Trump defends insurrection and calls terrorists 'great patriots'

Just one minute after the curfew in Washington D.C. came into effect, Donald Trump offered his praise of the violent terrorists who invaded the U.S. Capitol Wednesday to stop the certification of his election defeat.

“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,” Trump tweeted. “Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

Twitter quickly restricted the tweet “due to a risk of violence” and later removed it completely.

The violence, however, had already been occurring for hours in the nation’s capital and turned deadly when a woman inside the Capitol was shot and later died.

Trump supporters who had gathered at a rally near the White House in the morning heeded his call to go to Congress to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election.

“I’ll be with you,” Trump told his supporters, but instead he returned to the White House, where he sat in the private dining room of his office, watching his supporters invade the Capitol, forcing the evacuation of the House and Senate.

Republican members of Congress — including those who intended to support the coup attempt by objecting to the certification of the election results — publicly begged Trump to tell his supporters to stop the violence.

Instead, Trump tweeted a brief video in which he continued to insist — despite all evidence to the contrary — that the election was stolen.

“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt, we had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now,” he said, adding to his violent supporters, “We love you. You’re very special.”

Not surprisingly, that statement was not enough to stop the insurrection, as the condemnation and the calls for him to do something continued.

Already, several Democrats in the House have called for Trump’s impeachment and removal for inciting an insurrection. Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the fourth-highest ranking member of the House, did not explicitly endorse impeaching Trump again but did call for his removal.

“Donald Trump is a traitor to our country and our Constitution. He must be removed from office and prevented from further endangering our country and our people,” Clark tweeted.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.