On January 6, 2021, rioters occupied the US Capitol for hours before then-President Donald Trump sent them a video message.
It was strange even at the time. The following is the transcript (my bolding).
“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt. 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. 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 anybody hurt.
“It’s a very tough periperiodere’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 solid and so evil.
“I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.”
It turns out that Trump wasn’t remorseful for the way he had spoken that day. Additionally, he planned to convey his sympathy for the rioters in even more detail in a speech he delivered the next day.
As quoted by CNN on Thursday morning, the following are excerpts from Trump’s speech on January 7, 2021:
“They show Trump having a difficult time working through the effort to tape the message. Trump refused to say the election results had been settled and attempted to call the rioters patriots. He also went to great lengths to not accuse them of any wrongdoing.”
Trump’s final speech was succinct (less than ree minutes) and mainly conciliatory.
“A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20,” he said. “My focus now turns to ensuring smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of powers. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”
But now we know it wasn’t the speech he had in mind. Instead, he intended to keep casting doubt on the results and extol those who had taken over the Capitol approximately 24 hours earlier.
That is mostly consistent with how Trump has behaved in the 18 months since both January 6 and the 2020 elections.
Trump spoke to The Washington Post earlier this spring regarding his march to the Capitol on January 6: “I would have made the trip there right away.”
Former Mark Meadows White House chief of staff Cassidy Hutchinson said before the House select committee looking into the uprising that Trump had approved of the rioters’ cries to “hang Mike Pence” when the vice president declined to try to change the results of the 2020 election. And of course, Trump often throws out false tweets about how the previous election was rigged against him.
The most recent news on the Capitol riot’s aftermath confirms something we’ve already suspected: Trump didn’t understand (or didn’t care to understand) the gravity of what transpired on January 6. He didn’t consider it to be a challenge to our democracy.
Instead, he saw it as a display of enthusiasm for his country.
Then, he didn’t understand. Now, he doesn’t understand. And come 2024, he’ll most likely be the Republican nominee for president. Consider that for a moment.
