The TLDR: What in other years would have been a standard rite of passage—the certification of the electoral vote by Congress—turned into an unprecedented scene of mob violence. Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building (the equivalent of our Parliament House), and raged through its hallways—as Congress members and staff fled or hid to save themselves. The words of the day: insurrection, sedition, terrorists, rioters. Yes, US democracy suffered grave damage, but so has the Trump brand. 

Here are the tumultuous events, set out in a timeline.

The vote in Congress

The process: When a US presidential candidate wins an election, there are certain routine steps that have to be followed.

• First, the states certify their results and appoint electors. 
• These electors cast their vote for the candidate who won the most votes in their state.
• These votes are sent to Congress—which ceremonially counts the votes in a joint session of the two houses. 
• This is the final step that confirms the winner of the election. 

But since it is Donald Trump—who still insists that he won—none of these steps have been routine. He has done everything possible along the way to overturn the results. 

The vote: Congress was due to count the votes yesterday. This is what Trump and his supporters did in the lead up to the event:

One: Trump openly leaned on Vice President Mike Pence—who presides over the Senate—to reject the electoral results of disputed states, mainly Georgia and Arizona. This would be, of course, completely illegal. Pence dilly-dallied and then—minutes before the vote kicked off—declared he will abide by the US Constitution.

Two: 100 Republican members of Congress announced that they would raise objections to the electoral votes in key states. Each objection triggers (by law) two hours of mandatory debate—after which the Senate and House members separately vote on the objection. Trump never had the votes to overturn the results. The real aim: to drag out the process as much as possible. 

Three: Just as Congress assembled to vote, Trump addressed a ‘Save America March’ of thousands of supporters who had been urged to come to Washington to disrupt the process. He said:

“We will never give up. We will never concede. It will never happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore.”

And he urged them to march toward the Capitol to “give our Republicans the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” In other words, Trump openly incited the riot that followed right after his speech.

The riot

The violence began just as the first objection was raised by the Republicans. As crowds grew outside the Capitol, it became obvious that the police were outnumbered. We don’t know yet why law enforcement was so woefully unprepared—given that Trump and his supporters had signalled their intentions weeks in advance. The scene looked something like this:

The turning point: When some supporters managed to break into the building:

“Police believe the first member of the mob that descended on the Capitol penetrated the building around 2 p.m. after stealing a Capitol Police officer’s riot shield and using it to crash into the Capitol building’s first floor room and then ran around to open the door for other protesters.”

Others just broke windows to get in:

The chaos: Members of Congress were hurried out by security to a safe location—just minutes before the rioters broke into the floor of the Senate. Because the security holding them back looked like this:

Trump supporters roamed the hallways, taking full possession of the Senate podium and offices of top-ranking members like Nancy Pelosi. 

Quick reminder: The security on the Lincoln memorial for the Black Lives Matter march back in June looked like this:

The fallout: The confrontation escalated as the police finally drew their guns (see: the most powerful photo of the day). And a woman—with a Trump banner around her neck—was shot fatally in her chest. The exact circumstances are unclear.  Three others died of medical emergencies.

Also this: The police discovered two pipe bombs in the vicinity of the Republican national headquarters—but they were safely disabled.

Trump speaks up: Soon after the first reports of the shooting emerged, Biden addressed the nation—demanding that Trump ‘step up’ and stop the madness (watch it here). Right after, the sitting President of the United States stepped up and tweeted out a clip. In it, he told the rioters: “We love you. You’re very special”—and said: 

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

Point to note: Soon after, both Facebook and Twitter temporarily locked Trump’s accounts, and removed the clip—which is so very little and so very late that it seemed entirely pointless. Twitter also threatened to permanently suspend his account if he violates their policies again. 

Coming up soon

Once the National Guard was brought in—and a citywide curfew imposed at 6 pm—the crowds quickly dispersed. Congress leaders are determined to return to the building to hold the vote tonight. One upside of this madness: it may dampen any efforts to challenge or block the count—now that most people have expressed their immense disgust with the President. His best buddies in corporate America are calling on the Vice President to remove Trump from office even though he just has 13 days left. Yup, it’s that bad.

The bottomline: is best summed up by this anonymous former Trump supporter who told Politico: “He screwed his supporters, he screwed the country and now he’s screwed himself.”

Reading list

Politico has the most detailed overview of the day’s events, and what’s next. Vox explains the constitutional process and offers context to the Congressional vote. The Atlantic explains how Trump has completely destroyed his party—with their help, of course. Buzzfeed News collated the 20 most powerful clips.