trump supporters begin leaving the rally (or never attend) and head for the Capitol. At 11:07 a.m., Capitol Police radio: “Be advised, the Proud Boys group is now crossing Third Street onto U.S. Capitol property, numbers still approximately two hundred.” Eight minutes later, a law enforcement report warns that there are “approximately 300 Proud Boys dressed in black, some with orange hats.” One of the excited Boys, nicknamed “Milkshake” by his friends, is heard shouting, “Let’s take this fucking Capitol!” 

(These people are not being “led on” by leftist Antifa types.) 

 

Sen. Todd Young (R-In.) meets with constituents. They want him to vote to block certification of the electoral votes. “I took an oath, first as a United States Navy sailor, and then as a United States Marine, and then as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives to our constitution. I took an oath as a United States senator. It’s covenant,” he says. He tells them he doesn’t believe there was “a vast judicial conspiracy of sixty courts,” all working to thwart Trump from serving a second term. 

“I wanted Trump to win,” he adds. Still, “I will not be joining the Cruz effort [Sen. Ted Cruz has already announced that he will protest the counting of votes]: I think it’s a hijacking of the Constitution.” 

 

“They’re not going to take it any longer.” 

Just before noon, Donald John Trump begins his rally speech. He does not offer soothing words. “We have hundreds of thousands of people here,” he begins. He asks the news media to turn their cameras and show the massive crowd. These people, he says, waving a hand at the throng, “They’re not going to take it any longer.”  

“You’re stronger, you’re smarter, you’ve got more going than anybody,” he tells his MAGA followers. You’re the real people,” he adds, “you’re the people that built this nation.”

 

All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical left Democrats, which is what they’re doing and stolen by the fake news media. That’s what they’ve done and what they’re doing. We will never give up. We will never concede, it doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted].

 

He tells his listeners that he was told “by the real pollsters” that if he “went from 63 million [votes], which we had four years ago to 66 million, there was no chance of losing. Well, we didn’t go to 66. We went to 75 million and they say we lost. We didn’t lose.” 

This is an incredibly stupid claim – that 66 million votes would guarantee a win – but the MAGA faithful don’t notice. In 2008, Barck Obama polled 69.5 million votes and defeated Sen. John McCain. 

(Hint to Trump lovers: That’s more than 66 million.) 

 

In 2012, Obama polled 65.9 million, and Hillary Clinton had  65.9 million in 2016. Only an idiot would claim that 66 million was sure to be enough. 

No sane person would have said
that 66 million votes would have guaranteed a win.

 

Still complaining, Trump compares what is happening in America to what happens in “third world countries.” In fact, he adds, “It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.” The radical Democrats stole the election. “We will not let them silence your voices. We’re not going to let it happen. Not going to let it happen.” 

[Crowd]: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! 

 

“We win the election.” 

“What an absolute disgrace, that this could be happening to our Constitution,” the president continues. He says he hopes Mike Pence will challenge the electoral vote count. “I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.” 

There’s no secret. Donald is clear. He has a plan. If Pence will stop the count, Trump will f**k with the system, and he will “win”  a second term.

 

(We don’t know this yet, but behind the scenes, Dr. John Eastman, whom Trump refers to in his rally rant as the “number one” constitutional lawyer in America, has already admitted. If the plan to overturn the vote in this way were submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, they would shoot it down without delay. 

In a 9-0 vote.) 

 

Mr. Trump calls on the gathered faithful to walk to the Capitol and make their presence known:

 

We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.

 

Vice President Pence’s office releases a three-page letter, making it clear that he will not be interfering with the counting of the votes. That letter, signed by Mr. Pence, reads in part, “As a student of history … I do not believe that the Founders of our country intended to invest the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the Joint Session Congress.”

 

James Madison – Founding Father 

– never wanted anyone to have too much power.

   

Al Gore could have gifted himself the win. 

Imagine that any vice president did have that power. In 2016, Biden could have exercised that same option (in a much closer election) and tossed the votes of three states. Presto. Hillary Clinton becomes president. 

(And she did win the popular vote.) 

 

Even better, in the sense that it would be better if you wanted to stab democracy in the back with a steak knife, VP Al Gore could have tossed the electoral votes of Florida, alone, which he lost by 537 popular votes. 

He could have made himself President of the United States. 

 

Anyway, back to Donald: “e

Look, I’m not happy with the Supreme Court,” he says. “They love to rule against me. I picked three people. I fought like hell for them, one in particular I fought.” 

And what thanks does he get! Does he get unlimited power? 

No. 

“They couldn’t give a damn,” those justices. “They couldn’t give a damn. Let them rule the right way, but it almost seems that they’re all going out of their way to hurt all of us, and to hurt our country. To hurt our country.”

 

Trump has now wasted over half of the f**king day. 

 

At 12:45 p.m. Trump is still haranguing the crowd. Georgia has already done three counts of the votes and the votes have shown three times that Trump lost. Not good enough. 

Trump continues:

 

In Georgia, your secretary of state, I can’t believe this guy’s a Republican. He loves recording telephone conversations. I thought it was a great conversation personally, so did a lot of other … people love that conversation, because it says what’s going on. These people are crooked. They’re 100%, in my opinion, one of the most corrupt. …

 

Unfortunately, the crowd grows angrier and angrier. More and more Trump fans peel off and head for Capitol Hill. 

 

At 1:00 p.m. there are reports that hundreds of Trump supporters have reached the Capitol and breached police barricades. A woman filming the scene can be heard saying, “Holy fucking shit.” Three minutes later, Capitol Police discover a parked red pickup truck with Alabama tags. Inside they find an M4 assault rifle, loaded magazines, and materials for eleven Molotov cocktails. 

(Lonnie Coffman, the vehicle owner, is a Trump fan.) 

 

The president babbles on. He insists that he and his followers “have truth and justice” on their side. “We have a deep and enduring love for America in our hearts. We love our country,” he shouts. “We have overwhelming pride in this great country, and we have it deep in our souls. Together we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people.” 

(That’s why we had an election; and his fat ass got beat.) 

 

“You’re not going to have a country anymore.” 

His speech all but over, the president offers this: “And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”  

At 1:12 p.m. Rep. Paul Gosar in the House, and Sen. Ted Cruz in the Senate challenge the electoral votes from Arizona. 

 

With more and more rioters swarming to the attack on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police arrive to bolster defenses. Rioters continue to assault officers and break through barricades. Philip Lewis, a journalist on the scene, tweets: “Whoa: Trump supporters going at it with the police on the steps of the Capitol as Congress counts the Electoral College ballots inside.” 

 

The next 187 minutes. 

At 1:19 p.m. the President of the United States returns to the White House. He settles in front of a wide-screen TV in the private dining room just off the Oval Office. For the next 187 minutes he watches events unfold but does nothing to stem the violence. He has access to phones and a television link. He can call for any action he wants – assuming it’s legal – which, with Donald, you never know. 

He’s the f**king President of the United States. 

 

The mob is now driving back overmatched law enforcement lines. “Break open the gate!” one rioter shouts. “We’re not going to be scared! We’re not backing down! You mess with American people, this is what you get!” 

(It’s not the “American people,” though. It’s the MAGA fools.) 

 

From the window in her office in the Cannon Building, Congresswoman Nancy Mace can see what’s happening. At 1:44 p.m. she tweets: “Just evacuated my office in Cannon due to a nearby threat. Now we’re seeing protesters assaulting Capitol Police. This is wrong. This is not who we are. I’m heartbroken for our nation today.” She posts video of police fighting to hold the line. 

Five minutes later, Capitol Police request assistance from the National Guard. A member of the Metropolitan Police is heard over the radio, frantically calling for backup. “This is now effectively a riot.” 

Trump is watching TV. 

He’s f**king President of the United States.

 

Rioters seize control of the steps on the west side of the Capitol Building and break in near the Senate chambers, at 2:11 p.m. Two minutes later, Vice President Pence is ushered out of the Senate and taken to a safe room, along with members of his family. 

Trump is watching TV.

 

The mob begins to drive back police lines.

 

At a quarter after two, Speaker Pelosi is led out of the House chamber and taken to safety off site. Rioters are heard calling out her name and threatening to kill her. 

Several members of her staff find their escape route cut and take shelter in a back conference room, barricading the door with furniture. Rioters break down the door to the main office, shatter an antique mirror, scatter documents, steal computers, and occasionally pound on the conference room door. Staffers remain huddled in the dark for two-and-a-half hours. 

Trump is watching TV. 

 

Even Don Jr. knows. 

At 2:17 p.m. Donald Trump Jr. is also watching the attack unfold. He is smart enough to tweet a call for calm: “This is wrong and not who we are. 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.” 

(Trump apologists will later insist there was no riot. Don Jr. knew there was.) 

 

At 2:22 p.m. this blogger’s wife, watching the first rioters attack Congress, comes upstairs to the blogger’s office. “You better come watch,” she says. “They’re attacking the Capitol.” 

Trump is also watching TV. 

 

Finally, at 2:24 p.m. Donald acts – to fuel the fury of the mob. He tweets: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and 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!” 

He’s the f**king President of the United States! 

 

At 2:25 p.m. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, after consultations with other Pentagon leaders, tells his staff to prepare to move the “emergency reaction” force to the Capitol. They could arrive in twenty minutes. 

A minute later, Tim Giebels, head of the security detail guarding Mr. Pence, urges him to leave the Capitol. Mr. Pence refuses, fearing images of his motorcade escaping would encourage the rioters. He and his family are taken down a safe stairway, to a subterranean area that rioters are unlikely to reach. 

Meanwhile, the mob breaks through the doors of the East Rotunda. At almost exactly that same moment, Trump misdials the number for newly elected Sen. Tommy Tuberville. He wants the man from Alabama to throw up additional objections to the counting of the electoral votes. He gets Sen. Mike Lee of Utah instead. Lee hands the phone to Tuberville. “Coach, how’s it going?” Trump asks. 

“Not very good, Mr. President,” Tuberville replies. “As a matter of fact, they’re about to evacuate us.” 

“I know we’ve got problems,” Trump says. 

“Mr. President, they just took our vice president out,” the senator adds abruptly. “They’re getting ready to drag me out of here. I got to go.” 

The mob can be heard howling, “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!” 

Senators begin to evacuate their chamber around 2:30 p.m. The blogger’s daughter, watching events unfold on TV from her home in Portland, Oregon, texts him, “Are you watching this?” Trump’s defenders will argue at his second impeachment trial that the president did not know how dire the situation was. 

(If you had two eyeballs that worked, or even one, you knew.) 

 

2:35 p.m.: Rioters are just outside the House chamber. They break windows and pound on the door. Plainclothes officers and Secret Service agents draw their guns.

 

Trump supporter sprays police with mace. 

 

2:38 p.m.: Trump finally does something. The bare minimum. He tweets. “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”

 

2:39 p.m.: Members of the House begin to evacuate. 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy phones Trump. He demands that he call off the rioters. 

“You know what I see, Kevin? I see people who are more upset about the election than you are. They like Trump more than you do,” the president replies. 

“You’ve got to hold them,” says McCarthy. “You need to get on TV right now, you need to get on Twitter, you need to call these people off.” 

 

“I didn’t think we were going to go home.” 

2:42 p.m.: Trump supporters have begun to gather at the mouth of a lower tunnel entrance into the Capitol. (Four years before, Trump walked out that tunnel, and onto his Inauguration stage. Now a police commander yells for help to block the entrance. “Let’s go. They’re not getting into this fucking building.” 

At that same moment, hundreds of angry “patriots” are overwhelming police lines in front of the Capitol. Commander Robert Glover later describes the pitched battle that plays out. “They were using pretty much anything they could as a weapon at that point.” Bear spray, pieces of bike racks. Flagpoles. Fire extinguishers. “It was the first time in my career I didn’t think we were going to go home. I was concerned that this was actually going to become a gun battle.”

 

2:44 p.m.: Rioters have now swarmed into the building. They batter at the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby. Windows are smashed and Ashli Babbitt – an avowed supporter of President Trump – tries to climb through the opening. She is shot and killed by an officer charged with protecting lawmakers.

 

Even Rudy Giuliani, who helped fire up the mob, realizes the day has spiraled out of control. At 2:52 p.m. he tweets:

 

To all those patriots challenging the fraudulent election,

 

POTUS wants you to EXPRESS YOUR OPINION PEACEFULLY,

 

We are the law and order party,

 

You are on the right side of the law and history.

 

Act with respect for all. 

 

The first F.B.I. Swat team arrives to reinforce police lines. More than 500 officers from a variety of federal agencies join the battle. 

Trump supporters do cosplay.

 

3:00 p.m.: Members of the mob have taken over the floor of the Senate. Jacob Anthony Chansley, soon to become famous as the “QAnon Shaman,” calls on fellow rioters to say a prayer in this “sacred place.” “Thank you, heavenly father,” he intones, “for gracing us with this opportunity. … Thank you, heavenly father, for this opportunity to stand up for our God-given, unalienable rights. … Thank you for filling this chamber with patriots that love you and that love Christ.” 

Four minutes later the D.C. National Guard is activated. 

Trump has wasted fifteen f**king hours. 

 

At 3:14 p.m. heavily reinforced police units begin clearing rioters from the Capitol Rotunda. White House aide Ivanka Trump is watching events unfold. At 3:15 p.m. she tries a tweet of her own: “American patriots, any security breach or disrespect for our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.” 

President Dad is still watching TV. 

 

3:19 p.m.: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are on the phones, calling for help. They are informed that the National Guard has been activated. The Guard troops, however, are only prepared for traffic duty. Now the new mission must be explained, and extra equipment issued, before they are sent into a “volatile combat situation.” 

 

No one mentions any input, or help offered by Trump. 

Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller releases a statement saying,

 

Chairman Milley [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and I just spoke separately with the Vice President and with Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Senator Schumer and Representative Hoyer about the situation at the U.S. Capitol. We have fully activated the D.C. National Guard to assist federal and local law enforcement as they work to peacefully address the situation.

 

No one mentions any input, or help offered by President Trump. 

(In an interview some weeks later, Miller will pose this question: “Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened. It seems cause-and-effect.”)

3:47 p.m.: Police finally clear the Rotunda.

 

3:48 p.m.: Pictures are showing up on Twitter, of a gallows set up in front of Capitol Hill, indicating someone is soon going to be dangling from a noose. This is not a peaceful protest by patriots.

 

 

President-elect Biden appears on television at 4:05 p.m. He calls on Trump “to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.” 

 

4:17 p.m.: Trump finally makes himself heard. Still unrepentant, he releases a video on social media. “I know your pain,” he begins, channeling his own. “We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it [emphasis added], especially the other side, but you have to go home now,” he tells supporters.

 

There’s never been a time like this, where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home, we love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace. 

 

Enraged yet again, a fresh wave of rioters attempts to storm the west terrace doors of the Capitol. The crush is so great, fighting so fierce, that a Trump supporter named Roseanne Boyland is trampled to death. 

(Like Babbitt, Boyland dies in service to Trump’s lies.) 

 

The battle at the tunnel entrance rages for two hours. At 5:02 p.m. the first 154 members of the National Guard arrive at the Capitol to support police and help clear the grounds. 

Save for their first morning call, Pence and Trump don’t speak again all day. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell never talks to the man in the White House. Later, one of his aides explains, “What would have been the point? Trump wasn’t going to be helpful.” 

Police clear the last rioters from the building at 5:34. 

A curfew for the entire city goes into effect at 6:00. 

 

At 6:01 p.m. The Twitter Tyrant 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!” Trump says.

 

Boxes holding the electoral votes had to be rescued from the mob.

  

All three of Trump’s picks to lead the Department of Defense weigh in on their old boss, and his responsibility for the debacle at the Capitol. According to former Sec. of Defense James Mattis,

 

Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump. His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice. 

 

Former Sec. of Defense Mark Esper expresses equal disgust:

 

This afternoon’s assault on the US Capitol was appalling and un-American. This is not how citizens of the world’s greatest and oldest democracy behave. The perpetrators who committed this illegal act were inspired by partisan misinformation and patently false claims about the election. 

 

Even Acting Sec. of Defense Christopher Miller feels a need to reassure the country that he’s not one of the nuts. (He doesn’t mention the man who is, namely, Donald J. Trump.) Says Miller:

 

I strongly condemn these acts of violence against our democracy. I, and the people I lead in the Department of Defense, continue to perform our duties in accordance with our oath of office, and will execute the time-honored peaceful transition of power to President-elect Biden on January 20. 

 

Worldwide shock and dismay. 

Trump and the MAGA faithful may be blind – or may pretend to be, rather than admit the truth. Watching events in Washington unfold, however, world leaders express shock and dismay. 

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney describes what has transpired as “a deliberate assault on Democracy by a sitting President & his supporters, attempting to overturn a free & fair election!” 

“I supported the ideas and positions of the Republicans, of the conservatives, of Trump,” says Italy’s far-right Lega Nord party leader Matteo Salvini. “But a legitimate vote is one thing, going to parliament and clashing with the police is quite a different matter. That’s not political vision, that’s madness.” 

French President Emmanuel Macron issues a statement:

 

When, in one of the world’s oldest democracies, supporters of an outgoing president take up arms to challenge the legitimate results of an election, that one idea — that of “one person, one vote” — is undermined.

 

Today, France stands strongly, fervently and resolutely with the American people and with all the people who want to choose their leaders, determine their own destinies and their own lives through free and democratic elections. And we will not yield to the violence of a few individuals who want to challenge that.

 

“Unbelievable scenes from Washington D.C.,” the prime minister of Sweden, Erna Solberg, agrees. “This is a totally unacceptable attack on democracy. A heavy responsibility now rests on President Trump to put a stop to this.” 

 

8:00 p.m. F.B.I. and ATF agents conduct a room-by-room search of the Capitol, looking for any remaining rioters, weapons, or threats, including planted bombs. The Capitol Building and grounds are declared secure. 

 

“A demagogue chose to spread falsehoods.” 

“I just spoke with Vice President Pence, Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, tweets. “He is a genuinely fine and decent man. He exhibited courage today as he did at the Capitol on 9/11 as a Congressman. I am proud to serve with him.” 

(No one is praising Trump.)

 

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump watched TV
while his supporters tried to burn democracy down.
Even the jowls are the same.

 

 

At 8:08 p.m. the Senate resumes debate over certification of the Arizona electoral vote, the only state vote that is formally challenged. 

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) rips into the president. “We witnessed today the damage that can result when men in power and responsibility refuse to acknowledge the truth. We saw bloodshed because a demagogue chose to spread falsehoods and sow distrust of his own fellow Americans.” 

“We gather due to a selfish man’s injured pride, and the outrage of supporters who he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened today was an insurrection incited by the president of the United States,” says Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah). 

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) lays the blame at the feet of the president, accusing him of spending the hours of crisis “cowered behind his keyboard. Lies have consequences,” he adds. “This violence was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the president’s addiction to constantly stoking division.” 

Even Sen. Tom Cotton, who had aligned himself with Trump, releases a statement calling on him to concede. “It’s past time for the president to accept the results of the election, quit misleading the American people, and repudiate mob violence.”  

Tom Bossert, the president’s former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism adviser, tells reporters that Trump has “undermined American democracy baselessly for months” and is “culpable for this siege.” 

(As always, we are quoting members of Donald’s own party.) 

 

At 9:00 p.m., Professor John Eastman, Trump’s legal advisor, has the temerity to contact aides to Mr. Pence. He insists again: The vice president can choose to refuse to count the electoral votes. 

Twelve minutes later, the House resumes debate over certification. The Senate does likewise. Deliberations and debate drag on; but support for the president and his cause has collapsed. Midnight comes and goes, with lawmakers still in session. 

Trump proved worse than useless all f**king day. 

 

January 7: In the early morning hours Congress completes certification of all electoral votes, thereby assuring the nation that Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be the next President of the United States. 

At 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, former White House Press Secretary Mick Mulvaney, now serving as envoy to Northern Ireland, resigns in protest over events of the previous day. “I can’t do it,” he explains, “I can’t stay.” 

Former White House communications director, Alyssa Farah, says she saw trouble brewing in December. So she stepped down. She tells Politico she knew there was no evidence of fraud on a scale to have tipped the election. People around her made it clear that was not “the message” they wanted to put out. 

Then, the riot, “was really the boiling point,” she says, “The president and certain advisers around him are directly responsible,” for the attack. 

 

The New York Times also reports:

 

Even one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers in his bid to reverse the election results in Pennsylvania, Jerome M. Marcus, broke with him, filing a motion withdrawing because “the client has used the lawyer’s services to perpetrate a crime and the client insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant and with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement.” 

 

“No more crazy people.” 

Behind the scenes, some of Trump most dependable sycophants are stunned. We won’t know this for over a year, until a Select Panel in Congress begins investigating events surrounding January 6. But Sean Hannity sends White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany a five-part plan for talking to the president. “No more stolen election talk,” he advises. 

In another exchange, Hannity urges McEnany to keep a variety of advisors away from the defeated president. “Key now. No more crazy people,” as he puts it. 

“Yes 100%,” McEnany replies. 

 

Former White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly is one of several voices to call for enacting the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

Former White House Chief of Staff General Kelly.

He is supported by former Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who warns against the potential danger still represented by Trump. 

(That amendment allows a vice president and a majority of the cabinet to declare a president no longer fit to perform his or her duties due to sickness or incapacity. Or in this case, if a president is a lunatic.) 

In an interview on CNN, Kelly unloads on his old boss. “What happened on Capitol Hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the fraud,” Kelly fumes. 

 

Gen. Colin Powell tells reporters that while he is opposed to the idea of invoking the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, as far as Mr. Trump is involved, you “can’t not have concerns” about his fitness for office. 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski sums up her contempt for Mr. Trump, saying emphatically, “I just want him gone.” 

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says the president has committed “impeachable offenses.” 

The Wall Street Journal, owned by longtime Trump backer Rupert Murdoch, agrees. Editors call for Trump to resign or be impeached. What transpired on January 6, editors say, “was an assault on the constitutional process of transferring power after an election. It was also an assault on the legislature from an executive sworn to uphold the laws of the United States.” 

 

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner is frank in assessing the challenge facing his party. “The GOP must awaken. The invasion of our Capitol by a mob, incited by lies from some entrusted with power, is a disgrace to all who sacrificed to build our Republic.” 

The conductor and his masterpiece.