Capitol Insight

Public opinion on the Capitol riot

In August of 1814, British troops breached the U.S. Capitol building and set it ablaze. Last week, more than 200 years later, the halls of Congress were overrun again in what the Pentagon called an ‘insurrection’ to overturn the results of the presidential election. This time, the invaders were domestic with President Trump as their leader. Five people died in the ensuing riot. One was an officer in the Capitol Police force. The others were Trump supporters who were either shot or suffered from medical emergencies during the rampage. With every day that passes, more troubling details emerge about the dark day and the persistent threat of violence in the days leading up to President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Meanwhile, this week the House introduced and voted in favor of an unprecedented second impeachment of President Trump for inciting an insurrection. Democrats were united in their support of the drastic action while Republicans saw the rift in their party grow with 10 defections in favor of impeachment. A prominent one was Rep. Liz Cheney, the third most powerful GOP House member, who released a statement Tuesday saying “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, though he condemned the attack and said Trump had a hand in it, argued that impeachment would only divide the country further. It is still unclear if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will expedite the process of a Senate trial that, according to the Senate schedule, couldn’t be held until after the Inauguration.

Now that politicians have had their say about the tragic events of Jan. 6, we wanted to hear from Americans who watched the day unfold. A majority of respondents rejected the attack outright, though many others expressed empathy for the mob. Here are three big things we learned after reviewing all of the responses.

Inciter in Chief?

Before the riot began, President Trump told supporters outside the White House that they’ll “never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” After years of fiery rhetoric and telling voters November’s election was fraudulent without any evidence, many argue that Trump’s statement was what broke the dam and incited an insurrection. “Trump has been stirring the pot for 5 years. This was bound to happen,” wrote one texter. “Our political leaders have an obligation to speak truth to their constituents and to power. The president is wildly beyond the pale. Inciting violence is a desperate act,” wrote another. One said he was “appalled and heartbroken” by the chaos they witnessed and pointed to how Al Gore accepted the decision of the courts after appealing the election results in 2000. Some felt the blame should be placed elsewhere. “The Democrats gave more money to other nations than the American public. They are to blame for the mess not Trump… “ wrote one while another said there was plenty of blame to go around: “This occurred because of the corruption in Washington DC by both Republicans and Democrats!”

A Security Failure

Despite clear warnings that a siege of the Capitol was being planned online, a full security apparatus didn’t arrive for hours after the building was besieged by the mob. “The Capitol Police should have been more prepared in case something like this would happen,” wrote one texter. Others felt that law enforcement should have been more forceful with the insurgents, writing “Awful lot of police restraint regarding violence to protesters.” Many pundits and civil rights activists chalk up the discrepancy in the police response to race, claiming that Black Lives Matter protestors were treated much more harshly by police over the summer versus the mostly white Trump supporters at the Capitol riot. “The treatment of these protestors by the police compared to what they did to BLM protestors is illustrative and disgusting,” summed up one texter.

Rioter vs. Protestor

Thousands of Trump supporters descended on D.C. last Wednesday. Not all of them stormed the Capitol. So does that make it a peaceful protest with some bad actors? Some respondents say yes, and argue that the rioters were just a small portion of the mostly peaceful supporters that were there that day, yet they get most of the media attention. “Radicals have no place in the headlines, it was embarrassing with the liberals in the summer, and it was embarrassing with the Trumpers yesterday. These people are a small fraction of either side and do not represent the majority,” wrote one respondent. Another texter agreed, and said the disparity was akin to BLM protests: “Looked like a handful of non-peaceful protesters were the problem. Similar to the riots, looting, fires and property destruction by the non-peaceful protesters from BLM.” Then there’s those who, despite the FBI saying they found no link, claim that yes, there were rioters, but they weren’t Trump supporters. “Antifa was identified as those who breached the capital and should be charged for it!”

Still, no matter which side of the aisle they fall on, the majority of respondents disapproved of the attack, no matter how it got started, with one texter writing: “The protesters honestly believe the election was corrupted by foreign forces and by domestic forces. Their protest was warranted but the taking over of govt buildings and violence is unacceptable.”

by Landry Harlan