With conspiracy theories and general misinformation on the rise in America, and groups like Qanon that use them to take advantage of people looking for answers, it’s no surprise that something big was going to happen. A lot of people predicted that there would be a coup attempt led by or at least on the behalf of Former President Donald Trump. Many scoffed at this and called it ridiculous, but right wing populist rhetoric is very effective especially in times of economic turmoil. This has had a huge impact on the ideological ravine that seems to widen by each year in America. This came to a head on January 6th 2020, when it went further than anyone thought it could and for the first time in US history, the Capitol Building was sieged.

After a speech given by Donald Trump in which he claimed once again that the election was stolen from him, despite losing dozens of court cases on the matter by the judges he himself put into place, including in the Supreme Court, and losing legal support from even his top supporters thus far like Rudy Giuliani. He told his supporters to “Fight like hell” and “March to the Capitol Building.”. And that’s what they  did. Once at the Capitol Building, things quickly escalated.  Fights broke out between rioters and police, while other police took selfies with them. It seemed there was no measures taken against these actions as Trump declined to send in the National Guard. In some places rioters were just let into the building, in others they broke windows and fought police to get in.  Politicians had to run and hide as rioters with confederate flags, zipties, and no masks, invaded the building. 

All in all there were five deaths according to the New York Times. The policeman crushed and beaten by rioters, a woman shot by an officer as she invaded the building, Two men killed by health complications, one of which was widely reported to have “accidentally tased himself in the testicles” and suffered from a heart attack, although these claims seem to have no evidence.  In a twisted poetic end, a woman holding a “don’t tread on me” flag, was trampled over and killed by her fellow Trump supporters.

All in all, January 6th was a sad day for America, and it will be remembered as one for many years. The FBI has tracked down many of these rioters already, and some are reportedly now willing to testify against the former president according to the Associated Press. One can only hope that things will begin to calm down throughout the rest of 2021, but things may just be ramping up, if the trajectory of the last year is to be an example.