January 6, 2021:Team Trump Runs Amok - Full Assault on the Republic

 

1/6/21: The events of today are impossible to chronicle in a blog, even one as massive as this. When I woke this morning, and rose from bed, there was a lightness in my step. The Georgia senate runoff elections Tuesday, I assumed, put a coda to Lame Duck Donald’s political career.

 

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Ken Burns noted that the Founding Fathers feared both “the mob” and the “autocrat.” On January 6, he said, “we got both.”

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Originally, I planned to note that six days short of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox’s term in office, an African American man had been chosen to be the next U.S. senator from that state. 

Maddox rose to fame in 1964 after threating to use a pistol to shoot, or a pickaxe handle to bludgeon, any Negroes who tried to enter his Atlanta eating establishment. The “Pickrick” specialized in skillet-fried chicken with a side order of racism and a fractured skull for dessert. 

(Maddox was a Democrat, by the way, that party in the South in those days being a bastion of racists.)

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had just passed in June. Nevertheless, civil rights workers in the South were being murdered on a regular basis. Their killers were just as regularly acquitted in the courts. These were the days when black lives definitely didn’t matter. Their white allies in the civil rights movement weren’t much safer. In Maddox’s case, he proudly explained how he “stood up” for liberty and states’ rights when the n*****s came calling. 

Mostly customers, with only a few employees, voluntarily removed the twelve Pickrick Drumsticks [pickaxe handles] from the nail kegs on each side of the large dining room fireplace. They had been forewarned by the arrival of Atlanta’s news media of an impending attempted invasion of our restaurant by the racial demonstrators and once the demonstrators and agitators arrived, the customers and employees pulled the drumsticks from the kegs and went outside to defend against the threatened invasion.

 

The invaders? They were three black seminarians, who thought, in a free country, they might get a bite to eat.

Maddox later sold souvenir "Pickrick sticks" for fans of clubbing human beings.

 

Now, here we were, half a century later. Rev. Raphael Warnock, a former seminarian himself, was headed for Congress, having defeated incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a close race. Rev. Warnock was born in Georgia in 1969, the eleventh of twelve children, when Maddox was governor. His father served in the U.S. Army during World War II, but could not have ordered a plate of fried chicken in Lester’s place once he returned. Nor could he risk voting, lest he raise the ire of the local Ku Klux Klan. 

Almost as exciting, I thought, on Wednesday morning, was the election of Jon Ossoff, 33, who happens to be Jewish. By that time, the Democrat had a 17,500-vote lead over Sen. David Perdue. There were ballots still to be counted. Yet, it was almost certain Perdue would be unable to overcome that lead. QAnon people, a growing segment of the GOP base, would be horrified to learn that not only an African American, but a Jew, would be representing the Peach State in Washington D.C. 

(If you’d haven’t seen Ossoff’s blistering response to Perdue’s attack ads during the campaign, it’s worth a look. During a debate, he puts his opponent on the spot and asks if Perdue can justify an ad that lengthened and distorted his nose – a not-so-subtle reminder of who the Democrat “was.” A Jew, of course.) 

With those two wins, I knew Milksop Mitch’s days as Senate Majority Leader would soon end.

 

* 

“You won’t have a country anymore.” 

MY WIFE and I decided to go for lunch and celebrate. We’d already had COVID-19, so we felt safe. 

Before we left, around 12: 30 p.m., we caught five minutes of the president’s speech to a huge crowd, gathered for the “March to Save America” rally. I heard him tell angry supporters that he, and he said they, weren’t going to stand for having the election stolen. I looked at my wife and said I thought such rhetoric sounded dangerous. If you weren’t going to stand for it, and Congress was about to certify the election, what course was left to stop the steal – imaginary as that “steal” might have been? I heard Trump say, if the crowd let it happen, “you won’t have a country anymore.” 

We let the TV run, so we could rewind, and watch events unfold once we returned from lunch. 

We already knew that dozens of GOP members of the U.S. House of Representatives were planning a last-ditch challenge of the electoral vote. Included in a group of thirteen senators who said they would join the challenge were two who deserve special mention. One was soon-to-be-former Sen. Kelly Loeffler. 

A second was Sen. Ted Cruz, sure to live in infamy for his spineless support of the man he once labeled a “sniveling coward,” “utterly amoral,” “a bully,” and a man, who when telling a lie, was able to believe it. 

Cruz warned, four years ago, that if Trump could not be stopped in the GOP primaries “this country could plunge into the abyss.” 

(He was right, for once.)

 

If you have forgotten, Trump was new to politics in February 2016, when he faced Cruz in the Iowa primary. When Cruz (“Lyin’ Ted,” as Trump called him) prevailed, Donald had his first chance to claim an election was stolen. He insisted his defeat was the result of “fraud.” 

“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa,” Candidate Donald howled, “he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” 

Ah, yes, the patented “rigged polls” claim. 

Just to be sure supporters got the message, three days later Trump retweeted a post from a fan: “IA [Iowa] caucus hasn’t picked nominee in 16 years! Cruz dirty tricks stole it. Trump way ahead in primary states.”

 

Trump went on to claim the 2016 general election was rigged, even though he won by virtue of the Electoral College vote. Then he insisted he really won the popular vote, because Democrats got millions of votes from illegal immigrants. 

Somehow, Democrats were slick enough to steal most of those votes in California, where they had no need for them, and not in Pennsylvania or Michigan, where they did. That, like so much of what Trump has said, was absolute nonsense. And you might have thought his fans could figure it out. 

(They didn’t.)

 

Trump would next claim that the 2018 midterm elections, with Democrats getting 59 million votes, vs. 50 million for GOP candidates in the House of Representatives, were rigged and fixed and unacceptable and a travesty for sure. 

He had promised a “big red wave.” 

In the 2020 presidential contest, Trump piled up 74 million votes, which was much better than 2016. It was perfectly believable to Donald and members of his cult that he increased his vote by eleven million. (He did.) But it was perfectly unbelievable that Joe Biden piled up 81 million votes, although he did. 

The vote in Georgia, for example, incensed the president. It was fixed and fraudulent and Republicans who ran the system in the state had to be RINO’s, robbers and human scum. Trump lost the state by 11,779 votes. 

Then the state did two recounts. He lost again. Then he lost again. 

Just four days before the disaster unfolded on Capitol Hill, the president called and begged Georgia officials to “find” 11,780 votes, or round up to 12,000, so he could win that state. (See: 1/3/21.) 

Then he campaigned for Loeffler and Perdue, even though he complained that the special elections they faced would be rigged. With his “help,” Perdue went from having an 88,000-vote lead in November, to losing by 33,000 in January. Loeffler did worse too. Democrats turned out a greater share of their base. That meant that the final score in Georgia election counts stood: 

Democrats:    5. 

Team Trump:   0.

 

They say, “It’s not over until the fat lady sings.” By the time my wife and I headed for lunch on January 6, the chunky dame was warming up her cords. Sadly, the President of the United States of America proved to be deaf.

 

* 

TIMELINE OF EVENTS 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (3/23/22): Since that terrible day, I have worked to construct a timeline of events for January 6. I will make alterations in the future, as new information is revealed. But here is what we know, a year and five days later. 

As far as I have been able to learn, this is what occurred. 

 

JANUARY 6, 2021 

7:11 a.m.: Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, is worried enough about potential violence to have hired a former Secret Service agent to guard her during the day. She takes to Twitter to blast GOP colleagues for their plan to challenge the electoral votes: 

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.

Congress has no authority to overturn elections by objecting to electors. Doing so steals power from the states & violates the Constitution.

 

 

8:06 a.m.: The Secret Service alerts agents. 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.”

 

8:17 a.m.: President Trump’s Twitter thumbs are already up and hard at work. 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. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage! 

 

“The biggest SCAM in our nation’s history.” 

It’s a chilly Wednesday morning in the nation’s capital. Trump knows this is his last chance to wrest victory from Joseph R. Biden Jr. and secure a second term. He has lost sixty court challenges to election results. He remains untroubled by what the judicial branch of the government has had to say. He has asked supporters to come to D.C. for a grand conclave, last chance to claw back what he insists is a stolen election. “Big protest in D.C. on January 6,” he has tweeted. “Be there, will be wild.” 

The day after Christmas, he had tweeted angrily: 

The ‘Justice’ Department and the FBI have done nothing about the 2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud, the biggest SCAM in our nation’s history, despite overwhelming evidence. They should be ashamed. History will remember. Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th.

 

(Both the Department of Justice and the F.B.I. are led by men he picked.)

 

Like lemmings in red MAGA hats, his fans come by the tens of thousands. They gather on the Ellipse, near the Washington Monument. They are there to hear such luminaries as Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, Roger Stone, the recently pardoned felon, Rudy Giuliani, and Diamond and Silk.  

 

9:00 a.m.: 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. The Washington Post explains later that during an “exercise that the department had held a week earlier, discarded bags were an indication of possible concealed weapons.” 

Back at the White House, the president is watching events unfold on TV, smiling to see the crowd swell. Kimberly Guilfoyle, girlfriend of Don Jr., assures him, “They’re just reflecting the will of the people. This is the will of the people.” 

(It’s not. It’s the will of people who backed the loser in a fair election.)

 

Vice President Pence calls the White House. He informs the president that he has concluded he has no authority to block the certification of the electoral votes. “You don’t have the courage to make a hard decision,” Trump tells him.

 

The Vice President refuses to do Trump's bidding.

 

“American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” 

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

Today, the curtain will be pulled back and American patriots will learn by their votes which Republican senators and congressmen have the courage to fight for our America. Today, by their votes, Americans will learn which Republican congressmen and senators love their bourbon, love their cigars, love their prestige, love their personal power, love their special interest group money more than they love America.

 

Because today, Republican senators and congressmen have a simple choice. 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.

 

(When I update this post, on March 23, 2022, I can report that no significant fraud has ever been found. I promise, I’ll make alterations if fraud can be proven in court.)

 

Brooks removes his camouflage cap midway through his speech, replacing it with a bright red cap with the words “Fire Pelosi,” a reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

 

“Socialist Democrats attack our Bill of Rights on a daily basis,” he continues. This is a struggle he implies between all that is good and all that is evil. 

The good is all on Trump’s side. His foes, 

They attack freedom of speech, freedom of association, they attack freedom of all kind[s], including the right to bear arms. Now, let’s be clear about these socialist Democrats. They also want to destroy our free enterprise system. They don’t trust you with your individual liberty and freedom to do what’s best for yourselves or your families.

 

However, we’re going to stop them. We have definitely had some setbacks with what happened in November. We had some setbacks with what happened last night in Georgia. 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.

 

Brooks closes his speech by leading the crowd in chants of “USA! USA! USA!” 

Later, he defends his words. “I encourage EVERY citizen to watch my entire rally speech and decide for themselves what kind of America they want: One based on freedom and liberty, or one based on Godless dictatorial power.”

 

(Trump explodes in March 2022. Brooks says there’s no legal way he can be reinstated.

Trump claims Brooks “ went woke,” and revokes his endorsement in the Alabama race for a seat in the U.S. Senate. I mention this because Trump just can’t give up the idea he’s going to be coming back to the White House in some extra-legal manner. It’s funny, and pathetic, but his fans still love him, even though he’s nuts. 

At least one pundit suggests that Trump’s real reason for withdrawing his support, has to do with the fact polls show Brooks finishing third in a three-way race. And Trump doesn’t want to back a loser. 

Even though he is one.) 

 

9:46 a.m.: National Park Police at the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial are becoming concerned. An estimated 800 Trump supporters, with large flags, are gathered at the Lincoln site. 

“113, we have individuals with shields and gas masks at the statue.”

 

“OK, they’re at the Lincoln statue with shields and masks?”

 

“10-4, and taking pictures right now with a flag that says ‘Fuck antifa.’”

 

At the same time, this warning comes in from the Washington Monument: “Just for safety, there’s a guy, a White male, walking around the flag circle with a pitchfork.” 

 

10:00 a.m.: Protesters begin gathering on the Capitol grounds. 

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

This is horse manure from first syllable to last. In the election of 1800, Jefferson ran for president, and it was intended that Aaron Burr be vice president. In those days electors cast two votes, one for president, one for vice president. Jefferson and Burr, men of the same party, ended up with 80 electoral votes each. It was obvious Jefferson’s supporters meant him to be president, not Burr, who they assumed they were voting for in order to place him in the second slot. 

The opposition party, the Federalists, saw a chance to make trouble. In case of a tie in the Electoral College, the Constitution says the election shall be decided by the House of Representatives, with each state having a single vote. In the House, where each party controlled the vote of eight of sixteen states, in ballot after ballot, the Federalists continued to vote for Burr. Finally, one member of their party relented, abstained, and Jefferson prevailed.

 

Jefferson didn’t “challenge” the electoral vote. The vote was tied – and per the Constitution, the decision went to the House. Burr went on to serve as vice president, although Jefferson ignored him. Later he filled Alexander Hamilton with a dose of lead, leading to the famous Broadway musical. 

Regardless, the situation in 1800 had nothing to do with a challenge like Trump was making; and Jefferson did not question the vote count, itself. He never howled about how the U.S. Constitution was “rigged.” 

Truth did not matter to Rudy. He insisted that all President Trump wanted was a ten-day delay, and a commission to examine all the claims of fraud he, Rudy, and other crackpots had made. “Who hides evidence?” he asked the crowd with a rhetorical shout. “Criminals hide evidence. Not honest people.” 

He continued: 

Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent, and if we’re wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, a lot of them will go to jail. Let’s have trial by combat. I’m willing to stake my reputation, the President is willing to stake his reputation, on the fact that we’re going to find criminality there.

 

Is Joe Biden willing to stake his reputation that there’s no crime there? No. Also, last night [during the senate runoff elections in Georgia] one of the experts that has examined these crooked dominion machines has absolutely what he believes is conclusive proof that in the last 10%, 15% of the vote counted, the votes were deliberately changed. By the same algorithm that was used in cheating President Trump and Vice President Pence. Same algorithm, same system, same thing was done with the same machines. You notice they were ahead until the very end, right? Then you noticed there was a little gap, one was ahead by 3%, the other was ahead by 2%, and gone, gone, they were even. He can take you through that and show you how they programmed that machine from the outside to accomplish that. And they’ve been doing it for years to favor the Democrats.

 

This was the worst election in American history. This election was stolen in seven states…. And it has to be vindicated to save our republic. This is bigger than Donald Trump. It’s bigger than you and me. It’s about these monuments and what they stand for. [Professor John Eastman will explain]… what happened last night, how they cheated, and how it was exactly the same as what they did on November 3rd.

 

Rudy was fired up, and hoped to fire up the crowd. “We no longer live in a self-governing republic if we can’t get the answer to this question,” he warned. “This is bigger than President Trump. It is a very essence of our republican form of government, and it has to be done. And anybody that is not willing to stand up to do it, does not deserve to be in the office. It is that simple.” 

Finally, he played to the audience, flattering them too: 

God bless you. And thank you so much for your support. I know the courage it takes to be out there. I know how you get ridiculed. I know how they try to take jobs away from you. But you look in the mirror every night and you say to yourself, “I’m doing the right thing for myself, for my family, for my children, and most importantly for the United States of America.” 

(If you’ve never noticed, God is supposedly always on the side of this crew.) 

 

11:37 a.m.: Proud Boys join protesters near the Capitol Building. Trump defenders will later say their presence at this early stage proves the president didn’t incite the crowd. Then again, he did say during a presidential debate that the violent right-wing group should “stand down, but stand by.” 

And they took that call to heart. 

 

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

11:57 p.m.: Donald John Trump begins his rally speech. “We have hundreds of thousands of people here,” he begins. He asks 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.”  

I’m honest. I just, again, I want to thank you. It’s just a great honor to have this kind of crowd and to be before you. Hundreds of thousands of American patriots are committed to the honesty of our elections and the integrity of our glorious Republic. 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.

Trump vows never to concede.

 

The president (for two more weeks) begins “explaining” how he couldn’t possibly have lost in November. He used the same big numbers to batter Georgia officials four days before, when he begged them to “find” enough votes to give him the win in that state. 

(They told him his “facts” were no good.) 

 

12:00 p.m.: Rep. Cheney, stops by the GOP cloakroom in the House of Representatives. She sees petitions for lawmakers to sign, calling for the electoral votes in six states to be contested. Dozens of her colleagues are signing, even though only one member of the House and one in the Senate are needed to force a debate over the votes. “The thing we do for the orange Jesus,” one representative mutters. 

But he signs. 

Trump is still speaking. His frame of mind has long been clear. He’s going to do everything he can to change the outcome of the election, even if a felony or two might be involved. Yet, he intends to fool the crowd into believing their enemies, the evil Democrats, have stolen what was rightfully his. 

And theirs. 

Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election, and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election. I say sometimes jokingly, but there’s no joke about it, I’ve been in two elections. I won them both and the second one, I won much bigger than the first. Almost 75 million people voted for our campaign, the most of any incumbent president by far in the history of our country, 12 million more people than four years ago. I was told by the real pollsters, we do have real pollsters. They know that we were going to do well, and we were going to win. What I was told, if I went from 63 million, 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.

 

That’s an odd claim to make, that 66 million votes in 2020 would have guaranteed him a win. Twelve years earlier, in 2008, Obama had 69.5 million votes. In 2012, he polled 65.9 million, and Hillary Clinton had  65.9 million in 2016, as well. Only an idiot would have told Trump that 66 million was sure to be enough; and only an idiot too lazy to check facts … Trump … would have believed it. 

Trump doesn’t seem to know much about other countries, either, where slaughter of political opponents is not rare, and margins of victory often run to 30%, 40% and even 90%. 

You could take third world countries. Just take a look, take third world countries. Their elections are more honest than what we’ve been going through in this country. It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace. Even when you look at last night, they’re all running around like chickens with their heads cut off with boxes. Nobody knows what the hell is going on. There’s never been anything like this. 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! 

 

“If Mike Pence does the right thing, 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. All he has to do. This is from the number one or certainly one of the top constitutional lawyers in our country. He has the absolute right to do it. We’re supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our constitution, and protect our constitution. States want to revote. The States got defrauded. They were given false information. They voted on it. Now they want to recertify. They want it back. All Vice-President Pence has to do is send it back to the States to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people.

 

I just spoke to Mike. I said, “Mike, that doesn’t take courage. What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage,” and then we’re stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot, and we have to live with that for four more years. We’re just not going to let that happen. Many of you have traveled from all across the nation to be here, and I want to thank you for the extraordinary love. That’s what it is. There’s never been a movement like this ever, ever for the extraordinary love for this amazing country and this amazing movement. Thank you.

 

[Crowd]: We love Trump! We love Trump! We love Trump! 

The Rabble-Rouser-in-Chief continues: 

We’re gathered together in the heart of our nation’s capital for one very, very basic and simple reason, to save our democracy. … The weak Republicans, they’re pathetic Republicans and that’s what happens. If this happened to the Democrats, there’d be hell all over the country going on. There’d be hell all over the country. But just remember this. You’re stronger, you’re smarter. You’ve got more going than anybody, and they try and demean everybody having to do with us, and you’re the real people. You’re the people that built this nation. You’re not the people that tore down our nation.

 

That election, our election was over at 10:00 in the evening. We’re leading Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia by hundreds of thousands of votes, and then late in the evening or early in the morning, boom, these explosions of and bullshit, and all of a sudden. All of a sudden it started to happen.

 

America is blessed with elections all over the world. They talk about our elections. You know what the world says about us now? They said we don’t have free and fair elections and you know what else? We don’t have a free and fair press.

 

Our media is not free. It’s not fair. It suppresses thought. It suppresses speech, and it’s become the enemy of the people. It’s become the enemy of the people. It’s the biggest problem we have in this country. No third world countries would even attempt to do what we caught them doing and you’ll hear about that in just a few minutes. Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back. It’s like a boxer, and we want to be so nice. We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. We’re going to have to fight much harder and Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. If he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our constitution. Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy.

 

12:17 p.m.: The president isn’t done:

After this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down any one you want, but I think right here. 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.

 

We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.  

 

12:29 p.m.: TV newscasts roll video showing a large crowd breaking off from the audience to head for Capitol Hill. 

 

12:33 p.m.: Park Police near the World War II Monument detain a man with a rifle. This is the fourth or fifth report of armed individuals in D.C., where weapons are strictly prohibited. 

 

12:36 p.m.: Vice President Pence arrives at the Capitol, his wife Karen and daughter Charlotte by his side. They are joined by his brother Greg Pence, a Republican congressman from Indiana. 

The vice president’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.” 

Trump is telling those still listening that this will be a day “history is going to be made.” 

We’re going to see whether or not we have great and courageous leaders or whether or not we have leaders that should be ashamed of themselves throughout history, throughout eternity, they’ll be ashamed. And you know what? If they do the wrong thing, we should never ever forget that they did. Never forget. We should never ever forget. With only three of the seven states in question, we win the presidency of the United States.

 

Now that the Senate has been lost, overturning the electoral vote is even more important, he says. There’s no more “back line.” 

Just him, with his veto pen. 

He thanks the “more than 140 members of the House” who agreed to contest the votes. “Those are warriors,” Trump insists. “They’re over there working like you’ve never seen before, studying, talking, actually going all the way back, studying the roots of the Constitution, because they know we have the right to send [back] a bad vote that was illegally got.” 

For some reason, he can’t get past Hillary Clinton. He tells his fans she’s “the only unhappy person in the United States, single most unhappy.” Why couldn’t the Democrats have rigged the election for her? 

“Why didn’t you do this for me four years ago? Why didn’t you do this for me four years ago? Change the votes! 10,000 in Michigan. You could have changed the whole thing!” But she’s not too happy. You notice you don’t see her anymore. What happened? Where is Hillary? Where is she?

 

Trump compliments Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and a few other “warriors,” and Loeffler and Perdue. He says they never stood a chance in the runoff election. It “was rigged against them.” As for himself, he got cheated terribly in Georgia. “Last night was a little bit better because of the fact that we had a lot of eyes watching one specific state, but they cheated like hell anyway.” 

Typically, Trump rambles a great deal. He talks about wanting a stimulus plan that would give Americans a real boost. “I said, ‘Give them $2000. We’ll pay it back. We’ll pay it back fast. You already owe 26 trillion. Give them a couple of bucks. Let them live. Give them a couple of bucks!’” He calls Brian Kemp, who refused to call a new election in Georgia, “one of the dumbest governors in the United States.” He tells the crowd he used to get calls from Oprah. He was on her show. She picked five outstanding people. He was one. “Once I ran for president, I didn’t notice there were too many calls coming in from Oprah. Believe it or not, she used to like me, but I was one of the five outstanding people.” He throws in a little “Barrack Hussein Obama” to stir up his dipshit followers’ rage. 

Many of them still believe the 44^th president was a Muslim, and not born in the United States. 

Trump pushed that lie hard, too. 

 

“Look, I’m not happy with the Supreme Court.” 

Trump isn’t particularly happy with the other branches of government; and you wonder, if he had his way, if they’d survive a second term: 

Look, I’m not happy with the Supreme Court. They love to rule against me. I picked three people. I fought like hell for them, one in particular I fought. They all said, “Sir, cut him loose. He’s killing us.” The senators, very loyal senators. They’re very loyal people. “Sir, cut him loose. He’s killing us, sir. Cut him loose, sir.” I must’ve gotten half of the senators. I said, “No, I can’t do that. It’s unfair to him. And it’s unfair to the family. He didn’t do anything wrong. They’re made up stories.” They were all made up stories. He didn’t do anything wrong. “Cut him loose, sir.” I said, “No, I won’t do that.” We got him through. And you know what? They couldn’t give a damn. 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 is lashing out at the U.S. Supreme Court, including the three members he nominated, and who were confirmed. If you don’t understand how dangerous this is, you should grab yourself an elementary school history book and read up on how “checks and balances” work in a three-branch federal system.) 

He attacks the media for putting out stories about the U.S. Supreme Court and Attorney General Bill Barr, “so that they are afraid to rule correctly.” It’s “the media’s genius,” he tells the crowd. 

(Actually, it’s the rule of law; but no one in the vast crowd seems to notice or care. The worst elements are now developing the character of a mob.)

 

“We can’t let that happen.” 

“Today, for the sake of our democracy, for the sake of our Constitution, and for the sake of our children, we lay out the case for the entire world to hear,” he says. “You want to hear it?” Then he lays out all the reasons why he says he was cheated out of a win, including every example the courts have already shot down. 

Over 8,000 ballots in Pennsylvania were cast by people whose names and dates of birth match individuals who died in 2020 and prior to the election. Think of that. Dead people! Lots of dead people, thousands. And some dead people actually requested an application. That bothers me even more. Not only are they voting, they want an application to vote. One of them was 29 years ago died. It’s incredible.

 

It is incredible because none of this has been proven in court. We’ll put it this way. Trump throws out a lot of big numbers in the case of Pennsylvania to “prove” he was robbed: 205,000 this, 14,000 that, 10,000, 60,000, finally 400,000. No wonder he lost! “Mike Pence has to agree to send it back,” he again insists. If the vote isn’t stopped, “if you don’t do that, that means you will have a president of the United States for four years, with his wonderful son.” 

He throws out more big numbers to prove he was cheated out of the win in Wisconsin. Again, none of the claims he makes have been proven in court. 

You will have a president who lost all of these states, or you will have a president to put it another way, who was voted on by a bunch of stupid people who lost all of these things. You will have an illegitimate president, that’s what you’ll have. And we can’t let that happen. These are the facts that you won’t hear from the fake news media….You don’t hear what you just heard. And I’m going to go over a few more states. But you don’t hear it by the people who want to deceive you and demoralize you and control you, big tech, media.

 

And just like the radical left tries to blacklist you on social media, every time I put out a tweet, even if it’s totally correct, totally correct. I get a flag. I get a flag. And they also don’t let you get out…. I don’t care about Twitter. Twitter is bad news. 

 

And for some reason, Mitch and the group, they don’t want to put it in there. And they don’t realize that that’s going to be the end of the Republican party as we know it, but it’s never going to be the end of us, never. Let them get out. Let the weak ones get out. This is a time for strength. They also want to indoctrinate your children in school by teaching them things that aren’t so. They want to indoctrinate your children. It’s all part of the comprehensive assault on our democracy and the American people to finally standing up and saying, “No.” This crowd is again a testament to it.  

 

12:45 p.m.: Pipe bombs have been found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee. 

 

Got your face blown off? Don’t worry. We kept the oil. 

Trump is still talking. He brags about bringing our soldiers home from overseas. 

They’re losing their arms, their legs, their face. I brought them back home, largely back home, Afghanistan, Iraq. Remember I used to say in the old days, “Don’t go into Iraq. But if you go in, keep the oil.” We didn’t keep the oil. So stupid. So stupid, these people. And Iraq has billions and billions of dollars now in the bank. And what did we do? We get nothing. We never get. But we do actually, we kept the oil here. We did good.

 

(I think the logic here is if you are serving this country in uniform and get your face blown off, or a couple of limbs, it’s okay, so long as we keep the oil.) 

Georgia has already done three counts of the votes and the votes have shown three times that Trump lost. Not good enough, Trump rants: 

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. Between your governor and your secretary of state. And now you have it again last night… Home of Stacey Abrams. She did a good job. I congratulate her, but it was done in such a way that we can’t let this stuff happen. We won’t have a country of it happens.  

 

They should find those votes. They should absolutely find that just over 11,000 votes, that’s all we need. They defrauded us out of a win in Georgia…The radical left knows exactly what they’re doing. They’re ruthless and it’s time that somebody did something about it. And Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I’m not hearing good stories.

 

At this point, Trump has accused the Supreme Court of being against him, the Republican leaders in Georgia, Mitch McConnell, and now Vice President Pence. A rational being would know the president has lost hold on reality. Unfortunately, the crowd is angrier and angrier. More and more Trump fans head for Capitol Hill. 

Trump tells the crowd he could go on, but “it’s freezing” and he doesn’t want to. Still, he has a few last words to share. 

[Someone in the crowd]: “We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you.” 

 

12:53 p.m.: A mile away, rioters overwhelm the first lines of police and pass barricades on the west side of the Capitol building. 

 

1:00 p.m.: There are already 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.” 

Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund can see his officers are already getting “slammed.” 

 

1:03 p.m.: Speaker Pelosi calls the joint session of Congress to order, to begin certification of the electoral votes. 

At the same time, 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. 

 

“This is a criminal enterprise.” 

A mile away, Trump is wrapping up his diatribe. He refers to the effort to vote him out of office as “a criminal enterprise. This is a criminal enterprise.” 

The Republicans have to get tougher. You’re not going to have a Republican party if you don’t get tougher. They want to play so straight, they want to play so, “Sir, yes, the United States, the constitution doesn’t allow me to send them back to the States.” Well, I say, “Yes, it does because the constitution says you have to protect our country and you have to protect our constitution and you can’t vote on fraud,” and fraud breaks up everything, doesn’t it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different rules. So I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do. And I hope he doesn’t listen to the RINOs and the stupid people that he’s listening to. It is also widely understood that the voter rolls are crammed full of non-citizens, felons and people who have moved out of state and individuals who are otherwise ineligible to vote. Yet Democrats oppose every effort to clean up their voter rolls. They don’t want to clean them up, they are loaded. And how many people here know other people that when the hundreds of thousands and then millions of ballots got sent out, got three, four, five, six, and I heard one who got seven ballots. And then they say, “You didn’t quite make it, sir.” We won. We won in a landslide. This was a landslide.

 

They said, “It’s not American to challenge the election.” This is the most corrupt election in the history, maybe of the world. You know, you could go third world countries, but I don’t think they had hundreds of thousands of votes and they don’t have voters for them. I mean, no matter where you go, nobody would think this. In fact, it’s so egregious, it’s so bad, that a lot of people don’t even believe it. It’s so crazy that people don’t even believe it. It can’t be true. So they don’t believe it. This is not just a matter of domestic politics, this is a matter of national security. So today, in addition to challenging the certification of the election, I’m calling on Congress and the state legislatures to quickly pass sweeping election reforms, and you better do it before we have no country left. Today is not the end. It’s just the beginning.

 

We must stop the steal and then we must ensure that such outrageous election fraud never happens again, can never be allowed to happen again, but we’re going forward. We’ll take care of going forward. We got to take care of going back. Don’t let them talk, “Okay, well we promise,” I’ve had a lot of people, “Sir, you’re at 96% for four years.” I said, “I’m not interested right now. I’m interested in right there.”

 

He has a list of “reforms” he promises to make in his second term, including limiting voting only to citizens, which is the way it’s been for more than 200 years. “We will restore the vital civic tradition of in-person voting on election day so voters can be fully informed when they make their choice,” he promises. 

This is ironic since he himself voted by mail. He won Ohio, where millions voted by mail. He won Florida, too, where more millions voted by mail. 

(His cult followers can’t figure this out.) 

 

“Regulated, investigated and brought to justice.” 

He promises to attack Big Media, once he has a second term guaranteed. “They should be regulated, investigated and brought to justice under the fullest extent of the law. They’re totally breaking the law.” 

That statement, alone, should terrify any of his listeners who truly cherish freedom of the press, and the right to criticize and hold leaders to account. Trump is in Putin territory, in terms of rhetoric. Finally, he ends on a “positive” note, insofar as you might love President Trump: 

Looking out at all the amazing patriots here today, I have never been more confident in our nation’s future. Well, I have to say we have to be a little bit careful. That’s a nice statement, but we have to be a little careful with that statement. If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country, because it’s illegal when the votes are illegal, when the way they got there is illegal, when the States that vote are given false and fraudulent information.

 

As this enormous crowd shows, we have truth and justice on our side. We have a deep and enduring love for America in our hearts. We love our country. 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.

 

And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavors have not yet begun. My fellow Americans for our movement, for our children and for our beloved country and I say this, despite all that’s happened, the best is yet to come.

 

So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give… The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. 

 

1:12 p.m.: At the Capitol, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, object to the certification of Arizona’s electoral votes. Gosar gets a standing ovation from most of the Republicans in attendance. One of the first to leap to her feet and lead the applause is Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado. 

The president has assured his audience that he will join them on the march to the Capitol. Instead, he returns to the White House. 

There’s another “bone spurs” joke here, waiting to be made, but this isn’t funny. A mob has taken shape.

 

____________________ 

Had the president been in a medically induced coma, he could not have been more useless.

____________________

  

1:15 p.m.: With more and more rioters joining the attack on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police arrive to bolster the defense. 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[.]” 

 

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. Had he been in a medically induced coma, he could not have been more useless. 

 

1:28 p.m.: Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from the state of Washington, has been sitting in the Joint Session of the House and Senate, watching challenges to the electoral vote. The noise of rioters trying to enter the Capitol is impossible to ignore. She texts her husband: “This is seriously crazy. Police have been breached. Chaos is going to break out and violence too.” 

He responds, “Babe, you should head back to your office, right?” 

 

1:30 p.m.: Lawmakers return to their separate chambers and debate begins on certification of the votes. 

Captain Carneysha Mendoza, of the Capitol Police, is at home, getting ready to eat lunch with her 10-year-old son, Christian. She has just pulled meatloaf out of the oven when she gets a call. She’s not scheduled to come in for her shift until 3 p.m. But a fellow officer says she better come now. 

 

1:31 p.m.: Lewis tweets again: “This is WILD.” 

The mob is driving over-matched law enforcement officers back. “Break open the gate!” one rioter is heard to shout. “We’re not going to be scared! We’re not backing down! You mess with American people, this is what you get!” 

(This is a subset of the American people. That’s all.) 

 

1:44 p.m.: Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace 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. 

 

1:49 p.m.: Capitol Police request assistance from the National Guard. A member of the Metropolitan Police is heard over radio, frantically calling for backup. “This is now effectively a riot.” 

A call from then-Capitol Police Chief Sund goes to Maj. Gen. William Walker, in command of the D.C. National Guard. Walker will later tell a Senate committee that Sund’s voice was “cracking with emotion.” The Associated Press reports that, “Walker immediately called Army leaders to inform them of the request.” 

(Trump is still watching TV.)

 

2:05 p.m.: The first fatality of the day occurs. Kevin Greeson, a Trump supporter from Alabama, suffers a heart attack.

 

2:11 p.m.: Rioters manage to take over the steps on the west side of the Capitol Building and break in near the Senate chambers. 

Sund calls Walker again and asks for 200 National Guard troops, “more if they are available.” 

 

2:13 p.m.: Vice President Pence is ushered out of the Senate and taken to a safe room, along with members of his family. 

Officer Eugene Goodman spots Sen. Mitch Romney in a hall and warns him to turn around and go the other way. Rioters are inside the building. 

 

2:14 p.m.: Goodman ushers a group of rioters, among the first to breach the Capitol, away from the Senate chamber. He faces off against a group of men, with one rioter, Doug Jensen, in the lead. “Back up!” Goodman finally shouts, threatening him with a police baton. 

Jensen replies, “Hit me, I’ll take it. I will take it for my country.” Later, Jensen tells another officer he should go arrest the vice president. 

(Who has led Jensen and the other rioters on?) 

 

2:15 p.m.: 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. 

In the affidavit for his arrest, Dominic “Spazzo” Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, and one of the alleged rioters will later admit, “Anyone they got their hands on they would have killed.” 

Several members of Pelosi’s staff realize their escape route has been cut off  and take shelter in a back conference room, barricading the door with furniture. As rioters break down the door to the main office, shatter an antique mirror, scatter documents, and steal computers, and occasionally pound on the conference room door, they remain huddled in the dark for two-and-a-half hours. 

 

“You better come watch. They’re attacking the Capitol.” 

2:17 p.m.: Even Donald Trump Jr., watching the attack unfold, is smart enough to tweet out 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.” 

 

2:19 p.m.: Capitol Police email this urgent message: 

Capitol staff: Due to a security threat inside the building, immediately:
- Move inside your office or the nearest office.
- Take emergency equipment and visitors.
- Close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows.
- If you are in a public space, find a place to hide or seek cover.
- Remain quiet and silence electronics.
- Once you are in a safe location, immediately check in with your OEC.
- No one will be permitted to enter or exit the building until directed by USCP.
- If you are in a building outside of the affected area, remain clear of the police activity.
- Await further direction. 

 

2:20 p.m.: Inside the building, John Breshnahan, tweets a picture of a door, the crowd just outside. “You can hear the crowd roaring outside door. Now shattering the glass. Crazy,” he says.

 

2:22 p.m.: The 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.” 

 

2:24 p.m.: President Trump 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!” 

(The President of the United States is still stirring up the mob.) 

 

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. 

 

2:26 p.m.: Tim Giebels, the head of the security detail guarding Mr. Pence has already urged him to leave the Capitol. 

Twice. 

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 probably can’t reach. His armored limousine is parked there, and the VP and his family are instructed to climb inside. “I’m not getting in the car, Tim,” Pence says. “I trust you, Tim, but you’re not driving the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. I’m not getting in the car.” 

John Eastman, a conservative lawyer, who has been advising the president – encouraging him to take drastic steps to gain a second term – has the audacity to email Greg Jacob, Pence’s counsel. Jacob is hiding from the mob along with other aides and the Pence family. “The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened,” Eastman writes. 

Eastman later tells the Washington Post that his email was in response to an email in which Jacob told him that his “bull****” legal advice was why Pence’s team was “under siege.”

 

A few days later, Jacob drafts a letter, which he never publishes. It reads, in part: 

In the days and hours leading up to the counting of the electoral votes in Congress, a cadre of outside lawyers to the President spun a web of lies and disinformation, to him and to the public, for the purpose of pressuring the Vice President to betray his oath to uphold our laws and the Constitution of the United States. 

 

He further accuses Eastman, Giuliani, and their crowd of selling “a stream of snake oil to the most powerful office in the world, wrapped in the guise of a lawyer’s advice” and offering up “half-truths and deceptive presentations” for President Trump’s consumption. All to the detriment of democracy, of course.

 

Meanwhile, rioters break through the doors of the East Rotunda. At the almost exactly the same moment, President 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 electoral votes. He gets Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. 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 now be heard howling, “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!” 

On a conference call, Sund tells top U.S. Army officials, “I am making urgent, urgent immediate request for National Guard assistance.” 

(Trump is watching TV.)

 

 

2:30 p.m.: Senators begin to evacuate their chamber. The blogger’s daughter, watching events unfold on TV from her home in Portland, Oregon, texts him, “Are you watching this?” 

Other members of our family report that they too are watching the shocking scenes. Trump’s defenders will argue at his 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.)

 

According to one Republican senator, Sen. Lindsey Graham was outraged when he found out that he and his colleagues were being forced to flee. According to the Washington Post, he yelled at the Senate sergeant-at-arms. “What are you doing? Take back the Senate! You’ve got guns. Use them. We give you guns for a reason,” he said. 

“Use them.” 

 

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

 

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!” 

That’s it. 

 

“Yeah, they’re your people. Call them off.” 

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

Around this time House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy calls Trump. He insists he must act. He must 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.” 

“Kevin, they’re not my people.” 

“Yes they are, they just came through my windows and my staff is running for cover. Yeah, they’re your people. Call them off.” 

 

2:44 p.m.: The mob batters at the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby, adjacent to the House chamber. 

Windows are smashed and Ashli Babbitt – an avowed supporter of President Trump – tries to climb through the opening. 

She is shot and killed by officers protecting lawmakers. 

Inside the House chamber, members are worried about gunfire erupting, and are told the backs of their chairs are bulletproof. If worse comes to worst, they are advised to get down under their chairs. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a Trump loyalist, offers to assist Rep. Cheney, explaining, “We need to get the ladies away from the aisle. Let me help you.” 

Cheney barks: “Get away from me. You f***ing did this.” 

(Two member of Congress say they heard the exchange. Jordan, perhaps playing the part of the gentleman, later denies that his colleague used the f-word.)

Babbitt is shot moments after trying to breech this last locked door.

 

The Post describes the scene: 

Inside the chamber, lawmakers assumed the worst and realized they could soon be overrun by violent intruders. Jayapal thought the rioters were shooting into the chamber.

 

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) comforted her friend Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) in prayer.

 

Rep. Terri A. Sewell (D-Ala.) called her mother.

 

Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.), who has since disclosed lasting mental trauma sparked by his experience, called his family and began to say goodbye after understanding the gravity of the situation; there was a chance he would not make it out alive.

 

…

 

Suddenly, pounding noises were coming from the opposite side of the chamber doors closest to members. …[Jayapal] moved her walking stick to her right hand — her dominant one — so she could hit anyone who came near her. “I was starting to plan that I might die, and if I was going to, then I was going to go down fighting,” she said.

 

According to a timeline prepared by the Associated Press, the Joint Chiefs of Staff “set up a video teleconference call that stayed open until about 10 p.m. that night, allowing staff to communicate any updates quickly to military leaders.” 

(The President of the United States plays no known role.) 

 

2:47 p.m.: The mob takes over the floor of the U.S. Senate. 

 

2:52 p.m.: Even Rudy Giuliani (who helped stir the mob), realizes the day has spiraled out of control. 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. More than 500 officers from a variety of federal agencies join the battle to protect Congress. 

 

2:57 p.m.: Rioters hoist a window-cleaning scaffold to the second floor and appear intent on breaking through the windows. They drop an American flag to the crowd below, but keep a Trump flag flying. 

 

3:00 p.m.: Members of the mob have taken over the floor of the Senate. One of them, Paul Hodgkins, tells others, “Guys, please don’t wreck anything in here.” Later, he remembers, “It felt like some kind of dream.” 

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.” 

(Again: Who stirred these people up?)

 

3:04 p.m.: The D.C. National Guard is activated. 

 

3:13 p.m.: President Trump has still done nothing but tweet vacuously. He does so again: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful,” he taps on his phone. “No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!” 

 

3:14 p.m.: Heavily reinforced police units begin to clear the Capitol Rotunda of rioters. 

 

3:15 p.m.: Ivanka Trump tries a tweet of her own: “American patriots,” she tap-taps on her phone, “any security breach or disrespect for to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.” 

Reaction is swift. Ms. Trump is roundly criticized for her ineffective effort – and she deletes the post minutes later. 

Jason Miller, a top White House advisor, drafts a pair of tweets, as aides work to get Trump to do something. Neither is truthful. 

“Bad apples, like ANTIFA or other crazed leftists, infiltrated today’s peaceful protest over the fraudulent vote count. Violence is never acceptable! MAGA supporters embrace our police and the rule of law and should leave the Capitol now!” 

– and – 

“The fake news media who encouraged this summer’s violent and radical riots are now trying to blame peaceful and innocent MAGA supporters for violent actions. This isn’t who we are! Our people should head home and let the criminals suffer the consequences!” 

Neither tweet is sent. The President of the United States continues to sulk in his dining room, watching TV. 

 

“The disdain for democratic institutions is devastating.” 

3:18 p.m.: It’s not like other people watching this shitstorm don’t know what has to be done. On CNN, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) admits, “I’ve not seen anything like this since I deployed to Iraq...The president needs to call it off. Call it off. It’s over. The election is over.” 

A few minutes later, a second Republican veteran, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, also tells CNN, it’s time for Trump to admit the truth. “He needs to stand up and say, ‘I lost the election,’” and put this insurrection to an end. 

 

3:19 p.m.: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are on the phones, calling for help. They are informed the 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.” 

Acting Sec. 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.” 

He does not mention Trump. 

(In an interview some weeks later, Miller poses 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,” he adds. “The question is, did he know he was enraging the crowd to do that? I don’t know.”) 

 

“You are not going to take away our Trumpy-bear.” 

3:31 p.m.: A reporter covering local D.C. news shows three rioters on the scaffold hanging outside second story windows. “Absolute calamity at the U.S. Capitol. Smoke bombs, tear gas and people infiltrating the building. 30 mins ago some here hijacked this equipment and took flags to the windows.” 

“Others asserting that ‘1776 has commenced again.’” 

Inside the Capitol, the rioters continue to battle police who are trying to clear them out. Gina Bisignano, who has traveled all the way from California to hear Trump speak – and end up as a minor cog in a mob – urges others to keep up the fight. “Everybody, we need gas masks,” she calls out at one point. “We need weapons. We need strong, angry patriots to help our boys. They don’t want to leave.” 

Incongruously, she calls out, “You are not going to take away our Trumpy-bear. You are not going to take away our votes and our freedom that our men died for.”

3:32 p.m.: Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General for NATO registers his dismay at what he and others in Europe are seeing: “Shocking scenes in Washington, D.C. The outcome of this democratic election must be respected.” 

 

3:33 p.m.: Like President Trump, the whole world can see what’s transpiring. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweets. “The enemies of democracy will be happy to see these incredible pictures from #WashingtonDC. Riotous words turn into violent acts - on the steps of the Reichstag, and now in the #Capitol. The disdain for democratic institutions is devastating.” 

(The Germans have experience with right-wing types shutting down their legislature.) 

 

3:36 p.m.: White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweets: “At President @realDonaldTrump’s direction, the National Guard is on the way along with other federal protective services.” 

(As far as this blogger can ascertain, no one, except McEnany, claims Trump played any role.) 

 

3:44 p.m.: Schumer implores officials, “Tell POTUS to tweet everyone should leave.”

 

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

 

3:48 p.m.: Army Sec. McCarthy, frustrated by the delay in the Guard’s linkup with police, dashes “from the Pentagon to D.C. police headquarters to help coordinate with law enforcement.” 

Pictures are showing up on Twitter, showing a gallows set up in front of Capitol Hill, indicating someone is soon going to be dangling from a noose.

 

 

“Attacks by fanatic Trump supporters.” 

3:51 p.m.: The Prime Minister of Spain posts this message: “I am following with concern the news that are [sic] coming from Capitol Hill in Washington. I trust in the strength of America’s democracy. The new Presidency of @JoeBiden will overcome this time of tension, uniting the American people. 

 

4:05 p.m.: President-elect Biden appears on television. 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.” 

(To this point, the President of the United States has done nothing but tweet.) 

 

4:06 p.m.: Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, tweets: “Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.” 

 

4:10 p.m.: The governor of German’s largest state posts on Twitter: “For centuries the US Congress was a global symbol for freedom and democracy. The attacks by fanatic Trump supporters hurt every friend of the USA. Those sowing populism and polarization with words will reap hatred and violence. 

 

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

We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anyone hurt. It’s a very tough period of time. 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.

 

“The first video out in the Rose Garden was never going to be a good idea because it was a continuation of the rally,” a former White House aide tells Politico later. “It’s almost as if he was still in rally mode.” 

In fact, this was the third take – the first two being even worse. 

 

4:26 p.m.: 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, a Trump supporter named Roseanne Boyland is trampled to death. 

 

4:35 p.m.: The head of the Dutch government proves blunt, tweeting: “Horrible images from Washington D.C. Dear @realDonaldTrump, recognise @JoeBiden as the next president today.” 

 

4:42 p.m.: Olivia Nunzi, a reporter for New York Magazine tweets: “Daryl Brooks, one of Rudy Giuliani’s witnesses at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference, posted on Facebook claiming to be rioting inside of the Capitol building today. He then deleted it and claimed he’d been hacked. (First image sent to me from a source).” 

It would certainly be interesting to see those twenty-seven comments, and know who the ten shares were – and find out if Brooks was really “hacked.” 

 

4:56 p.m.: Sen. Jeff Merkley tweets: “Electoral college ballots rescued from the Senate floor. If our capable floor staff hadn’t grabbed them, they would have been burned by the mob.”

5:02 p.m.: The first 154 members of the National Guard arrive at the Capitol to support police and help clear the grounds. 

Politico later notes: 

Trump, still fuming about Pence’s decision not to interfere with the certification, never called his vice president. Pence had been forced to hide with his family in the Capitol while rioters chanted that they wanted to hang him. Later, Trump expressed frustration to Meadows and other aides that Pence had gotten credit for deploying the National Guard and coordinating with other government officials on the overall response, but it would be days before the two men spoke directly.

 

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

 

5:23 p.m.: A reporter for the Washington Post, tweets: “Just witnessed an alarming scene with @mjcontrera outside the US Capitol. A group of TV reporters were swarmed and chased away from their cameras, which a mob of President Trump’s supporters trashed. 

Here’s the aftermath,” and then three photos. 

We’ll just use one:

 

5:34 p.m.: Police manage to clear the last rioters from the building.

 

5:40 p.m.: From the other side of the world, Australian Prime Minster Scott Morrison tweets: “Very distressing scenes at the US Congress. We condemn these acts of violence and look forward to a peaceful transfer of Government to the newly elected administration in the great American democratic tradition.” 

 

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

 

6:01 p.m.: Trump, the Tyrant of Twitter, 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!” 

(At this point the president knows who stormed the Capitol – his own people, the “great patriots” in MAGA gear.) 

Trump’s favorite lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, calls Sen. Tommy Tuberville, but doesn’t mention the riots. He wants the newly elected senator from Alabama to “slow down” the final certification process. 

He dials the wrong number. 

 

“A lie from the gates of hell.” 

6:03 p.m.: The most vociferous fans of the president are already out with excuses, including evangelical leaders. Pastor Mark Burns tweets a video, saying he’s “angry” and “indignant.”  “This is a very sad day for America, very sad day for America,” he says. So far, he’s right. Then, this gem: For the media to say that the attackers were Trump supporters is “a lie from the gates of hell.” 

Who busted up the Capitol Building? 

Antifa folks, he says! 

Eric Metaxas, another leading voice in evangelical circles, tweets: “There is no doubt the election was fraudulent. That is the same today as yesterday. There is no doubt Antifa infiltrated the protesters today and planned this. This is political theater and anyone who buys it is a sucker. Fight for justice and Pray for justice. God bless America!” 

(God bless and protect us from ignoramuses like Metaxas.)

 

Franklin Graham at least calls for members of his flock to pray for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He, too, has a theory: the people “who broke the windows” were “most likely” Antifa. 

There are others who see the truth and still honor the Ninth Commandment. As Slate notes, “Southern Baptist Convention president J.D. Greear on Twitter asked the president to “condemn this mob” and called the peaceful transition of power “part of honoring and submitting to God’s ordained leaders whether they were our choice or not.” 

 

“Inspired by…patently false claims about the election.” 

If some evangelical leaders seem blinded by the light, 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 similar 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.

 

Others are no less horrified. Former U.S. forces-Afghanistan commander Gen. John Allen offers this assessment: 

After four years of seemingly unending outrages, it’s time. U.S. President Donald Trump must go, and the vice president must rescue the country’s democracy by leading the cabinet in invoking the 25th Amendment. After a long series of offenses – a list that would exceed the space available here – the culmination of Trump’s criminal attempts at election tampering and his incitement of insurrection on Wednesday lead us to the point of an unavoidable national reckoning.

 

Former U.S. Special Operations commander Gen. Raymond Thomas expresses his own outrage: “UNAMERICAN! My blood is literally boiling. We allowed this to happen in a slow boil. Meanwhile Nero fiddles…on Twitter. So sad for our country right now.” 

 

“That’s not political vision, that’s madness.” 

6:17 p.m.: Witnessing the day’s events, world leaders express shock and dismay. The Prime Minister of Canada offers condolences: “Canadians are deeply disturbed and saddened by the attack on democracy in the United States, our closest ally and neighbour. Violence will never succeed in overruling the will of the people. Democracy in the US must be upheld - and it will be.” 

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney calls the scenes in Washington “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 League 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.” 

 

6:49 p.m.: Trump apologists ramp up their effort to shift blame for the disaster of this day. On Twitter, Steve Silberman, a writer, takes note. “This is Jake Angeli, a well-known Trump and QAnon supporter,” he tweets. “Meanwhile, GOPers in my social network are claiming he’s Antifa and was photographed at a Black Lives Matter rally. I’m sure his 3 WHITE SUPREMACIST TATTOOS went over really well at BLM rallies.”

Jake Angeli in Viking garb.

7:00 p.m.: F.B.I. and ATF agents conduct a room-by-room search of the Capitol, looking for any rioters, weapons, or threats. In a quick conference call various congressional leaders and Vice President Pence are notified that the rioters are gone. Mr. Pence says only two words, at the end: “Thank you.” 

Captain Mendoza looks at her Fitbit watch – it shows that she has been in a workout for the last four hours, proof of the intense nature of the battle that day. 

 

8:00 p.m.: The Capitol Building and grounds are declared secure. 

The vice president’s spokesperson Devin O’Malley says Pence will return to the Senate chamber to resume the certification process, after congressional leaders announce plans to reconvene. “VP was in regular contact [with] House & Senate leadership, Cap Police, DOJ & DoD to facilitate efforts to secure the Capitol & reconvene Congress. And now we will finish the people’s business.” 

Sen. Graham stops Pence as he enters the Senate chamber. “You’re doing the right thing,” he says. “I’m proud of you.” 

“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.” 

Neither O’Malley nor O’Brien mentions any contribution the president might have made to quell the insurrection. 

 

“A demagogue chose to spread falsehoods.” 

8:08 p.m.: The Senate resumes debate over certification of the Arizona electoral vote, the only state vote that is formally challenged in the end. There is little stomach for delaying tactics. Even Sen. Graham is ready to move on. 

“Enough is enough,” he says. 

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,” he says. “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 directly 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.”

 

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) is honest, to a point, but ends up sounding pitiful. “Today in watching [Trump’s] speech, I have to admit I gasped. I mean, first of all his treatment of Mike Pence ... if there was nothing else, his treatment of Mike Pence is unjustified, wrong and really unfortunate.” Cramer adds weakly, that he found the president's treatment of his No. 2 “really irritating.” 

Yes, it was probably “really irritating” for the VP and his wife and daughter to have to take shelter, just because the rioters were really excited by the prospect of hanging him from a gallows. 

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tx) tells a reporter that opposing Trump’s attempts to overturn the election “may well sign my political death warrant. So be it.” 

Even Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), 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,” Cotton says.

 

Reporters for Politico talk to several top Republican operatives. “He screwed his supporters, he screwed the country and now he’s screwed himself,” says a 2016 Trump campaign official, who asks not to be named. 

“Donald Trump caused this insurrection with lies and conspiracy theories about the election being rigged against him,” says Scott Jennings, a former aide to George W. Bush who remained close to the Trump White House. “The election was not stolen but this madness was fomented by the president and his top advisers.” 

“Every day, every person chooses to be either part of the problem or part of the solution,” says former White House Assistant Press Secretary Austin Cantrell. “President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders should immediately denounce today’s illegal action as an affront to the American experiment of self-government and take into account the power their words have to heal or harm our Republic.”

 

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.” 

“This morning I would have told you the Republican Party is in shambles because of Donald Trump. Now the entire country is,” says a senior Trump adviser. 

 

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

 

9:12 p.m.: The House resumes debate over certification of the electoral vote. The Senate does likewise. 

 

10:19 p.m.: Twitter locks Trump’s account so he can no longer stir anger and send out misinformation. 

The process moves forward, as provided by the U.S. Constitution. Most members of Congress are frankly stunned by events of the day. The electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania are challenged in the House. The Senate must then vote to accept or reject the challenges. 

Deliberations and debate drag on; but it’s clear support for the president and his cause has abated in the wake of the riot. 

Midnight comes and goes, with lawmakers still in session.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: As with the post for 1/6/21, I add to this, as new information is revealed. This information is current, as of 3/23/22, as best I know. 

To this point, no significant voter fraud has ever been proven; and if you’re not too lazy you can look that up.