Memories of a Day of Infamy

Yesterday on January 6, 2021, my husband and I sat at our computer to listen to the beginning speeches as the Congress of the United States met to count the Electoral College votes and confirm Biden as our next President. Though this eventually occurred, far more happened on this this "Day of Infamy"  than we had ever expected. I am writing this because I feel that this is a day we must learn from and never forget. 

Shortly after we began watching the opening speeches of the two party leaders in the Senate, the screen shifted to a large group of protesters outside the capitol building. Alarmed, we decided to follow the action on our TV. We watched, stunned, for the rest of the day as the PBS news reporters followed the events. In the evening, we again watched as Congress voted to certify Biden as our next legally elected President. We heard Trump's speeches to the people, and listened to many respected experts' comments. We heard what many of our elected officials actually said, and we saw the videos of the take over of our nation's Capitol building.

Here are my memories as a non-affiliated observer of this infamous day:

• The crowd seemed strange. There were many young men, but also some women and older people. What was unusual was that everyone I saw was white. Most didn't wear masks.
• It also seemed very odd that all these people were crowded up to the door of the Capitol, climbing the walls, and all over the grounds, but, at first, I didn't see any police stopping them, or even in the area.
• Next, someone said that somehow a side door had been left unlocked and that people had come inside, then I watched as a policeman tried to escort those people out.
• Suddenly, people were coming in the front door. What was so odd was  though they had just broken into our nation's Capitol building there was a sense that they felt what they were doing was a good thing. They were carrying American flags and waving Trump flags, and many of them were holding up their cell phones and taking pictures. They were actually documenting that they had broken into our Capitol building! 
• Later, I saw photos of a man who was arrogantly sitting at Speaker of the House Pelosi's desk. He had his feet up on her desk and was grinning. It was as if he was saying "Look at me. See how powerful I am!" Another young man sat in the Vice President's seat also with his feet on the desk. The first man even boasted the next day that he had stolen Pelosi's mail and held it up for all to see.
• The camera then showed the young woman PBS reporter hiding behind a desk as the sound of the rioters drew closer. I was relieved when police appeared and escorted the journalists safely down to the basement. 
• Next scene - As the rioters pounded on the doors to the House and Senate chambers, I saw people within the chambers hiding behind chairs and keeping low on the floor to avoid bullets. Some had their emergency gas masks on. Capital police had pushed furniture in front of the door and were trying to keep the mob out, so that everyone in the Congressional chambers could escape safely.
• I witnessed insurrectors forcing the inadequate number of unarmed and unprotected Capitol police to withdraw. I saw young men hitting the police with clubs, spraying cans of chemicals in their faces, and shoving the police.
• I saw men use a police shield and a long board to break Capitol building windows then enter. 
• We switched to the reporter who was out on the grounds. It was announced that Pence had asked Trump to disband his mob. People in the crowd were listening to their phones and it was stated that the message from Trump was only to "remain calm". 
• I watched astounded as I saw the police barricade the doors to the basement to protect the people there, and that it took a very long time before more police support came. We were told that Vice President Pence had called in the National Guard and that the Governors of both Virginia and Maryland were sending National Guard to provide aid.  
• As I wondered why the Capitol building was so unprepared to defend against a mob, I learned from the Attorney General of Washington DC that President Trump was in charge of the defense of the federal buildings.
• As I saw some of Trump's hour long talk with his "supporters" that morning, it made sense. I think there was little defence of the Capitol because Trump told the people that the Capitol was "their house", stressed the unjustness of the election, urged them to "show strength and be strong" and encouraged them to "walk down to the Capitol" to "stop the steal". Trump had simply made it easy for his people to enter the Capitol building.
• A couple of hours after the breaking into the Capitol, Biden made a televised statement demanding Trump "to immediately" tell his people to go home. Finally, three hours after the break in, Trump appeared on the White House lawn. He expressed his love for his "supporters", told them he understood their pain, and urged them to go home and uphold law and order. He then proceeded to state that he "had won by a landslide", "You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil", once again urged them to "stop the steal", and said, "I know how you feel" and "we love you". I couldn't help feeling that Trump only said what he was pressured to say about being peaceful and going home, but then used his time in the "limelight" to instead encourage the insurrection. I believe Trump meant the words he declared that morning, "We will continue to fight". 
• I watched as troops finally arrived to defend the Capitol building and push the insurrectors out of the building, but I didn't see anyone being arrested for their actions. The Mayor of DC set a 6pm curfew. (The next day I found out that 45 people had been arrested, mainly for curfew violations, but insurrectionists still milled around D.C.)
• In the afternoon, I learned that Representatives and Senators had been  taken somewhere that was not disclosed. A good idea!  Later, I saw one of the representatives interviewed in his hiding place. He was in a room with a large desk barricading the door, and he was, very justifiably,  afraid. 
• At first we were told that the Congress would convene again the next day to continue the certification process. Then after the insurrectionists were removed from the building along with their "gifts" of four pipe bombs, and the vandalized mess in the chambers cleaned up, the Congress said that they would not allow this attack to deter them from the performance of their Constitutional duty. They would complete their task to certify the election results even if it took them all night. 
• In the evening, I was surprised and very pleased to see the dedication of our Senators and Representatives. Though they knew they were still in possible danger, they were determined to make sure that there would be a peaceful transition of Presidential power to our legally elected President. 
• I was very impressed by the integrity of the members of the Senate.  They put aside their political power squabbles to clearly identify the danger our democracy was in by this insurrection and the need for all members of the Senate to unite to support the Constitution.
• I wasn't nearly as impressed with the House of Representatives. There were also some individuals of strong character who defended the Constitution, people's rights, and the democratic rule by law. Though these leaders courageously defended our democracy, even going against their own party, there were others who were more concerned with having a stage for political posturing and about their own future political aspirations, than they were for saving our democracy. 
• Even these people never even suggested that there was any voter fraud. 
• When the houses of Congress finished their debate (in the wee hours of the morning) and had recorded their votes, they met together. At this time the Electoral College votes were counted and Vice President Pence, fully aware that he would be criticized for his action, fulfilled his Constitutional duty and declared Biden to be our next President. We went to bed.

The next morning, besides the horror of the violence of the day before, I felt a strong feeling that there was something deeply wrong that I wasn't seeing. I couldn't stop thinking about:

• The lack of security for our Capitol building and to protect our elected leaders.
• That Trump not only incited the mob for an hour before their march to the Capitol, but was over the police who were supposed to defend the building and our elected officials.
• That Pence had to call in the National Guard because Trump hadn't.
• That Biden had to order Trump to tell his followers "to end the siege" on the Capitol. 
• That it was only after three hours of invasion of our Capitol and Biden's demand that Trump told his people to go home.
• That Trump spent the rest of his talk to the people continuing to incite his supporters to "stop the steal".
• That major people, such as Nancy Pelosi, and Jeff Merkley, who had stood up to Trump, just happened to not only have their offices invaded and vandalized, but these violations were flaunted on social media.
• That insurrectionists proudly draped themselves over both Pelosi's and Pence's chairs of office which was also featured on social media.
• That Senators and Representatives from both parties were calling Trump a "Dictator", and a "Demagogue". They said that he must be stopped or our Democracy would be destroyed. They said this was an "insurrection", an "attempted coup", and that the "leaders of the mob were guilty of sedition". 
• If Trump "supporters" in the mob that took over the Capitol were "guilty of sedition", then what is Trump and his supporters in Congress who could have, but didn't, speak up to stop this "act of sedition" ? Aren't they all guilty? Aren't they all as responsible for the death of the five people who died as are the rioters who performed the act?

Wow! What was going on here! I had seen it. This news was not just "lies". I witnessed it! 

I looked up "Demagogue" in Wikipedia and this is what it said:

• " a popular leader, a leader of a mob, . . . or rabble-rouser.  is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity. Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.

I looked up "siege".

• an operation in which a police or other force surround a building and cut off supplies, with the aim of forcing an armed person to surrender. a military operation in which enemy forces surround a town or building, cutting off essential supplies, with the aim of compelling the surrender of those inside.

Then it all made sense. Trump wasn't just trying to delay Congress from declaring Biden as our next President. He knew his mob would only be able to keep the inevitable from occuring for perhaps a few days. I believe that Trump was trying to take over Congress so that he could frighten and bully them into surrendering; into throwing out both the will of the majority of the people and of the Electoral College of the United States by declaring himself the winner of the election. I must agree with our nation's leaders that using violence to remain in power is the act of a dictator, not a President of the United States.