How the MAGA mob stormed Capitol Hill

In the wake of Wednesday’s insurrection on Capitol Hill, when thousands of Trump supporters made a mockery of police by storming the building with weapons, seemingly unchallenged, one resounding question remains: how was it allowed to happen?

Most of the rioters had been at Trump’s White House rally at noon. That event is being pinned as the moment that incited the violence. Reports have emerged that White House staffers were too scared to go to work on Wednesday because they feared there would be violence. 

Despite those early indicators and the fact that Trump and his supporters have angrily contested the election result for two months, less than two hours later, thousands had descended on the Capitol with weapons and the Capitol Police force – which only has 2,300 officers in total – were frantically requesting back up.

It wasn’t until 3.51pm – nearly four hours  after Trump spoke to them at the rally – that 1,100 armed National Guardsmen were mobilized. 

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser had requested National Guard support from Tuesday to Thursday on New Year’s Eve, but she was only given 340 unarmed troops whose job was to help with traffic. It’s unclear if she pushed back and asked for more, or why so few were supplied.

Aside from a few photographs of Capitol Hill police drawing their guns to protect lawmakers in the House chamber, there are scarce examples of how the few cops on the Hill actually tried to stop the mob as the situation escalated on Wednesday.

Instead, videos have emerged showing officers assisting some of the rioters down the steps of the Capitol building, standing aside as crowds rush past them and even running away from them.  

Those images stand in stark contrast to the stealthy response shown from the police during the BLM protests of the summer. Only 53 were arrested on Wednesday. In June, 289 were arrested during a single night of BLM protests.  

Now, outraged Americans are demanding answers as to why more was not done to stop the crowds and prevent the first attempted government coup since 1814.   

Capitol Hill police face tough questions this morning on why more was not done to prepare for the chaos.

On Wednesday night during an interview with CNN as the curfew went into place, Mayor Bowswer was unable to answer whether or not the rioters would even be arrested for breaking curfew. 

It wasn’t until 3.51pm that 1,100 National Guard troops were scrambled to assist Capitol police. By then, a Trump supporter had been shot and killed as she tried to breach the building. 

The decision was eventually made by acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller but it’s unclear why he and everyone else waited so long. 

Additional Na
tional Guard troops from Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware were put on standby but it’s unclear why they weren’t told to go straight to the Capitol to help. 

Instead, they waited for guidance from city officials like Bowser.   

In the summer, Trump overruled local officials to send in the National Guard in cities where he thought local law enforcement had lost control. 

Former DC Police Chief Charles Ramsay is among the many incredulous voices.  

‘How they were not ready for this today, I have no idea. They were overwhelmed, they did not have the resources. You have to be able to protect the Capitol. 

‘That is not OK.’ 

For days before Wednesday’s chaos, the rioters were openly discussing their plans to overtake the Capitol or the very least incite violence. 

On niche websites like TheDonald, Trump fans told one another to ‘bring guns’ to the Capitol to fight the certification of Joe Biden’s election win. 

‘All this bulls**t about not bringing guns to D.C. needs to stop.  

‘This is America. F*** D.C. it’s in the Constitution. Bring your goddamn guns,’ said one post which received more than 5,000 ‘upvotes’. 

Jared Holt, a visiting research fellow with DFRLab, told BuzzFeed on Wednesday: ‘Extremists have for weeks repeatedly expressed their intentions to attend the January 6 protests, and unabashedly voiced their desire for chaos and violence online. 

‘What we’ve witnessed is the manifestation of that violent online rhetoric into real-life danger.

‘The earliest call we got on our radar for today specifically was a militia movement chatroom talking about being “ready for blood” if things didn’t start changing for Trump.’

On Thursday morning, political pundits and commentators across the board raged at Capitol Police and DC officials for allowing the chaos to escalate so gravely. 

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough fumed on Morning Joe: ‘I’ve got no questions for Donald Trump, he’s an insurrectionist, there are no questions, he should be arrested today, he should be sent to jail today for insurrection against the United States of America.

‘But I do wonder this morning why they weren’t better prepared for this? Why weren’t the Capitol Hill police better prepared for this?

‘I never complained when they were tough, I want them to protect the people’s house!  

‘Yesterday, we see them patting terrorists on the back, we see them taking selfies with people who are committing and insurrection against the United States of America, politely opening the door for terrorists who had scrawled on the door ‘murder the media,’ who had broken through this glass?

‘Letting them just walk through, letting these Trump supporters walk through freely. And politely opening doors. To the insurrectionists. 

‘There has to be an investigation. 

‘How many of these Capitol Hill cops are members of Donald Trump’s cult? How many? How many allowed this to happen? And I do want to know, where the hell were the D.C. police? 

‘If these insurrectionists were black, they would have been shot in the face. And my God, if these insurrections had been were Muslim, they would have been sniped from the tops of buildings. 

‘So I want to know from the Capitol Hill police, what is it, just white people? Or is it Donald Trump supporters? 

‘Why do you scream at people for walking across the street three blocks away from the capitol? Why are you known as bada**es around the capitol, but then Trump supporters come in and you hold open the f*****g doors for them? 

‘You open the doors for them? And let them breach the people’s house! What is wrong with you? ‘