He Wants You to Forget, but Donald Trump Attempted a Violent Overthrow of an Election

On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol was attacked by a mob of rioters. The riot aimed to overthrow the result of an election they did not like. And they were encouraged to do so by the president, the person tasked with upholding the Constitution.

Attempting to violently overrule the will of the people should make anyone disqualified from ever serving a role in government again, let alone as president.

We all watched it happen. Police did not let protestors in. Protestors were not peaceful. They were told to assemble by Donald Trump, and they were worked up by his false claims that the election was stolen. According to a former aid who testified under oath, Donald Trump was told that the rioters had weapons, and he said, “I don’t f-in’ care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me.” 

That testimony tracks with Donald Trump’s habit of using the word “we” to describe the rioters. He was on their side. The people who broke into the Capitol and beat a police officer with an American flagpole were his people. If that were a movie plot, we might call it a hamfisted attempt at symbolism, but it actually happened.

“That was a time when we needed the president to be the president, and he wasn’t.” – Mick Mulvaney, Active White House Chief of Staff

READ: Trump has made more than 100 threats to prosecute or punish perceived enemies

Here is an abbreviated list of the ways Donald Trump failed his duties and the American people on and before January 6.

He repeatedly encouraged protestors to come to the Capitol ready to fight, including through his now infamous tweet: “Be there. Will be wild.” And: “We won the Presidential Election, by a lot. FIGHT FOR IT. Don’t let them take it away!“

On January 4, he told supporters in Georgia, “We’re going to take what they did to us on Nov. 3. We’re going to take it back.” 

Donald Trump tells supporters during his remarks at the Capitol, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” This comes after over a month of hyperbole, incitement to violence, and false claims about the election being stolen.

READ: ‘No Blame?’ ABC News finds 54 cases invoking ‘Trump’ in connection with violence, threats, alleged assaults.

Within minutes of arriving back at the White House, protestors overcome Capitol police. By the time this happens, multiple firearms have been confiscated from vehicles near the Capitol.

Approximately 20 minutes after the initial incursion, D.C. Police declared a riot at the Capitol and requested assistance from the D.C. National Guard. This is when you would expect a president to step in. But after Donald Trump was told of the situation, he crossed his arms and continued to watch TV.

Over three hours passed between when rioters breached the Capitol and Donald Trump issued a public statement asking them to disperse.

Even in that message, Donald Trump told the rioters, “We love you, you’re very special,” and repeated the claim that the election was fraudulent.

Aides desperately tried to get Donald Trump to issue a statement. Instead, as lawmakers were being evacuated and rioters were entering chambers, he tweeted Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” This only encouraged the rioters.

Donald Trump never offered 10,000 National Guard troops — not before the riot or during it.

And when he was told his own vice president’s life was in danger, he simply said, “So what?”

The sitting president of the United States watched violent rioters breach the Capitol, beat police officers and threaten the lives of his vice president, and he did nothing for over three hours.

Now he thinks he can call January 6th a “day of love” and we will all forget the horror of watching an attempted coup unfold before our eyes. He thinks Americans will trust that he will leave the White House after four years. Donald Trump does not deserve another chance.