Four years ago, Donald Trump lost a presidential election by millions of votes, declared himself the winner anyway and eventually told a mob of his supporters to go and “stop the steal,” watching television for hours as they ransacked the U.S. Capitol in search of traitorous lawmakers and his own disloyal lieutenant, Mike Pence.
In his Jan. 6 remarks on the Ellipse, Trump had encouraged thousands of his followers to “show strength” and demand that Congress deny his opponent’s resounding victory and instead hand power to the loser of the 2020 election: him. After all, the former president turned president-elect assured his supporters, the other side would do the same thing, if not worse.
