Since 2020 was one of the worst years known to man, almost all Americans were looking forward to the new year. However, on Jan. 6 that all changed. Just six days into the new year, former President Donald Trump incited a deadly attack on our own U.S. Capitol. This will go down in history as one of the ugliest days the United States has ever seen. 

It is important to note that this insurrection did not appear out of thin air. On Dec. 19, 2020, President Donald Trump took to Twitter and posted the following: “Big protest in D.C. on Jan. 6. Be there, will be wild!” This action gave the green light to pro-Trump supporters to stir the pot. Fast forward to Jan. 6, and chaos broke loose. 

As early as 6 a.m., protesters gathered outside of the Ellipse, a location near the Capitol building, to prepare for the day ahead. Around 11 a.m., the crowd inspired by Trump, his two sons and personal lawyer, Rudy Guliani, marched to the Capitol steps to protest the counting and certification of the Electoral Votes from the 2020 Presidential Election. 

By 1:30 p.m., only two and a half hours after the protest began, rioters began breaking into the Capitol building. All of the politicians in both the Senate and House of Representative Chambers were ordered to evacuate due to an increased sense of danger. 

Hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters infiltrated our Capitol building to destroy what we know as our sacred democratic process. Many stormed the Senate floor; one looter stole Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s lectern, while another sat in former Vice President Mike Pence’s chair. All the while this was happening, footage shows several security guards and police officers calmly asking the now criminals to stop. In the following days, many of those same violators were hunted down by the FBI and arrested. 

From this tragic event, five people lost their lives including a police officer, a protester and three other bystanders. This display of violence not only shows the deep divide in our country, but it looms an even darker shadow concerning the future. The Republican party will never be the same since Trump left his mark. Although our nation took a brutal beating that early January day, our democracy has only grown stronger. With President Joe Biden in office, we can only hope for unity and justice for the days ahead.