---
Title: Tweets about the attack on the Capitol
Date: 2021-01-09
Category: politics
Tags: tweets, alt-right
Ad: A snapshot of the terror attack of Jan 6
---

Twitter is an ephemeral medium. 
You scroll through tweets just fast enough for them to register in your head, and then they're gone forever.
If you want to find something again, you can go to somebody's profile and scroll through, one tweet at a time, until you find what you wanted.

This is a lousy way of capturing history. That's not great, because Twitter does such a good job of capturing important moments, as they happen.
If you want to save that moment, though, what can you do? What do you do if you think a day's tweets are important? Print them out?

Well, I did. Here is what I tweeted and retweeted, on a page. Tactile. To be read.

![i wonder what will happen](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1344800991867248640)

<!-- more -->

(edit 2021-01-11: added a few more tweets in here)

## What would we do without the police?

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![the police](https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1346920198461419520)
![RT @envinyon: &quot;wow the police must be overwhelmed&quot;\n\nthe police:](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346924535665348608)
</div>

![RT @dpetrohilos: .@DCPoliceDept just claimed they don’t do mass arrests in dc \n\nI’ve been mass arrested once, charged with felonies from a…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346997446690304000)

![RT @AthertonKD: If police as currently constituted are unwilling to hold the line against an armed takeover, then they have failed in their…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347003624011018246)

![RT @GravelInstitute: D.C. police only arrested 13 people today.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347022800800927745)

![RT @gregpmiller: Pentagon leaders installed as part of Trump purge last month blocked DC National Guard from getting riot gear and ammuniti…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347385518422687744)

![Now that we know for sure (lol) that the conservative movement was infiltrated by terrorists, it’s going to take years to unravel republican policy and filter all the evil bits out, if they even try to do it.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347316028645236737)

![RT @thisisbrookeb: waving the blue lives matter flag as you openly disobey law enforcement is extra cool because it illustrates how your fl…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347372092254261248)

## There are two Americas.

![RT @thejuliacarter: There are two Americas. https://t.co/CptXMNRLYw](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346924284539793410)

![RT @MartyOropeza: For the record this was the US Capitol during the BLM Protestors https://t.co/hyqneRtqMD](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346993511309172744)

![RT @Public_Citizen: For reference, there were 14,000+ arrests at the George Floyd protests.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346948419353530373)

![RT @KrystinaArielle: Black people have been killed for just existing. Black children have been killed for just playing. These people storme…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346990647476154368)

![Helping down the stairs](https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1346948187052003329)
![RT @AshleyEsqueda: Remember the old guy who got shoved into the ground because he walked toward a cop](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346996030953435137)

![RT @socialistdogmom: that&#x27;s cool. when i was arrested for standing on a sidewalk while i was on my way to cover a protest that hadn&#x27;t even…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347985214367264770)

![RT @GWillowWilson: I&#x27;m really having trouble reconciling this new FBI that is suddenly bound by due process and red tape with the one that…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348376920090664963)

![RT @__seab: I don’t think it’s wild that the republicans and Blue Lives Matter people don’t care that a cop died. I do think it’s interesti…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348384848956837888)

## Trump incited it

![RT @maggieNYT: NEW: Trump initially rebuffed and resisted requests to mobilize the National Guard, according to a person with knowledge of…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346990125109170179)

![RT @charlie_savage: Trump told his supporters on the Mall that Republicans have been too nice, like a boxer with his hands tied behind his…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346925113275510787)
![thread](https://twitter.com/charlie_savage/status/1346912046147842048)

![RT @EdStern: Well that escalated steadily for four years.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346925328514437123)

![&quot;Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?&quot; wasn’t just a joke](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346991623335538691)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!](./see_you_in_dc.png)
![Trump takes the turbulent priest thing to a new, more dangerous level by providing these little (plausibly deniable) tidbits for his extremist base to organize around https://t.co/1iLfB3oC2F](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347015569753694208)
</div>

![RT @zeynep: I wrote about why Trump&#x27;s latest—threatening a Republican electoral official to try to get him to “find 11,780 votes&quot; for him i…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347250280958730241)

![RT @DavidCornDC: .@SenatorDurbin leans hard into Trump&#x27;s call to the GA SoS and slams Trump: &quot;This mob was invited to come to Washington on…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347002226653454341)

![RT @gabrielsherman: Per source, White House counsel Pat Cipollone told west wing staffers today not to help Trump stage a coup or else they…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347022345425317890)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![the He didn't concede crowd](https://twitter.com/travis_view/status/1347344204461051904)
![If you listen to his speech, Trump goes out of his way not to mention Biden or conceding. It&#x27;s carefully chosen language designed to encourage people like this. https://t.co/2zde5TvSMe](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347348763879350274)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![RT @Olivianuzzi: Donald Trump was annoyed by the violent siege on the Capitol Wednesday — which left several dead — because it looked “low…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347379505967603715)
![RT @Olivianuzzi: The adviser confirmed that he was watching television coverage of the siege enthusiastically, but noted that the sight of…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347379524145713156)
</div>

![RT @andrewkimmel: Here’s Alex Jones admitting the orders were coming from Donald Trump. https://t.co/madYgIQuNv](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348073628781445125)

## This shouldn't surprise you.

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![I am legitimately baffled by anyone who is surprised by today’s events.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346926339069259776)
![What did you think antifa has been protesting about? Why did you ignore years of police showing extreme bias in their use of force? What did you THINK was going to happen?](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346926982794194948)
![I’m glad this is the last straw for SOMEBODY, but it shouldn’t have been. People have been warning about this exact danger for years. To be surprised today is to be ashamed that it took you this long.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346928753352577025)
![At this point anyone involved in policy or nat. defense should drop everything they’re doing, run to antifa, and plead “How did you know this was coming? Please, teach us”](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346930597533528065)
![Because today we learned that antifa -- whatever political theories they use, whatever assumptions about human nature they made, whatever dangers they saw in institutional racism -- were right.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346931101332287491)
</div>

![RT @BreeNewsome: Again--the ppl who didn&#x27;t see this coming a long ways off, who didn&#x27;t appreciate that Trump needed to be removed from offi…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346981515985620993)

![RT @IwriteOK: People keep giving me credit for &quot;predicting&quot; this.\n\nI predicted nothing. I read what these people wrote online about what th…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346997072940171265)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![Genuinely freaked people out](https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1347023890959228933)
![There is a small contingency of people who wouldn&#x27;t let themselves see it until now. There&#x27;s an &quot;oh my god, I&#x27;ve been serving a monster&quot; moment. https://t.co/J2ldKRKThf](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347038325253812227)
</div>

![i joined the leopards eating people&#x27;s faces party for their economic policy. i never expected this](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347312087438135297)

![RT @juliacarriew: If you spent time in pro-Trump, Back the Blue, Reopen, or QAnon Facebook groups over the past 9 months, this will be less…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347984935303458817)


## Rewriting history in real time

![anarchy](https://twitter.com/TalKopan/status/1346916295439233024)
![RT @RottenInDenmark: Ah yes, &quot;anarchy,&quot; the thing where you want to keep an incumbent president in power forever. https://t.co/IL58MFs5aj](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346993112942579713)

![RT @magpiekilljoy: anarchist does not mean &quot;anyone opposed to the current government&quot; and people attempting a coup on the behalf of the sit…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347040342659502080)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![Moving the goalposts](https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1347273406018973698)
![For some reason the phrase “moving the goalposts” springs to mind https://t.co/cEvHqPD5Tn](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347305347074174982)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![MattGertz: Here&#39;s Lou Dobbs and Rep. Mo Brooks baselessly speculating that the hundreds of insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol today actually may have included antifa false flag elements. https://t.co/s2ffZ2Ejsc](https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1346979712149684231)
![MattGertz: Now Sarah Palin, on a Fox &#34;news&#34; show, says &#34;we don&#39;t know who all were the instigators in this of these horrible things that happen today, I think a lot of it is the antifa folks&#34; per &#34;pictures she was sent, no response at all from Martha MacCallum. - There is no Fox &#34;news&#34; side. https://t.co/WO1UEV0lGl](https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1346981776653246464)
![MattGertz: &#34;Maybe there were antifa infiltrators&#34; just jumped to Tucker Carlson&#39;s show. https://t.co/dpp5K7k70G](https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1346990417493913602)
![MattGertz: Fox&#39;s senior political analyst. https://t.co/g3kyC5PiKo](https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1347001487805870080)
![MattGertz: Laura Ingraham says the insurrectionists were &#34;antithetical to the MAGA movement&#34; and &#34;there are some reports that antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd.&#34; - All three Fox primetime shows have now pushed this baseless rumor. https://t.co/lkzvRIdDMY](https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1347016340180258816)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![JoeSondow: Stop saying history will judge them. Judge them now. With judges.](https://twitter.com/JoeSondow/status/1347030223485771776)
![History is famously bad at judging. Let judges do it. In courts. This is why we have them https://t.co/ARjjcbMhBM](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347060003547582466)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![Defending](https://twitter.com/mike_pence/status/1347613311458824194)
![If he died defending the capitol, that would make what happened an “attack” on the capitol https://t.co/npMklfKMgz](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347627788401061890)
</div>

![RT @mguybowman: I can tell you what IS Orwellian: the characterization of yesterday&#x27;s events as involving &quot;antifa&quot; in any way is a delibera…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347371976667631617)

## The Undesirables

![falling back on “terrorists” to describe people who committed acts of war against their own country](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347385958891663361)

![RT @samwineburg: Take this in: Never once, in the years 1860-1865, was this flag ever paraded in the halls of the American capitol. https:/…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346998865187237889)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![willjennings80: Journalists still asking if this was planned or it just &#34;happened&#34; somehow. https://t.co/0Mz1XFkBDh](https://twitter.com/willjennings80/status/1346946815422320641)
![RT @melissagira: they had fucking merch https://t.co/knBRd2wYfS](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347034924864430080)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![igorbobic: Several people got on to a scaffolding outside Senate, took it to second floor, which looked like the area where McConnell’s office is located, and started banging on windows https://t.co/IIZ21nkzFT](https://twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1346908735059456005)
![RT @SethColaner: He...threw the American flag to the ground to make room for the Trump flag. That&#x27;s it...that&#x27;s the whole metaphor. https:/…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347035155324657670)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![Rebexem: @MalcolmNance They were planning to take hostages. https://t.co/oDHllrF93h](https://twitter.com/Rebexem/status/1346924689101213696)
![RT @IwriteOK: a protester in the Capitol with what appears to be a handgun on his hip and zipties, to take congressional hostages. hundreds…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347035357850853380)
</div>

![RT @jimbourg: I heard at least 3 different rioters at the Capitol say that they hoped to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347628427109654528)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![JakeBGibson: SCOOP- - The devices found near the RNC and DNC headquarters on Wednesday were actual explosive devices, not phonies, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigations.](https://twitter.com/JakeBGibson/status/1347189169613844482)
![RT @BostonJerry: They brought real bombs, and then the cops just let everyone go.\n\nThe bombmakers are out there, free and clear, and there&#x27;…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347242021665304576)
</div>

![RT @333333333433333: the &quot;anti-woke&quot; mocked AOC for tweeting &quot;im okay&quot; as if she&#x27;s some self-obsessed selfie-millennial stereotype and not…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347340774598438917)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![thenation: “This is not America,” a woman said to a small group, her voice shaking. “They’re shooting at us. They’re supposed to shoot BLM, but they’re shooting the patriots.” https://t.co/XN2pSct54i](https://twitter.com/thenation/status/1347232193341513736)
![https://twitter.com/Imani_Barbarin/status/1347273639159361546](https://twitter.com/Imani_Barbarin/status/1347273639159361546)
![RT @adamgurri: It really doesn&#x27;t get starker than this, laying out this particular worldview https://t.co/2w0kQEG8Lp](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347333035151208453)
![RT @vexwerewolf: Decades of careful propagandising and doublespeak to hide  the exact same intent this white woman just blurted out in full…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347250581358968835)![RT @Acosta: Source close to the VP says Trump pressured Pence to engineer a coup, then put the VP and his family in danger. https://t.co/nC…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347252064062234627)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![Terror attacks by people worked up into a violent frenzy warrant an examination of the technology* that incited the emotional frenzy. \n\n*A broad category including Facebook but also broad ideas like advertising campaigns and the quality of journalism](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347334622573719552)
![“Why angry people staged a riot” doesn’t interest me. It’s trivial. The interesting question here is “Why did they believe the lies that made them angry?”](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347335767383810049)
![Some platforms made an attempt to combat disinformation campaigns (because they realized disinfo campaigns lead to people believing legitimately dangerous lies) but didn&#x27;t have a coherent approach for systematically preventing them](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347336704995180544)
![(A coherent ban on disinformation, of course, leads to all SORTS of other extremely hard problems which, if you&#x27;re a giant tech company, are terrifying. Half-assing it irritated everyone on both sides but wasn&#x27;t as offensive as taking an actual position.)](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347337218688503808)
</div>

![RT @ClaireJChu: Friend just texted me, horrified, after realizing that her ex was a part of the violent mob in the Capitol today. He’s a we…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347340516522917888)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![liamstack: I wonder what all the people who ransacked the US Capitol yesterday are doing today.](https://twitter.com/liamstack/status/1347186665169833990)
![RT @EricHaywood: Half of them put their uniforms back on and returned to patrol duty. The other half went back to being your doctors, your…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347249488205897728)
</div>

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![Bencjacobs: This may be the lasting image of today https://t.co/pzFn9zGNh2](https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1346914618816524294)
![RT @elisethoma5: For me, the striking thing about so many of these images of rioters in the Capitol is that what they&#x27;re doing - all of the…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347068071215853570)
</div>

![RT @dynamicsymmetry: And here’s what really gets me. \n\nDo people like Cruz and Hawley actually think they would have been safe?\n\nThey proba…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347758882530201602)

![RT @Olivia_Beavers: Meanwhile, this what’s happening on Parler https://t.co/DRoaNFfxeg](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347986756487012354)

![Bad news for the economic conservatives who are rightfully outraged by Trump’s mob: as of this week, when people say “conservatives”, they are no longer talking about you.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347989656126824457)

![RT @59dallas: Trump supporters chanting &#x27;HANG MIKE PENCE&#x27; at the Capitol Building https://t.co/iMSOl4u3tg](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348073583986282499)

![RT @steve_vladeck: The insurrectionists were attempting to kill the first and second people in line to succeed the President and to prevent…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348073592538484736)

![RT @FrankLuntz: The mob beat an unconscious Capitol Police officer in full uniform to death.\n\nWhat do you think they would have done if the…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348377244729823232)

![RT @OlgaNYC1211: Chilling \n &quot;They had a map of the tunnels [in the basement of the Capitol], and they were talking about how they&#x27;re going…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348385019727900673)

![RT @ashleyn1cole: Now I’m thinking about all the ppl finding out their coworker Scott, from accounting, got arrested for going in the capit…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348385330148368385)

## tech companies

![RT @eevee: well it took three years and 351 days, including three months of explicitly fostering violent insurrection against the us govern…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347007531739185152)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![AlKapDC: In the past 48 hours: - -Twitter banned QAnon accounts - -Twitter banned Trump - -Reddit banned r/donaldtrump - -Reddit banned the head moderator of r/conspiracy - -YouTube banned Steve Bannon&#39;s show - -Discord banned TheDonald dot win&#39;s channel - -Google banned Parler from its app store](https://twitter.com/AlKapDC/status/1347713838133731334)
![It&#x27;s been possible to do this all along. People knew it. The dangers had been explained backwards and forwards. They only waited until now to do it so they could keep profiting off these people for as long as possible. https://t.co/tCM3chXUIS](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347741139202412545)
</div>

![RT @bombsfall: The twitter ban and the white house resignations etc over the past couple days just makes you all the more aware of how ever…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347690558609829890)

![RT @mcclure111: Does monopolist corporate control of speech venues restrict freedom? Yes!\nUp until recent, conservatives were *benefiting*…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347988937776771074)

![RT @RMac18: I like how he tried to correct himself 13 mins later and still has no idea what’s going on. https://t.co/hLCpGfTJVZ](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348152685976035329)

![RT @shaun_vids: i see a lot of people celebrating trump being banned, but i for one am very concerned about what this means for freedom of…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347985269568512007)

## Impact

![please enjoy the nauseatingly weaselly email you got today from your boss about how america is better than the things it regularly does and it&#x27;s important both sides respect each other because divisiveness is the real terrorism](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347254476105723904)

![RT @JennJayBee: @MEPFuller @lyman_brian Someone on reddit mentioned that there are bullet holes in the door and suggested that the door rem…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347018378981081090)

![RT @BernieSanders: Some people ask: Why would you impeach and convict a president who has only a few days left in office? The answer: Prece…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347628132602417154)

![RT @Patrick_Wyman: I can&#x27;t stress this enough: From the top down, if the people responsible for today&#x27;s events face no consequences for wha…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347038925202853888)

![&quot;This isn&#x27;t who we are!&quot; is the &quot;Not ALL men&quot; of political rhetoric; it&#x27;s who ENOUGH of us are that it&#x27;s a problem. There are enough of them to overthrow the federal capitol. There are too many to hand-wave away.](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347059834638753792)

<div markdown="1" class="thread">
![JoeBiden: America is so much better than what we’re seeing today.](https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1346932050746630149)
![RT @lightskintiger: https://t.co/Xy9tNG77nx https://t.co/G6cbi4PnUt](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1346997316671184899)
</div>

![RT @mguybowman: &quot;This is not America&quot;? Have you watched the news ever?](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347035235012243457)

![RT @pramsey342: They might as well just say &quot;Hail Hydra&quot;](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348015150159319045)

![RT @MahouPoint: Republicans calling for unity after being caught red-handed inciting a failed coup run by a seditious demagogue they held u…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348387173867937793)

![RT @attackerman: When you supported the entire 9/11 security state in all of its relentless, humanity-destroying evil and then](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348403787489292294)

![RT @attackerman: Notice it’s “tHeY wAnt tO caLl *ME* a tErroRisT” and not “for 20 years they put innocent people, my own neighbors, into th…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1348403795718512645)

## Unsorted

![RT @itvnews: Watch @robertmooreitv&#x27;s report from inside the Capitol building as the extraordinary events unfolded in Washington DC https://…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347001271958454275)

![RT @phillmv: oh shit i wonder how much it costs to read the conspiracy websites https://t.co/QgytGNxyCW](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347625305477963776)

![RT @dynamicsymmetry: The main reasons offered by scholars tend to be aggrieved nationalism, backlash against the ineffective Weimar governm…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347371905758728193)

![RT @mattblaze: The violence at the Capitol yesterday will rightly be a source of outrage that we should remember. But we also must not forg…](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347385193871667200)

![RT @petridishes: At This Time I’d Like To Resign From My Job Working On This Death Star https://t.co/uROBjv7EKh](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347720158882787330)

![RT @Atrios: don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s been stated clearly often enough that President Trump tried to have Vice President Pence killed](https://twitter.com/giovan_h/status/1347985184545767426)

## Related reading

- [Social media footage from 2021-01-06 on the Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/2021-01-06-trump-protest-social/){: .related-reading}
- [Washington Post, "RED FLAGS -- As Trump propelled his supporters to Washington, law enforcement agencies failed to heed mounting warnings about violence on Jan. 6."](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/warnings-jan-6-insurrection/){: .related-reading}
- [Dan Kois, "They Were Out for Blood" (2021)](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/was-there-a-plan-for-hostages-or-killings-at-the-capitol.html){: .related-reading}