On January 6th, 2021, as Congress was in the midst of confirming the presidency of President-elect Joe Biden, a large group pro-Trump rioters broke through the Capitol’s barricades and made their way into the government building. Many members of this group were armed with guns or chemical irritants to use against the police. Members of the Senate were forced to evacuate from their seats and escape the building while D.C.’s police force attempted to restrain the rioters. 5 people were left dead, all of which were members of the riot, and several were injured. 

The rioting members posed for dramatic and “patriotic” pictures inside of the building, some photographed sitting in senate seats and offices, waving MAGA and U.S. flags in front of the Capitol, and breaking down doors with weapons. Their reasoning behind this protest was to encourage the overturn of the 2020 election and to keep the idea of voter fraud alive. Nick Fuentes, a conservative member of the riot and leader of the nationalist group Proud Boys, stated, “In the first Million MAGA march we promised that if the GOP did not do everything in their power to keep Trump in office, then we would destroy the GOP.” These supporters then chanted “Destroy the GOP!” while breaking down government doors.

Hours after this Republican riot, President- elect Joe Biden’s vote was secured by the Senate, and he became President of the United States on January 20th, 2021. 

It is safe to say that the majority of America is scared and disappointed. Many say our government looked fragile, and that “we look like a third world country.” Numerous Democrats in the media are calling Republicans hypocrites for calling Black Lives Matter protests violent and harmful, then proceeding to do something aggressive themselves. The world is exploding with fear and hostility, and the split between the two political parties has never been so clear. 

Several people, including myself, are scared of what this means for the future of our country. Are we going to have a modern day civil war? Will there be retaliation from the Democratic party? How is our government going to handle this? There are so many questions that can only be answered with time. Nobody knows what’s to come. We don’t know, the Republicans don’t know, the Democrats don’t know, and our government doesn’t know either. Most of the world was hopeful for 2021 to be better than 2020, and it is only seven days in and people are already losing hope. I am personally beginning to think that these bad things that keep happening over and over again were not caused by circumstance or just a “bad year,” but they were all caused by us. We are doing this to ourselves and we are heading down a slippery slope. Every action and every word means something now. We are the makers of our own futures, so is the killing and the hate what we really want? It was not just 2020 that was the problem, it was us.