Of the many differences between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris during this presidential campaign, one of the most stark is the way they talk about the events of Jan. 6, 2021. For Harris, it was a day of infamy. By Trump’s own telling, it was a “day of love.”
Specifically, it was a day when a group of Trump supporters marched from the former president’s defiant speech on the Ellipse to the U.S. Capitol, where Congress was certifying the 2024 election for President Joe Biden. There they pushed past and beat Capitol police, scaled the walls, smashed the windows and made their way into the House and Senate chambers just as the count was underway.
Although Jan. 6 is historically meant to be example for the worldof the power and resilience of American democracy, on that day it showed democracy’s fragile and fraying hold.
The day began with a “Save America” rally on the Ellipse, where Trump told his supporters the election had just been stolen from him and from them. He then listed all of the false claims about the 2020 election that had already been disproved in counts, recounts and multiple court cases.
He called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “crooked” and Gov. Brian Kemp, “the pathetic governor of Georgia. Vote him the hell out of office, please.”
And he said it was time to demand that Vice President Mike Pence and Republican lawmakers send the election back to state legislatures to let them decide who should be president.
“We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country,” Trump said. “So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
The horrible scenes that came next are well documented. U.S. Capitol Police officers were first overrun and then battered and beaten by marchers who by then had become a violent mob. Officers were sprayed with bear spray, hit over the head with flagpoles and repeatedly and violently assaulted. More than 140 Capitol Police were injured in the melee, including some who were so severely hurt they later died from their injuries, including four who died by suicide.
A Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot as she crawled through a window into a hallway that leads to the House chamber. A crowd of Trump supporters chanted “Hang Mike Pence.” And, as intended, the House and Senate were forced to stop the certification of the electoral votes for Biden and seek cover while the riot continued.
Although all of this was broadcast on live TV, with news anchors watching on in horror and astonishment, Trump did nothing for hours to urge the attackers to leave. Eventually, he posted a video message later that afternoon calling the election a fraud and telling the rioters, “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.”
The people involved that day are still paying the price. Nearly 1,000 people from across the country have been convicted of crimes ranging from simple trespassing to seditious conspiracy. As my colleague, Chris Joyner, has reported, Georgians are still being arrested and prosecuted for their actions, including for using a giant Donald Trump campaign sign as a battering ram against police.
But to hear Trump describe Jan. 6 on the campaign trail this year, it was “a day of love.” He has called those arrested “hostages,” “warriors” and “unbelievable patriots.” He has promised that, if he’s elected, he would “absolutely” pardon the ones convicted.
“Oh, absolutely, I would. If they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” Trump said during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists. “They were convicted by a very tough system.”
He has recorded a song with the “January 6th Prison Choir,” a group of defendants from Jan. 6 who are jailed in Washington, D.C., and sold it on Spotify. He featured the song at his first rally launching his 2024 presidential campaign. The song is called “Justice for All,”
Compare all of that to the biggest applause line that Vice President Kamala Harris delivered at the Democratic National Convention, when she promised to “hold sacred America’s fundamental principles, from the rule of law, to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power.”
Tuesday night on the Ellipse, in nearly the same place when Trump called the election “stolen” and Raffensperger and Kemp corrupt, Harris said, “We know who Donald Trump is. He’s the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election.”
I have spoken to too many Republicans to count in Georgia who decided on Jan. 6 they would never vote for him again. They voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but watching the Capitol swarmed and ransacked as Trump remained silent was a break with those voters that will never be repaired.
But there are others, especially younger voters, who still believe in what Trump is saying. Tony Fernandez, a business owner who moved to Georgia from Florida, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should have had more security ahead of time. “I think it was preventable,” he said.
Several first-time voters at Trump’s rally at Georgia Tech last week also told me they were just in ninth grade that day. “I don’t know as much about it as I would like to,” said Danny Pacheko. His friend, Tony Serano agreed. “I’ve heard about it. I was only 14,” he said. “I was shocked how that could happen.” They are both voting for Trump.
In many ways, Jan. 6 is the unfinished business of the 2020 election — a referendum on the man who watched — and did not stop — the assault on American democracy that he set in motion.
Vote wisely, Georgia.
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