Trump and the Neo Nazis
Trump lost an election by over 7 million votes, then lied to the American people saying he had won. He insisted the results were due to election fraud, but never was able to produce evidence to that effect in any of his many unsuccessful court proceedings.
Unsuccessful in the courts, he asked his supporters to come to a rally on January 6, 2020, the date of the election certification in Congress to put pressure on Congress to overturn his defeats at the polls and then in the courts. He invited them with a tweet, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Somewhere between 20,000 and 120,000 showed up for his rally. https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-classified-documents-reveal-number-january-6-protestors-1661296
Trump urged them to march down Pennsylvania Avenue, go to the Capitol and fight like hell to pressure Republican elected officials to re-elect him as President and overturn Biden’s election as our next President. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial Some percentage of the protest attendees then marched to the Capitol at Trump’s behest, and about 2,000 broke into the Capitol to overturn Joe Biden’s election, hang Mike Pence and do bodily harm to Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and many others.
At least 5 people died, and over 140 officers were injured. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-01-05/by-the-numbers-jan-6-anniversary Over 950 have been or are being prosecuted. https://www.insider.com/all-the-us-capitol-pro-trump-riot-arrests-charges-names-2021-1 Oath Keepers leaders such as Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs have recently been found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their violent efforts to overthrow the election of President Joe Biden.
Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, of Auburn, Wash.; Joe Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Fla.; Dominic Pezzola, of Rochester, N.Y.;and Zachary Rehl, of Philadelphia are on trial for seditious conspiracy for their part in the assault on the US Capitol. Their lawyers are blaming Donald Trump for inciting mob violence and saying he should be tried for the attack on the Capitol, not them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/12/proud-boys-trial-openings/
The Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, the Friends of Roger Stone, the Nick Fuentes led Groypers, the adherents of Alex Jones and/or QAnon, the Patriot Boys, and many other right wing extremists responded to the call of President Trump and rallied and assembled their groups to come to DC and storm the US Capitol. https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/january-6th-committee-final-report?path=/gpo/January%206th%20Committee%20Final%20Report%20and%20Supporting%20Materials%20Collection/Final%20Report
Who are they? They are a toxic stew of groups dedicated to white nationalism, antisemitism, conspiracy theories, anti-gay, anti-women, anti-government, and advocating the overthrow of the American government in the name of their own conception of individual freedoms. These are not simply groups and individuals who speak in hate filled rhetoric, but they act upon it, and they had conducted several other takeovers of state Capitols in advance of the DC insurrection. The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI compiled a list of the violence committed by domestic terror groups and lone wolf individuals over 4 years from 2015-19. https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/fbi-dhs-domestic-terrorism-strategic-report.pdf/view
When the President said come to Washington and “be wild”, they said “yes sir”, they planned and executed the Capitol takeover; when he said “fight like hell”, they did so and injured many police officers in taking over the US Capitol. https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/january-6th-committee-final-report?path=/GPO/January%206th%20Committee%20Final%20Report%20and%20Supporting%20Materials%20Collection The groups had advance notice from the Trump White House that President Trump would call upon them to march to the Capitol, and they prepared accordingly. They brought guns; they brought a wide array of armaments with them; they stationed an armed quick reaction force in Virginia if necessary to be called on. https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/january-6th-committee-final-report?path=/GPO/January%206th%20Committee%20Final%20Report%20and%20Supporting%20Materials%20Collection
As the Committee on January 6 found, this was the work of one man, Donald Trump, and of many allies who cooperated and conspired with him. It is essential that the mastermind, his active co-conspirators be tried and convicted, just as his foot soldier insurrectionists are being tried, found guilty and sentenced.