Pro-Trump forums celebrated a December Trump tweet as a 'mobilization call' to 'storm the Capitol'

A Trump flag at the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
(Image credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

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!"

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.