Sen. SCHUMER. It is very, very difficult to put into words what has transpired today. I have never lived through or even imagined an experience like the one we have just witnessed in this Capitol…. Unfortunately, we can now add January 6, 2021, to that very short list of dates in American history that will live forever in infamy.
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2021/1/6/senate-section/article/s18-2?s=1&r=52
We’ve all seen hundreds of photos and thousands of frames of the January 6th Capitol riots, incited by Trump. And now as his second impeachment trial begins, I felt it appropriate to view the physical damage the domestic terrorists left behind: Splintered wood, shards of glass, pillaged offices, fire extinguisher residue discharged by rioters covering desks and floors.
It’s difficult to know where to start, so let’s just begin with huge amounts of trash the rioters left behind:
Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) was so distraught over what he saw, he felt the need to help in the cleanup: “What else could I do?”
“I was just overwhelmed with emotion,” Kim, 38, told NBC Asian America. “It’s a room that I love so much — it’s the heart of the Capitol, literally the heart of this country. It pained me so much to see it in this kind of condition.”
So for the next hour and a half, he crouched down and filled a half dozen trash bags with debris. When he finished cleaning up the rotunda, he began working on the adjacent rooms, including the National Statuary Hall and the Capitol crypt downstairs.
Afterwards, Rep. Kim received numerous requests asking why he did what he did. He responded with this childhood photo:
Many of you asked me why I cleaned the Capitol on Jan 6. I want to show you this photo. This is my mom, an immigrant from Korea, bringing me to DC for the first time. She took me to the Capitol and taught me to love and care for this nation that gave us everything. pic.twitter.com/PecgTb5HWB
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) January 28, 2021
And there was lots of broken glass – both involving windows …
And doors – both inside and out …
There was damage and debris that’s not so easily classified:
Although some damage will not be easily washed away or repaired, we must still pay tribute to the scores of hardworking congressional staff that diligently worked to clean up the damage done by Trump’s domestic terrorists – Trump’s thugs who transformed the very center of our democracy into a deadly crime scene.
Your yeoman’s work is much appreciated!
10 Responses to “Friday: The Damage & Debris Trump’s Domestic Terrorists Left Behind”
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The hate. The violence. The pictures from that horrible day ! The chaos, and the deaths.
A day that I (most) will never forget.
Makes a person being saddened and moved to tears of this day.
Thank you, Nameless for your post.
I’ve never been very agile or “bendable” as Treebeard put it in The Lord of the Rings, and now that i have osteoarthritis it is even worse. But even if i were in perfect physical condition, having to do all that cleaning with tears flooding my eyes would have just about done me in. they all deserve a medal. (And you photos, though graphic, really can’t tell the whole story … they leave out the olfactory part.)
Thank you for this.
Scum leaves a residue!
A few random thoughts on this:
I think they should leave one broken glass panel in one of the doors as a reminder of what happened on January 6th.
Kudos to those cleaners including Andy Kim.
I’m never comfortable in large groups, in areas where people mass together except for (classical music) concert halls and once in a peaceful protest of 1 million against America storing nuclear rockets within our borders. I could and can trust those people in the protest and the concert buildings not to turn the mass into a rioting beast with a mind of its own. Psychology has long known about mass rioting and mass psychology, even Freud was familiar with it. The Capital Riots are just another example of how a mass of people (who often feel unheard) can be played and turned into a murderous monster.
Thank you for breaking it down to literally the nitty-gritty and making us realize how bad it really was, Nameless.
When right-wing wack-jobs accuse Antifa and BLM of violence, the pot is calling the kettle black! Yes, people on the left have done some bad things – but tRump chumps are yowling about motes in their opponents’ eyes when they have beams in their own.
Thanks Nameless–pictures do indeed tell a story, sometimes a story at odds with the words those depicted say themselves. You would not do this kind of damage and destruction to something you love or seek to protect without one or more part of your history in getting to this point being inconsistent with loving and protecting or seriously pathological. A day that will live in infamy and, hopefully, send hundreds to prison with an opportunity to learn more functional behavior consistent with those who actually are patriots.
Thanks for including Rep. Kim’s display of love of his country and where he sees it originating–a kind of story I have heard countless times making me believe it may well be true that our immigrants value this country more than many whose family has been here generations and have spent time developing the civics knowledge that goes with patriotism.
I am so saddened and maddened by the destruction and hate displayed by the insurrectionists on 1/6/2021….how can anyone with a brain, heart, compassion be unwilling to hold their “leader” accountable?
Appreciate the photos you posted of this awful act of violence our Capital experienced on January 6, 2021.
Seeing it happening on that day, your photos showed us so much more of the damage that was done by the evil violent terrorists sent by tRUmp.
I applaud Rep. Kim for his respect/love for our Country. Seeing the photo of when his mother took them there outside the Capital and her words. I thank him for what he did after this horrible act of violence.
It’s certainly a sad day, that will go down in history and we’ll never forget.
Thanks Nameless
That’s what they do. Like a bunch of drunken teenagers.
Remember how the “Bundy’s” left that conservation area!
Oh yes, please lead us.
How are things in Seattle?