AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File
As the dust settled at the U.S. Capitol after it was swarmed by supporters of then-President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, Americans looked on with horror and outrage — including some of Trump’s most ardent advocates in the conservative mediasphere. In the intervening four years, they’ve shrugged off their critical commentary to applaud his re-election but the anniversary of that tragic day in American history is an appropriate occasion to take a moment to remember their initial reactions.
On Jan. 6 and the days that followed, numerous conservative media personalities were clear and unflinching in condemning the violence, placing blame directly on Trump for inciting the rioters, and calling for the rioters to be criminally prosecuted. Their unvarnished critiques were issued while the adrenalin was still pumping through their veins and before they had the chance to conduct the cynical calculus of how speaking the truth might impede their career ambitions. As Trump spent the past four years both evading criminal accountability for his actions and mounting a stunning political comeback,
But Jan. 6, 2021 did happen. It happened on live television and contemporaneous social media posts, documented by media outlets from around the globe, independent journalists — and the rioters themselves. It was violent, it was terrible, it caused real harm, and it would never have happened without Trump’s incitement.
These condemnations were accurate when they were uttered. They’re still true today, even if their speakers wish to forget they said them.
On Jan. 6 itself, Fox News on-air personalities — including some of Trump’s most devoted cheerleaders — spent hour after hour calling what had occurred criminal and showing no qualms in declaring the rioters should be prosecuted.
“Those who breached the Capitol Hill security today, whoever they were, they were criminals,” said Laura Ingraham on the Jan. 6 showing of The Ingraham Angle.
“Those who truly support President Trump, those that believe they are part of the conservative movement in this country, you do not — we do not support those that commit acts of violence,” who were “vandalizing our nation’s Capitol, attacking the brave men and women that keep us safe in law enforcement,” said Sean Hannity on that evening’s episode of Hannity. “And all of today’s perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But every good and
The commentary on the Jan. 6 episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight is especially noteworthy in light of Tucker Carlson’s later status as one of the most aggressive attempted retconners of the day.
“It’s also important, however, for us now to make sure we see that those who broke the law, those who crossed that line, are held to account,” said that evening’s guest, conservative radio host Buck Sexton. “It’s on us to make it very clear why we have principles that we don’t violate even in these extreme times.”
Replied Carlson, “That’s for sure. The idea that people would smash windows in the Capitol Building, are you kidding? We spent our entire life on this show going after the people in charge and they absolutely deserve it. But no, you’re not allowed to break windows or encourage people to break windows.”
On his radio show, Fox News host Mark Levin launched into a rant about the “criminal, lawless, idiotic, moronic” actions of the rioters. “What they did was criminal,” he said. “I want to know who these people are. I want to know if they’re going to be charged. Because they should be. They broke the law. What they did was criminal.”
“We cannot have groups — I don’t care who they are, I
Another night or two of sleep did not dampen the criticism of Trump and the rioters. The Jan. 7, 2021 episode of Fox & Friends included co-host Steve Doocy saying “the attack on law enforcement yesterday was jaw-dropping,” and Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce saying that “what the American people must demand is arrests…we’ve got to know who these people are and what their associations are.”
On The Five on Jan. 7, co-hosts Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld — who in more recent times regularly mock those who express outrage over the events of Jan. 6 — both used the word “condemn” regarding the riot. “I condemn it fully,” said Watters. “And I want to speak to the people that think it wasn’t that big of a deal. Yes, you’re allowed, as a member of the public, to go into the people’s house, but you have to go through the front door and you have to pass through a metal detector. You can’t smash windows, spray police with chemical agents, assault police officers, loot, and vandalize.” Gutfeld concurred as he offered a prediction we now know was faulty,
I condemn this equally because we aren’t them…We are better than them…Republicans are always outraged by bad behavior because they consistently, consistently embrace law and order and condemn the destruction of private and public property…You will not see Republicans bailing out those who were arrested. See, that is a vital contrast. And Americans know this. Americans do not need lectures from hypocrites in hair and makeup who pick and choose their favorite protesters, right? So, I’m glad that the Democrats are finally outraged by this disgusting behavior. Join the club. I’ve been there for a year. I do not play favorites with mobs.
Ben Shapiro was apoplectic on his eponymous show the day after. In the Jan. 7 episode of The Ben Shapiro Show titled “The Worst Day in Modern American Political History,” he kicked off a rapid-fire rant by declaring that the day before was “bar none, not one of the, the most horrifying thing I have seen in American politics in my lifetime.”
“It was absolutely horrific on every possible level,” Shapiro continued. “What we saw yesterday is inexcusable, unjustifiable, awful on every level, disgusting on every level, just terrible, terrible!”
“They are rioters, they are not protesters,” he stated bluntly, saying he won’t excuse riots based on “perspective of the rioters,” because these acts of vandalism
“This was an attempted act of insurrection,” Shapiro said before digging into how Congress “does not and never did” have the power to overturn the election results, and neither did Vice President Mike Pence. He went on to denounce the violence as an “evil act” and lament the injured police officers and people who died.
“That’s as bad of an event as I’ve ever seen in American public life,” he said. “Frankly, I think that in many ways it’s the worst thing to happen to the United States of America since 9/11. It was cataclysmically awful, cataclysmically awful.” The September 11 attacks involved “mass carnage and mass death” from a foreign terror attack, but January 6 resulted in “grave damage done to the sense of democracy, to the propriety of our republic, and the functional workings of our government.”
“Thank God,” Shapiro continued, the “American system is robust” and “bounced back within hours,” but to him it was clear that this “does not diminish the importance of what happened yesterday, which, again, was bad on every single level.”
That is all within the first two-and-a-half minutes of the over one-hour
“We can’t skirt the fact that Donald Trump is responsible for what happened on Wednesday,” said Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen on the Jan. 8, 2021 episode of America’s Newsroom. “He invited this crowd to Washington, he incited them with lies, he raised their expectations that somehow something was going to happen to overturn the election, setting them up for disappointment, he blamed members of Congress for not being strong enough, he said — he told the crowd on Wednesday, ‘We’ve got to get rid of the weak members. I want you to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue and take back our country.’ And that’s what happened. They tried to do.”
“I haven’t seen any legitimate person, or anyone, say that what happened on Wednesday was in any way OK,” said another Fox contributor, Mollie Hemingway, on Outnumbered that same day. “You have unanimity of thought on this.”
The hearings conducted by the Jan. 6 House Select Committee also revealed frantic text messages that multiple Fox News hosts sent to Trump’s then-chief of staff Mark Meadows during the rioting. In these texts, Hannity, Ingraham, and Brian Kilmeade urged Meadows to get Trump to call off the rioters — clearly viewing Trump as possessing the singular power to calm the storm. As reported by The Washington Post:
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in
the Capitol to go home,” Fox News prime-time star Laura Ingraham texted Mark Meadows. “This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.”…Ingraham, as well her colleagues Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade, urged Meadows to implore Trump to take the riot seriously and to work to protect his accomplishments as president.Kilmeade, who co-hosts the morning show “Fox & Friends,” urged Meadows in a text message to “please get him on TV.” He said that the riot was “destroying everything you have accomplished.”Hannity asked Meadows if Trump could “make a statement” and “ask people to leave the Capitol.”
January 6, 2021 was a mere 4 years ago. They knew then Trump incited the rioters to commit acts of violence and other crimes. Watching the footage from that day brings back the shock and revulsion and outrage like it was just one day ago instead of 1,461 — even if some might want to pretend it didn’t happen.