On Wednesday, January 6th, 2021, the Capitol building was stormed by mobs of our soon to be former president’s loyal followers. Upset about the turnout of the 2020 election in which Joe Biden won in a landslide with both electoral and popular vote, thousands of Trump supporters showed up at the White House to forcefully insist that the election was stolen from them and that Trump should continue to be president. 

As D.C. tried to get the rallies under control by enforcing a 6 p.m. curfew and activating the national guard, Trump did nothing but make matters worse by continuing to argue against the results of the election himself- without evidence- and encouraging his supporters to rally in his name. The Capitol building was successfully breached by many people, resulting in a woman being fatally shot. 

The severity of these riots and lack of repercussions truly shows the hypocritical side to Trump and his supporters. Back in the summer of last year while there were riots over the Black Lives Matter movement, Trump himself made the comment that the people participating were “thugs”, and he used full force to fight back. Peaceful protests were met with rubber bullets, tear gas, and unnecessary force. On the 6th, mobs were breaking into the nation’s capitol and there has been one reported injury and no such force was used. 

During the election, commentator Tomi Lahren tweeted in reference to the BLM protests, “ If [Donald Trump] were to lose (he won’t) his supporters will go to work tomorrow just as we do everyday. When Biden loses, his “supporters” will likely loot and riot.” This was ironically how many Trump supporters felt at the time, so it’s funny how they are the ones now looting and rioting our capital because Trump didn’t win. 

I can only hope that once Biden takes office, America will begin to act like it has a little bit of sense again. However, after just finishing 2020 and starting off 2021 so poorly, my expectations are low.