Like so many people, I spent a lot of my time on Wednesday watching the breaking news of the Trump supporters storming the Capitol and breaking in. I spent most of the day in shock watching what was happening. I found out because some members of a message group that I’m in started talking about how they were in shock. I asked what was going on, and once they told me I immediately turned on the news.
I had the news on my phone sitting next to my computer so I could listen as I worked. There were a few times during my work shift that it was quiet so I could watch and not just listen. And that made things even more unbelievable. It didn’t feel real. It felt like a scene from a movie or a news story about another country. This didn’t feel like it could be here and actually happening.
I couldn’t believe I was watching our Capitol being broken into and damaged. The number of people who were able to get in without any attempt by the police to stop them was shocking. We have all seen what has happened during various Black Lives Matter protests. When Trump wanted to walk to a church for a photo op, tear gas was immediately used to clear a path in the middle of a peaceful protest for him. But when people were committing crimes and waving guns around, authorities acted like they were helpless. They didn’t stop anyone from climbing the walls or breaking windows. We have all heard how police feel like they have no option but to shoot if they feel threatened. And they seem to feel threatened when someone raises their voice or walks away. But it’s ok with them and they feel safe when people are running at them with guns? It’s disgusting.
And the people who were attacking the police are the same ones who scream that blue lives matter and who tell people that they wouldn’t be shot if they just listened to the police. But they don’t feel like they have to listen and they didn’t seem to care that they were trying to physically harm the blue lives they claim matter. I guess they only matter to them if the police aren’t on the opposite side as them.
All of this was because some politicians refused to believe that they lost. They created ideas that fraud was occurring. They claimed that counting ballots that were received on time but being counted past midnight due to the number of ballots they had to count were somehow no longer good. According to them, it doesn’t matter if you voted legally, if it took too long to count them and an arbitrary deadline wasn’t met, they weren’t legal anymore. They made up a rule that the counts had to stop at midnight even if they weren’t done. They believed that because of the size of a crowd, there was no way they didn’t win. Crowd size doesn’t equal votes. I didn’t go to any rallies (I wouldn’t have gone even if there wasn’t a pandemic), and that doesn’t mean that my vote wasn’t real. They were making up so many false claims that they knew were false but that their followers would believe. And because of that, they created the mob that tried to break democracy.
There may be some politicians that believe in what they were saying, but I know many of them didn’t. If they did, they wouldn’t have changed their minds just because of what happened. So many politicians who said they were going to protest the count didn’t do so. So either they knew they were lying and were feeling like they should stop, or they believed what they said and they were ok with ignoring fraud. Considering how much noise they made trying to claim any fraud, I doubt they would ignore fraud.
I want to be hopeful for our future and our government, but after what happened on Wednesday it’s really hard. I know that a new administration is coming in, but that will not stop the supporters who have been attacking anyone they feel is against them. The supporters are turning on the people who they thought were the greatest because they no longer work with the narrative they want to believe. I can’t see how this will stop as long as Trump lies and makes up things to feel like he is adored by some people.
I am grateful that he has been banned from social media sites. Some of the bans are permanent and some are temporary. But even if they were all permanent, it’s a little too late. The people who made groups online to organize this mob weren’t Trump directly. They are people who feel empowered and emboldened by what Trump has said and they have taken things up on their own. They will not be stopped because the person they look up to most is silent. They will still talk among themselves and I am worried about what they might try to do next.
As I am writing this post, very few people have been arrested after attacking the Capitol. I hope that this will change. Anyone who broke in should be arrested and punished for what they do. They should personally pay for the damage that they created. And they should not be allowed to be anonymous. They shouldn’t be allowed to hide what they did. They should have to own up to what they did and what they believed in and accept that they will be judged by many for it. This was not a small mistake or lapse of judgment. This was planned. They knew what they were doing. And they didn’t stop until they were forced to. This was all their choice to do, they cannot be dismissed as confused about what they did.
The next few weeks will possibly be a very trying time for our country. I hope that we will come out of it ok and we will be able to rebuild. This country should be for all and our government should be fair and for everyone. And we need to work back toward that. I don’t know if we can get there soon or if it will take a while. But we cannot continue going the way we are going and expect that everything will be ok. This will be a challenge, but I hope that many people are up to that challenge. I know I am and I will not stay quiet when I see injustice and wrong as I did on Wednesday.
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