Look at this repellant Fox News segment:
I guess I should have seen that coming. But I honestly didn’t think it would be possible to get away with erasing the violence of that day and turning it into a rowdy tailgate party that’s being exaggerated by a bunch of hysterical drama queens. But the right wing media haven’t really been sharing the reality of what happened that day with their audience so I suppose they probably can. The cult is already primed to believe that everything they don’t like is fake anyway.
Here’s a thread from a reporter who was there:
There is a debate going on here about whether people who were at the Capitol complex had a right to be scared on January 6. I was there.
I would like to think I have seen some things in my day. I have been present for violent protests, shootings, violent protests, a fatal accident, and a terrorist attack. January 6 was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed.
I keep flashing back to the first moment I realized people were inside the dome. There was no data reception. I hadn’t seen it online. I called my editors to let them know.
The moment I hung up one thought rang out in my head, “This is so dangerous.” I knew people being inside there meant shooting could break out at any moment.
I keep flashing back to this because it was when I realized this could turn deadly – and it did.
Along with the danger, there was the sight of such chaos at that iconic dome.
That’s a place that is supposed to be so secure. Everything was out of control and unpredictable.
As a New Yorker who was there that day too, it reminded me of 9/11 – and that’s a comparison I’d never make lightly.
The scope is obviously different but it was impossible to know at the time.
And seeing things that just aren’t supposed to be possible creates a unique panic.
I had seen reporters attacked – that day and this summer. I tried to keep a low profile. I can’t imagine what the experience was like for people whose names and faces made them known. The crowd was clearly armed and dangerous.
I am a reporter and I am a man. There’s a lot of reasons I don’t like to talk abiut fear in a personal sense. However, it’s important for me to bring you all a clear story of what happened that day – especially if it’s being minimized or forgotten. It was terror.
I think one reason we’re not being entirely clear about how serious this was is that the pandemic has really disconnected people from reality. The extraordinary has become normal and we’re all watching it at a distance. It was also a moment of transition.
But 1/6 is exactly how we should be thinking about this and we should not forget.
Really appreciate all the great responses to this thread. I did this video with @CBSNLive abut my experience covering the Capitol on 1/6 a few days after the attack.
Originally tweeted by Hunter Walker (@hunterw) on February 3, 2021.
I can’t get past the idea that anyone would minimize the gravity of this:
If people cannot see that violently assaulting the US Capitol during a Joint Session of Congress to try to overturn an election is one of the gravest events in our political history they are being willfully blind. The fact that those people were out for blood is indisputable. The fact that only five people died that day is a miracle.
I am literally sickened that people are downplaying this monumental event. It makes me think that we are in even bigger trouble than I thought.