Five years. Such a short time for those who remember that day. On January 6th, 2021, a major event occurred, one that would shock the world and prove that the United States isn’t indestructible. At around 12:50 PM on that fateful day, supporters of the recently ousted Donald Trump broke into a restricted area outside the Capitol grounds. In the hours afterward, they committed what can be described as many different things, depending on whose side you are on: the House calls it an “insurrection,” the White House calls it a “peaceful demonstration” (New York Times). The Trump administration today describes the people who participated in the event as “Patriotic Protesters”, though from the videos, one can see they are neither. According to Merriam-Webster, patriotism is described as “love for or devotion to one’s country” (merriam-webster.com), and the people who entered the Capitol on January 6th spewed language that only contradicts that. In fact, though the White House wants people to think differently, what happened is almost a textbook example of a riot. In the years since, the Capitol riot is still one of the most infamous examples of political extremism turning violent words into violent actions. But in today’s era of government-sponsored outrage, the country is proving time and time again that these acts of ideological violence, both in person and online, will not be punished, and may even be praised (provided they’re attacking the right people, of course).
For example, when right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah, his supporters went out of their way to harass people who spoke negatively of him after his death, even going so far as to fire university professors for a Facebook comment about the debater (most were eventually reinstated to their posts, but only after months and a huge settlement). In a stark contrast, when iconic director Rob Reiner was murdered in his home, President Donald Trump callously mocked his death on social media, claiming Reiner contracted “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” claiming he “[drove] people crazy by his raging obsession [with] President Donald J. Trump.”
The important distinction in this example is that Kirk, while martyred by right-wing extremists as a champion of free speech, had a long history of homophobic and racist arguments frequently unsupported by evidence. Reiner, on the other hand, had one of the most sterling and beloved reputations in all of Hollywood, with many Trump supporters (including actor and fervent right-winger James Woods) expressing their adoration for him and their disdain at the president’s insensitive comments.
The boldness of the top brass to wantonly post these comments less than a day after Reiner died, while simultaneously persecuting people who had legitimate reasons to criticize Kirk, is just one example of how January 6th has significantly emboldened political extremists and given them free license to say what they believe without fear of retribution. And considering a large majority of the protesters were formally pardoned and released from jail by the president, it shows extremists that the country is willing to support whatever they do, no matter how dangerous and violent.
“The way the current administration reacted to [January 6th]…they have kind of given the okay for political violence of that degree to happen more often, as we’ve seen with the murder of Charlie Kirk and these ICE killings recently,” said junior Hashim Basheer. “The difference is which side [the violence is] on.”
On the other hand, the event led to a rise in political violence, and Kirk would know all about that. Reuters noted that at least 300 new political violence events had occurred from January 6th to the 2024 election. Now, after Trump’s first year in office, for a second time, people are more in danger than ever. In Minneapolis, protesters of ICE were shot at, and two were killed, Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Part of this phenomenon of political violence is the use of law enforcement organizations as a means for attacking political rivals. ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, has been used more like a secret police than its stated purpose. According to the DHS, around 29% of those detained in January of 2026 had a criminal conviction, down from the 54% of last February. In Biden’s last full month of December 2024, 64% of ICE detentions were of those with criminal convictions. (factcheck.org)
Just five years ago, an event like what happened in 2021 seemed completely unthinkable. The peaceful transfer of power has been built into American politics since its founding. It’s what makes the United States different from the other empires and colonizers of the time: while bloody conflicts often decided their successions, ours were always settled with a simple handshake. That is, until that fateful morning, when millions of people across the nation turned on the news to see thousands of angry citizens busting down the doors and breaking the windows of one of our democracy’s most important buildings.
