“President Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress incited a violent attack Wednesday against the government they lead,” The New York Times’ editorial board wrote on Jan. 6, summing up much of the response to the incursion into the Capitol by rioting Trump supporters that day.
At a rally that morning, Donald Trump had urged those supporters to march on the Capitol, saying he would “never concede” and that they should show “the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
The Times was joined in laying the blame at Trump’s feet by many others, including Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who said what happened at the Capitol was “an insurrection incited by the president of the United States.”
Among the protesters at the Capitol were members of white supremacy groups, including the Proud Boys. Their participation in the Jan. 6 events, egged on by Trump, reflects a long history in the U.S. of local, state and national political leaders encouraging white supremacist groups to challenge or overthrow democratic governments. Continue reading.