In the aftermath of the 2024 election, the certification of electoral votes at the House will stand as a looming civic impasse. There is a congressional process necessary to the certification of Presidential elections and the rhetorical interpretation of January 6, 2021 stands as a profound point of misunderstanding. The deliberate misrepresentation of events surrounding January 6 was the primary pretext to the longstanding argument against Trump’s election -- suggesting he is a "threat to democracy." The mythology of January 6 is an incredible story of the power of this misguided epistemology. Kamala Harris chose to build her closing argument for election upon the D.C. space where President Trump urged followers to “peacefully and patriotically” have their voices heard at the Capitol. The misunderstandings surrounding January 6, 2021 are at the foundation of current political angst in America that fears rising violence in the months ahead.

The only elected political figure to call for violence on January 6, 2021 was Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. On that day she said: “I hope he comes, I want to punch him out. This is my moment. I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I want to punch him out, and I’m going to go to jail, and I’m going to be happy.” Trump never came to the Capitol grounds but Pelosi broadcast her violent appeals for brutalizing the President of the United States to television cameras that day. Her brutish rhetoric fit well with her antagonism of tearing up a copy of the President’s State of the Union Message a year before -- again before congressional members and on live television. Pelosi’s calls for violence have not been criticized by our public intellectual culture and in 2022 she reiterated that she continues to seek for violence against the President of the United States. The Speaker of the House said that the President of the United States did not have “the balls” to face her directly on January 6, 2021. Pelosi appealed to a notion of toxic masculinity by casting herself as an ideal alpha male willing to punch out the immoral intruder.

Another major advocate for violence at the capitol on January 6 was Jayden X. His real name is Jonathan Sullivan. As a left-wing activist he made a name for himself in the George Floyd protest era of 2020 but made a specific purpose of misleading Trump supporters inside the capitol that he was on their side. He urged them to burn down the capitol: ““we about to burn this shit down,” “we got to rip Trump out of office... fu**ing pull him out of that sh*t... we ain’t waiting until the next election we about to go get that motherf***ker.” Sullivan then can be seen leading the crowd in a chant of, “it’s time for a revolution.” Before arriving in the Capitol, Sullivan said, ““There are so many people. Let’s go. This sh*t is ours! F**k yeah, We accomplished this shit. We did this together. F**k yeah! We are all a part of this history,” and “Let’s burn this sh*t down.” Sullivan maintains that what he did that day misleading the protesters and inciting them to violence was the right thing to do. His incitements undoubtedly contributed to the killing of Ashli Babbit, which Sullivan filmed. Sullivan sold the snuff film for more than $90,000 to major media outlets such as NBC. His alias of JaydenX is built upon the false hagiography built by American intellectuals about what a profound afro-pessimist Malcolm X was and that the dreams of black Americans are best met in the unrealized violent fantasies of Malcolm X, killed too soon by the government. At his sentencing hearing in April of this year, Sullivan explained: “he bragged that he'd sought to “make those Trump supporters f--- s--- up.”

On the one year anniversary in 2022, President Biden lied to the American people and said in a major presidential speech that a police officer, William Evans, was killed on January 6 when, in fact, that officer was killed in April 2021 by another radical Left activist inspired by the Nation of Islam. Here again the blue privilege of telling false narratives about the deaths of police officers is reserved to high partisans of anti-Republicans such as President Biden and Kamala Harris.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was not held to account for her calls for violence on January 6 and in fact instigated one of the most important epistemological tomes on the matter -- the January 6 House Select Committee. In defiance of House rules, Pelosi refused to allow congressional members appointed from the Republican leadership. Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney were the only Republicans appointed by Pelosi on the investigative committee. Both concluded prior to examining evidence that Trump was guilty of inciting an insurrection. Trump advisor Steve Bannon was sent to prison for refusing to testify before the illegitimate committee. The refusal to allow debate about such an important question of insurrection belies the ugly censoring arrogance of our anti-Republican establishment. After losing control of the House in 2022, the leadership of the House summarily destroyed contrary evidence they gathered during those hearings.

The coverup of January 6 is consistent with Pelosi’s own assessment that she gave by the end of the day on January 6. She was herself responsible for the lack of security, as she explained that day to an HBO news crew: “We have totally failed. We have to take some responsibility for not holding the security accountable for what could have happened.” She further confirmed this by exclaiming, “Oh my god, I cannot believe the stupidity of this. And I take the full responsibility.” Full responsibility would require a balanced and comprehensive congressional investigation of January 6. Understanding why President Trump’s fundamental and key recommendation to place National Guard troops at the Capitol was not implemented is an important point of inquiry. The 2025 confirmation of electoral votes should not suffer the shadows unjustly cast by the present rhetorical mythology surrounding January 6, 2021.

Dr. Ben Voth is professor of rhetoric and director of debate at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of several academic books regarding political communication, presidential rhetoric, and genocide.

Image: AT via Magic Studio