The January 6 riot and storming of the capitol building is an example of an event that could have and should have been avoided. On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the capitol building in Washington D.C. after Trump lost the presidential debate by electoral college vote to the current President Joe Biden. Considered controversial, many say that the event was instigated by then President Trump in tweets to his supporters and speeches leading up to the event. His words resonated with his devoted and stronger supporters, which were fueled up by them and chose to attack. The storming of the capitol building was dangerous, unnecessary, and is a modern-day example of toxic patriotism. In this quote from an article by The United States Department of Justice, “More than 225 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including over 75 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer,” we see how many people have been criminally charged for the event because of the dangers that happened and of what they did to the capitol building, to police officers, to civilians, and to law makers. According to The United States Department of Justice, “More than 725 defendants have been arrested in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia.” The violence and criminal offenses we see here are a result of misinformation and the leader feeding false information to his followers. This instigation led to multiple assaults, over 1.5 million dollars in property damages, and issues after the fact. Many events throughout history, like the Crimean War, The Irish Rebellion, The East Indian Rebellion, World War One and World War Two, 9/11, and Brexit, show what toxic patriotism can lead to and cause. These events continued a mindset that led to the January 6, storming of the capitol building. The urge to keep the power of president after losing by force, firing up the supporters into attempting to overthrow the government enough to take the presidency, and the damages and fallout that happened to the country are results of toxic patriotism by the people that was fueled by their leader. In the quote from Lonsdorf et al, “Tensions were high on Capitol Hill. Protesters swarmed lawmakers outside,” we can see the people becoming fired up and starting to attempt to take the Capitol.

Even after an entire year, people are still defending the actions the insurgents had taken on January 6th. They still hail them as ‘heroes’ and ‘true patriots’, even with the horrific crimes and disturbance they had caused. It is truly disturbing the amount of people that still believe in these people as being extremely righteous, along with some people that we know too commonly. Celebrities, Social Media stars, and even Politicians are still trying to find justifications that these so-called heroes had taken when they first stormed the capital. Some of these supporters are Republicans that are running for Oregon offices. The issue is even worse when you realize that one of the Republicans running for office participated in the storming of the White House. Reed Christensen, the Republican Oregon governor, was one of the individuals that joined in many insurgents storming the White House on January 6th. Christensen had compared himself and other participants to “Americans in the Boston Tea Party.”. While making this comment, the group known as ‘Look Ahead America’ applauded loudly for Christensen in utter support for his participation. Now one may ask themselves, “How does the January 6th attack connect together with these other heinous acts in history?”. January 6th was not just an event in American history. Like the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Americans during the Jan. 6th event displayed a truly disgusting side of patriotism. Like the East Indian Rebellion, acts of cruelty were displayed all in the name of ‘love and country’. Like the Crimean War, hope felt lost in the times that we faced. And lastly, like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, all it had taken to topple a fragile government was one disgruntled man looking to force order within chaos.

Works Cited:

Lonsdorf, Kat, et al. “A Timeline of how the Jan. 6 attack unfolded – including who said what

and when.” The NPR Politics Newsletter, 5 January 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when

“One Year Since the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol.” United States Department of Justice, 30

December 2021. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/one-year-jan-6-attack-capitol

Shumway, Julia. “Oregon man facing charges for Jan. 6 ends campaign for governor.” Herald

and News, 19 April 2022. https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/oregon-man-facing-charges-for-jan-6-ends-ca mpaign-for-governor/article_effc054d-bb97-5ffb-a2de-7426783bb506.html