Terrorism at Capitol Hill

BY ALAINA INOUYE AND BELLA TRINKO

STAFF WRITERS

On January 6th, only two weeks before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, a violent mob broke into the US capitol. Fueled by lies that the election had been stolen, they stormed the capitol to stop the confirmation of President Biden’s victory. Many had come from a “Save America Rally” that was hosted by Donald Trump. At the rally, he declared that the election had been stolen and told them to go march to the capitol. What concluded was a horrifying sight.

At the capitol, rioters fought with police,killing two of them, climbed the walls, and successfully got into the capitol. Many were wearing clothes with extremely racist and anti-semitic imagery. Two pipe bombs were found during the rioting, though thankfully neither imploded. While some police fought the protesters, others took selfies with them. Rioters took photos in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and stated they were coming for her. Some were calling for Pence to be murdered for supporting the results of the election, too. As a result of the fighting, five people died. When asked to address the matter , Trump told the rioters that the election was stolen, but they should go home. He concluded his message with “We love you, you’re very special. . . . go home and go home in peace,” a vast difference from his telling BLM protesters, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Luckily, many arrests are being made, and the FBI is investigating the people involved. Given the anger over the election, the FBI had concerns that riots might occur at Biden’s Inauguration, but because of the precautions they took, it went smoothly. Because of the chaos and violence, Trump was impeached for a second time. He is the first president to have been impeached twice. Needless to say, the violence that occurred was reprehensible, but in the end, violence did not win over freedom and democracy.

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