6, according to Zignal Labs, a media insights company. Trump - and, if possible, block the congressional certification of the election he claimed he had won - was language that flirted with aggression, even violence.įor example, the term “Storm the Capitol” was mentioned 100,000 times in the 30 days preceding Jan. Couy Griffin, 47, a Republican county commissioner from New Mexico, spoke of organizing another Capitol rally soon - one that could result in “blood running out of that building” - in a video he later posted to the Facebook page of his group, Cowboys for Trump.īut woven through many of the messages to stand up for Mr. “I am asking myself that question.”īut the experience seemed to have only hardened the resolve of others. “Should I get down on my knees and ask for forgiveness?” he said in an interview. Haag, an evangelical Christian, wonders whether he went too far. Now, back home after several days of reflection, Mr. It felt so good, he said, to show people: “We are here. Even so, he said he would never forget the sense of empowerment as he looked down over thousands of protesters. Kevin Haag, 67, a retired landscaper from North Carolina who ascended the Capitol steps as the crowd surged forward, said he did not go inside and disapproved of those who did.
Trump, meanwhile, has been broadly condemned and cut off from his social media megaphones, as a new administration prepares to take power.
Now, dozens of them have been arrested - including an armed Alabama man who had Molotov cocktails in his car and a West Virginia lawmaker charged with illegally entering the Capitol - and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is asking for help in identifying those who “actively instigated violence.” Many participants in the march are frantically working to erase digital evidence of their presence for fear of losing a job or being harassed online.