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Critics say the violence in the nation’s capital was a long time coming after President Donald Trump’s litany of comments excusing – or encouraging – such actions.
Supporters of President Donald Trump protest inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, in Washington.
AFTER BEING EGGED ON BY President Donald Trump at a morning rally, an angry mob of thousands of pro-Trump protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol, some getting inside and forcing Capitol police to evacuate both chambers of Congress and lock down the building. It looked like a coup attempt in the very sort of undeveloped country Trump himself has frequently ridiculed.
It was only at that moment that the president of the United States – who just hours earlier had told cheering supporters that "we will never concede" – tweeted out a tame request to be non-violent.
"Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!" the president, safely ensconced in the White House, said on Twitter.
It was too late – too late on Wednesday, and too late in five years of a candidate-then-president who has frequently hinted at or encouraged violence to thwart his critics. By afternoon, with only that single tweet from the president asking for "peaceful" behavior, chaos and violence had gripped the nation's capital.
And it was a long time coming, critics noted, given Trump's litany of comments and tweets excusing or even encouraging aggression, violence and the thwarting of the democratic process.
"The words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is," President-elect Joe Biden said in remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, even as Trump remained silent and off the airwaves. "At best, the words of a president can inspire. At worst, they can incite."
Only after the mayhem and violence had gone on for hours did Trump release a taped video asking people to go home. But even in that brief appearance, he claimed the election was "fraudulent" and said he loved those trying to keep Biden from taking office.
"We don't want anybody hurt," Trump said, without specifically condemning the criminal act of breaking into the Senate chamber.
Trump has been accused of inciting bad behavior before. During the campaign, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, Trump said,"If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell ... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise," Trump told ralliers.
At another rally, Trump said of one protester, "I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you."
As president, he praised GOP Rep. Greg Gianforte of Montana for allegedly body-slamming a reporter, saying "any guy who can do a body slam, he is my type!" When protesters took to the streets in horror and anguish after the killing of African-American man George Floyd while in police custody, Trump had a disturbing warning: "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," the president tweeted.
Trump supporters – including some of the Republican lawmakers in lockdown in the Capitol as law enforcement tried to retake control of the heavily-guarded building – have long dismissed Trump's rhetoric as just that: rhetoric, provocative language meant to rile people up. The president, his apologists said, need not be taken literally.
That argument fell apart just two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden is to be sworn in as the 46th president and on the very day that Congress was in the process of counting the Electoral College votes that will make Biden the president.
"This is what you've gotten, guys!" an enraged Sen. Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, yelled to colleagues as the aggressive protesters stormed the Capitol.
After Trump's tepid tweet urging calm, there was no calm on the Hill. A protester had managed to get into the Senate chamber, roaming around and sitting in the chair where Vice President Mike Pence had been presiding just an hour previous.
People inside the Capitol were warned of tear gas and told they might need to get under their seats. A person was seen being taken out on a stretcher. One person was shot inside the Capitol.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who had objected this afternoon to Arizona's Electoral College slate awarding 11 votes to Biden, went from accusing Democrats of suspect behavior to condemning the actions of protesters who support his efforts to hold up the counting of the votes.
"Violence is always unacceptable. Even when passions run high," Cruz tweeted. "Anyone engaged in violence – especially against law enforcement – should be fully prosecuted. God bless the Capitol Police and the honorable men & women of law enforcement who show great courage keeping all of us safe."
The Capitol has been the target of violence before: in 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists with guns stormed the House floor and opened fire, wounding five members of Congress. In 1988, two Capitol police officers were killed when a man entered the building – then very open to visitors wanting to see democracy in action – and took aim.
On 9/11, the building was evacuated as reports came that one of the hijacked planes might be headed for the Capitol. That event ended up bringing an unusual bipartisanship and shared mission to protect the building and the nation.
The violence had some calling for a second impeachment of the president – an exercise that would be meaningless in denying him an immediate second term, since he lost the election, but would prevent him from running in 2024 – or to be charged with inciting a riot. In 2018, Trump won dismissal of a suit seeking that he be charged with inciting violence against three protesters at a Kentucky rally.
Frantic Republicans reached out to Trump on his favorite communications platform – Twitter – to get him to do something.
"Mr. President – the men & women of law enforcement are under assault. It is crucial you help restore order by sending resources to assist the police and ask those doing this to stand down," Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who was a harsh critic of Trump's but then became a fierce defender, wrote in a tweet.
Trump – who once famously said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose voter support – was either unable or unwilling to stop an episode many said he had encouraged – wittingly or not.
"Donald Trump owns this. Ted Cruz owns this. Josh Hawley owns this," former Rep. Joe Scarborough, a Florida Republcian who is now an MSNBC anchor, tweeted, referring to the GOP senators from Texas and Missouri, respectively. "Any blood will be on their hands."