Mendoza 1 Juan Mendoza Professor: Margaret Bostwick History 208 October 23, 2021 The Capitol Riot During over 200 years of American history, none of the ten presidents losing their reelection attempted to remain in office and not surrender the presidency, ignoring the will of the citizens. The exception was Donald Trump when he began to denounce with peculiar anticipation the likelihood of fraud in the November 6, 2020, elections, which he called historical theft. Trump's controversial administration and a pandemic barely understood, with terrifying consequences, invited to presage an electoral outcome at least complicated. In this context, Trump filed several complaints with the courts and organized all kinds of riots that ended with the invasion of the Capitol on January 6 of the following year. The President, still in office, tarnished Americas’ democracy with this attitude. No one could doubt that Trump was taking precautions if he was not favored in his reelection. Everything focused on his decision not to accept Joseph Biden's victory in the 50 states of the Union by seven million in the popular vote and 306 electoral votes against his 232 in the Electoral College (Holder et al., 2020). The events began early on January 6, when hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Ellipse Plaza for a pro-Trump rally. Soon after, they were incited to riot on more than one occasion by the still President. Among other initiatives, he proposed marching to the Capitol. Around noon, he issued this strong slogan “We fight like hell, and if you do not fight like hell, you will not have a country anymore, So let us walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we will go to the Capitol” (Petras et al.,2021). 1 The assault forced members of Congress to flee as lawmakers recorded the Electoral College votes confirming Democrat Joe Biden's presidential victory. As an immediate result of such an event, five people were killed, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer. Even Vice President Mike Pence had to be escorted out of the Senate chamber. Trump attempted to define the situation: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our ConstitutionState the opportunity to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones they were previously asked to certify. America demands the truth!”(Petras et al.,2021) The chaos and disorder continued until after 4 p.m., when Trump, in an unusual message, sent the following suggestion to his supporters: “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. … So go home. We love you, you’re very special. … I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace.”(Petras et al.,20121). By this time, the national guard had already taken control of the situation. Affirming that the assault was a spontaneous event is a fallacy that cannot be sustained; it is not enough to explain the seriousness of what happened. It can even be considered a dangerous naivety to try to justify in such a way the crowned outrage. Undoubtedly, Trump was the main promoter of what happened, although other groups or organizations that, without being unconditional supporters of the still President, took advantage of the situation in the coincidence of purposes. In synthesis, there is no question that the Capitol riot was prepared from different locations and that prominent far-right activists, QAnon supporters, MAGA groups, white supremacists, and paramilitary groups were involved in this process. A 2 special place was occupied by ultra-nationalist street gangs, such as Proud Boys, easy to spot in the protests that broke out in the United States throughout 2020, often in the middle of a fight, usually dressed in black and yellow outfits. In January, they appeared in large numbers, proving to possess one of the most popular platforms among rightwing and conservative activists (Li et al.,2021). In reality, the militias include very diverse groups and sectors, some selfdescribed as anti-government “patriots,” such as Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, and Texas Freedom Force. Like the Boogaloo Boys, others grew out of a far-right Internet meme advocating a second Civil War and moved into real life with Hawaiian shirts and bulletproof vests. They identify with white supremacist icons such as skeleton masks, Confederate flags, or the Nazi salute.”(Romano et al.,2021) Much could be added to this brief description, besides talking about the little disguised support of some members of the police forces, everything was closed to see even Confederate flags fluttering. However, trying to answer whether the assault had a revolutionary character or not, we will start from the fact that the most used term was an insurrection, and it was affirmed that those who assaulted the Capitol committed treason. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Insurrection is “an act or instance of rebellion against the civil authority of an established government (MerriamWebster).” A synonym for insurrection is revolution. It is probably admissible to treat both terms as synonyms in some quarters, but it is unlikely to be found in a serious historical work, in which “French or Soviet insurrection” would be alluded to, for example, “French or Soviet insurrection” for example. Moreover, I confess that I find it intellectually disturbing to use the term rebellion against authority or something similar when the riots were driven by the one who was still the highest authority in the United States. In any case, if we try to define what a Revolution is in the abstract, the 3 complications multiply to apply it to the case at hand. First, there must be the collapse of the previous government. Generally, this action requires massive support, strong leadership, an organization capable of imposing a new national political and economic project, and even some external support. Sometimes its preparation takes years, as does its consolidation. Many of these aspects have already been addressed in previous works. For example, Kingdom adopts Sigmund Neumann's definition as a guide, understood as a fundamental change in political organization, social structure, control of economic property, and the prevailing myth of social order, thus indicating a major break in continuity (Kingdom, p,204). The insurrection is more limited; it lacks planning proportional to the objective of a revolutionary purpose and seems to refer more to a reaction of some sector dissatisfied with the lived situation, in the same way as a strike. However, the revolution may begin with one or several insurrections that are progressively channeled into a process of a revolutionary nature. The violence used must also be taken into account. A revolution may be preceded by civil war or a coup d'état which then mutates the political and economic order it overthrew. In the case of the seizure of the Capitol, most of these conditions are not present. It is not possible to affirm that a little more than 40,000 people could have driven a revolutionary movement in a country of the dimensions of the United States, let alone that 100% of the actual votes obtained by Donald Trump would have thoroughly approved his seditious behavior. In short, the insurrection that Trump encouraged during 2020 and which will end on January 6, 2021, is not considered a revolution. However, it was a significant action that has shaken American conservatism and the party, which finally did not dare to 4 sanction him in the two impeachments he was subjected to. On February 14, a Republican majority could not vote for Trump's conviction; 10% of votes were missing (Hunt, 2021). A more battle-hardened, racist, xenophobic, wealth-privileging, and violent right-wing appeared to gain space at Trump's hand perhaps in January and even earlier, the former President could have been imagining a future beyond the last election knowing that he is not only supported by a significant sector of the Republican Party but also by many civil organizations that consider him their leader. 5 Bibliography Petras, George, et al. “Timeline: How the Storming of the U.S. Capitol Unfolded on January 6.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, February 9 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2021/01/06/dc-protests-capitol-riot-trumpsupporters-electoral-college-stolen-election/6568305002/. iLi, David K., et al. “Photos and Videos Show pro-Trump Protesters Storming U.S. Capitol.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, January 6, 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/videos-show-pro-trump-protesters-stormingu-s-capitol-n1253083. Romano, S., Tirado, A., Fernández, A. G., & Lajtman, T. (2021, January 8). La Toma del Capitolio y el Trumpismo. CELAG. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.celag.org/la-toma-del-capitolio-y-el-trumpismo/. Goldstone, Jack A. Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press, 2014. E-book kingdom, Robert M. Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Insurrection. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insurrection. Hunt, J. S. (2021, September 1). Trump evades conviction again as Republicans opt for self-preservation. The Conversation. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from 6 https://theconversation.com/trump-evades-conviction-again-as-republicans-opt-for-selfpreservation-155283. Holder, J., Gabriel, T., & Paz, I. G. (2020, December 14). Biden's 306 Electoral College votes make his victory official. The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/14/us/elections/electoral-collegeresults.html.
