According to CNN on the 7th, 14 days before the end of President Trump’s term, hundreds of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. to hold a demonstration to put pressure on the ongoing joint session of Congress. Soon after, the demonstration turned violent riots. Some protesters entered the U.S. Congress area and broke through the security lines of the Capitol. Lawmakers were evacuated urgently.
At the scene, a woman was shot dead. This is a stunning scene of Trump’s encouragement for hours beforehand and refusal to condemn afterward. Trump’s presidency ended with “the massacre in the United States”.
Trump only made a mild reprimand on Twitter and a video, while trying to defend “crimes committed in his name”. Twitter and Facebook, called preventing more violence, have removed the messages and videos posted by Trump. Trump’s Twitter account has been temporarily frozen.
Inside the besieged Capitol, Trump has only released a video urging his large number of supporters to “go home” after repeated pleas from aides and congressional allies, while inciting misunderstanding and dissatisfaction with the election theft.
CNN reported that in the video, Trump praised the mob. And these people broke into the Capitol building with force, stole items from the room, and posed for photos in the Legislative Hall. Trump initially declined requests to mobilize the National Guard, a person familiar with the matter said.
“We love you, you’re special,” Trump said in the video. Later, he appeared to have tweeted to justify these actions by his supporters, writing: “This happens when the sacred overwhelming election victory is so ruthless and maliciously deprived.” Go home with love and peace. Always remember this day!”
The one-minute video recorded by Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House was hardly “strong condemnation of the violence” that his allies and advisers urged him in the afternoon. Some of Trump’s top allies are critical of the president’s response. A top Republican ally of Trump called the video released by the president “a piece of shit”.
CNN reported that in the video, Trump tried to sympathize with the rioters based on his spreading lies about election fraud. Trump said: “I know your pain. I know you are hurt. We have a stolen election. His remarks did not appease.
Trump said: “You must go home now. We must have peace, we must have law and order.” This is the smallest attempt he made to control the riot. Some of Trump’s cronies also pleaded with the crowd, including daughter Ivanka, who called the protesters “patriots”.
The president seems to be more interested in communicating “election injustice” and “election theft” than to quell the violence. He said: “This is a very difficult period. Never happened like this, they can take (election) from all of us, from me, from you, from our country.”
According to the New York Times, when all this happened hours ago, Trump talked to Vice President Pence. Pence said that when he went to Congress a few hours later to supervise the counting of electoral votes to prove Biden’s victory, he would not have the right to overturn the election results as requested by the president.
After listening to this, Trump repeatedly scolded Pence for weakness. The report pointed out that in Trump’s eyes, his loyal No. 2 figure is less loyal. He got into the presidential convoy to the Oval Square in front of the White House with a sad expression, where he delivered a speech for about 70 minutes.
Trump made it clear that he was very angry with Pence, calling the election results “a bad attack on our democracy”. He also said, “We are going to walk to the Capitol. We want to cheer for our brave senators and congressmen.
We may not cheer for some of them, because you can never take back our country with weakness. You must show strength. You must become strong.” In the end, Trump did not participate in the parade and returned to the White House in an armored SUV and hid indoors.