January 6 is a complicated story.  For the Democrats, it is a Reichstag Fire moment, a chance to pulverize their political opposition.  For the Republicans, it is an awkward story because while they don't approve of the violence that took place that day, they do believe they were taken to the cleaners by Democrat operatives who used the pandemic as an excuse to completely change the way we vote in order to alter the outcome of the election.

There isn't a single Republican congressman who believes that the changes to election rules imposed by Democrats in 2020 were legal.  We know that because not a single Republican has ever voted for H.R. 1 or any other Democrat wish list that allows ballot-harvesting, bans on voter ID, and all-out assaults on voter integrity measures.

The worst you can say about Trump was that he was ambivalent about the riot.  He almost immediately called for an end to the violence but refused to condemn its participants.

The protesters entered the Capitol at 2:12 P.M.

Sixteen minutes later, at 2:28 P.M., Trump tweeted, "Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!"

At 3:13 P.M., Mr. Trump added a note: "I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order — respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!"

At 4:17 P.M., Mr. Trump posted a video on Twitter of him speaking directly to the camera in the Rose Garden.  "I know your pain," Mr. Trump said.  "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 added, "We have to have peace.  We have to have law and order.  We have to respect our great people in law and order.  We don't want anybody hurt."

If we are honest, we can see why he was reluctant to condemn his supporters.  From the time he entered the race, Trump was subjected to a torrent of political opposition, some of which involved disruption and violence that was tolerated and even encouraged by the Democrats and their enablers in the media.

During the 2016 primaries, Trump's rallies were besieged by disruptive demonstrations, with protesters harassing his supporters with insults and disruptive outbursts during his speeches.  There were videos of Clinton operatives describing paying people, including some who were mentally disturbed, to disrupt an appearance of Trump at the University of Illinois, Chicago in January 2016.  The effort was successful as the threat of violence was enough to shut down the rally and prevent Trump from giving his speech.

Political violence has been endemic for a portion of the woke progressive movement for a long time.  College campuses have seen the successful shutting down of speakers supporting Israel, police, and a variety of conservative causes.  Campus administrators have gone along with such intimidation by either banning the speakers or apologizing for allowing distasteful people to appear because of freedom of speech obligations.

In addition, the Trump administration was hindered by a monstrous lie that Trump was a Russian operative, a puppet of Vladimir Putin.  Sixty Democrat members of Congress boycotted his inauguration and calls were made for his impeachment or removal via the 25th Amendment.

In the aftermath of George Floyd's death, there were literally hundreds of violent riots, encouraged by the Democrats and the media, and used to damage Trump politically.  In Kenosha, lies about the police shooting of Jacob Blake led to three days of destruction in Kenosha.  The Democrat party authorities simply allowed the violence to continue, refusing the offer by Trump of federal assistance in containing the violence.

Even public health officials joined the efforts against Trump as they condemned a few hundred lockdown protesters for potentially spreading the virus but adamantly refused to express any criticism of millions of George Floyd protesters that were flagrantly violating the draconian public health measures that Americans had endured for the previous three months.

Finally, when an army of Democrat lawyers and allied election officials enabled the Democrats to change the rules to allow massive absentee balloting while voiding many of the laws ensuring the integrity of the ballots, the courts simply refused to listen to challenges.  The courts may have had legitimate legal reasons for turning down the challenges, but for Trump and a majority of Republicans, it looked like the courts were simply intimidated by the prospect of rioting if they accepted the challenges.

For Trump, it must have seemed that five years of violence against his candidacy and then his administration had been allowed and encouraged by the most powerful elements of our society: the Intelligence Community, the Democrat party, Big Tech, the mainstream media, and the entertainment industry.  Under such circumstances, it is hard to believe that Trump did not feel some sense of "turnabout is fair play" as he watched his supporters converge on the capital.

The truth is that Trump told his supporters to be peaceful.  He almost immediately urged them to stop as soon as he learned that his supporters were fighting with police to enter the Capitol.  He clearly did nothing illegal.  What he refused to agree with was that the anger of the demonstrators was unwarranted.  He has refused to call them traitors or declare that their anger was unjustified.

Given the history of the last five years, could you really expect him to feel otherwise?  And what is more important, is it really a surprise that his voters feel the same?

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab.