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How Trump redefined the Jan. 6 riot as ‘a day of love’
Four years ago today, protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol with clubs, chemical irritants and other weapons, inflamed by Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
Several people died during and after the riot, including one protester by gunshot and four police officers by suicide. More than 140 officers were injured. After the attack, Trump’s political career seemed to be over, but in two weeks he will take the oath of office again.
He and his supporters have devoted considerable effort to reinventing the events of that day. They have spread conspiracy theories to their ultimate political gain. As his allies in Congress and the media downplayed the attack and redirected blame, violent rioters — prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned — were turned into patriotic martyrs.
Trump’s return to the White House will give him the power to further sanitize what he has called “a day of love.” He has vowed to pardon rioters in the first hour of his new administration, and his congressional supporters are pushing for criminal charges against those who investigated his actions.