As the tear gas in the Capitol Building cleared on Thursday, Americans were left trying to make sense of the chaos that erupted the day before — and who was to blame. Even as some Republicans blasted their colleagues for stoking election conspiracy theories, the president's own White House staff turned against him, and many conservative publications wrote in no uncertain terms that "the nauseating scene in Washington, D.C., is Trump's fault," Fox News and its ilk have tried to suggest that Wednesday's pro-Trump marauders weren't actually Trump supporters.
But as GEN magazine's Garance Franke-Ruta points out, you don't have to look very far to find evidence of Trump's direct encouragement of the mob that formed yesterday. In fact, you only have to go back a month, to December, when Trump tweeted: "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Does Nepal have too many tigers?Under the Radar Wild tiger numbers have tripled in a decade but conservation success comes with rise in human fatalities
-
Today's political cartoons - January 19, 2025Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - moving to Canada, billionaire bootlickers, and more
-
5 inflammatory cartoons on the L.A. wildfiresCartoons Artists take on climate change denial, the blame game, and more
-
Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal on track to start by MondaySpeed Read A deal between Israel and Hamas to release hostages and begin a ceasefire was officially signed by representatives in Doha
-
Ukraine captures first North Korean soldiersSpeed Read Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted videos of the men captured in Russia's Kursk region
-
Lebanon selects president after 2-year impasseSpeed Read The country's parliament elected Gen. Joseph Aoun as its next leader
-
US accuses Sudan rebels of genocide, sanctions chiefSpeed Read Sudan has been engaged in a bloody civil war that erupted in 2023
-
Ukraine goes on offense in Russia's Kursk regionSpeed Read A top adviser to President Zelenskyy said "the Russians are getting what they deserve"
-
Ukraine cuts off Russian gas pipeline to EuropeSpeed Read Ukraine has halted the transport of Russian gas to Europe after a key deal with Moscow expired
-
Was Jimmy Carter America's best ex-president?Today's Big Question Carter's presidency was marred by the Iran hostage crisis, but his work in the decades after leaving office won him global acclaim
-
Top Russian general killed in Moscow blastSpeed Read A remote-triggered bomb killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense
