They've been referred to as THE rioters, anarchists, domestic terrorists, thugs and thieves, lumping them all together as if they were one single entity. They were not. I have been unable to locate credible numbers regarding the total number of people there and the number who illegally entered the Capitol grounds and building. I have no doubt there there were thousands in total, but as to the number of unlawful entrants - maybe one hundred?..two hundred? I looked at the faces of some of the crowd milling about on Pennsylvania Avenue. Their mannerisms and dress were exactly as those of people shopping at a store...no outlandish costumes, face paint, demonic shouting or carrying of weapons. And many of them had expressions that I interpreted as unsettled or bewildered, as if they were thinking that what was happening was not why they had come to Washington. I have no quarrel with those people. They were exercising their constitutional right to protest. I will never understand why they support Trump or believe the election was fraudulent but I do support their right to peacefully protest.
As a bit of an aside, I want to talk about media coverage of the event, starting with the video clip that has been seen hundreds of times showing Trump addressing the crowd before the march on the Capitol took place. The segment aired always contains and is limited to these words:
"...we're going to walk down and I'll be there with you. And we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong."
These are the words singled out as inciting the crowd to violence. A segment of that same speech that I have never seen aired is where he says:
"I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."
Why doesn't CNN, CBS, FOX, NBC include that last sentence? I'm not a fan of Trump. I didn't vote for him, never wanted him in office, want him out of office and punished now. But he is right about a biased media. In my opinion most of the major broadcast and print media have given up even pretending to be objective news outlets. The video showing Trump praising the crowd after the incident is shown repeatedly, often accompanied by a commentator whose voice is dripping with sarcasm. The lynch mob mentality of the media at the moment toward Trump and the protesters is not much different from those who entered the Capitol.
I have heard reports that two Portland police officers and several New York firemen were seen in the crowd, which if true is an indicator of the cross section of Americans present. I hope that they, and the vast majority of peaceful protesters will not become the objects of witch hunts. Let's focus on catching and jailing the law breakers, giving the new administration a chance, and getting past Trumpism and the 'they versus us' division it has caused. I'd like to have conversations with my friends and neighbors again where I don't have to weigh every word.
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