Mount Holyoke News AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1917 THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2021
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Community responds to Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol BY FLANNERY LANGTON ’22 MANAGING EDITOR OF CONTENT
Maggie Micklo ’21 was driving home from a doctor’s appointment when the news broke. It was Jan. 6, 2021. She was listening to the radio for the final count of Electoral College votes to certify Joe Biden’s win of the presidential election. Then, the news suddenly changed: A violent mob had entered the Capitol in Washington, D.C. “The reporters were clearly confused, and at first, I didn’t believe that people had actually entered the building,” Micklo said. Micklo, a politics and French double major, is also the president of the Mount Holyoke College Democrats. Two summers ago, she worked in the Capitol. “Even on a normal day, the building was always so secure,” she described. “I never imagined that there could be such a security breach. … I was terrified. It felt apocalyptic in some ways.” During the late morning of Jan. 6, a crowd of hundreds had assembled on the Capitol lawn. Among these people were the far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys, whom former President Donald Trump had previously told to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate. In the early afternoon, Trump addressed the crowd, saying “You have to show strength” before instructing them to march to the Capitol building. “We’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” Trump said, referring to those challenging the presidential certification, including Texas Republican Ted Cruz and Missouri Republican Josh Hawley. After 1 p.m., Trump called again for his supporters to “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.” Within the hour, the barricades surrounding the building were either breached or opened. TikTok user Marcus DiPaola captured the moment Capitol police opened a barricade on the building’s northeast side. An officer can be seen gesturing inward toward the building. From the video, it is unclear whom he is directing. Members of the crowd already inside beckoned their fellow insurrectionists past
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the perimeter. After 2 p.m., the mob stormed the building. Micklo and her family followed the events while sitting by the TV. Her mother read tweets from her congressman aloud. Assistant Professor of Politics Adam Hilton was also watching the events live. “I knew that Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and a few of the other die-hard Trump defenders were planning to overturn the certification and so I was watching, expecting that kind of thing,” he said. “I had no inclination that something as dramatic as the insurrection was going to occur.” He categorized the event as “one of those moments, … like watching 9/11 happen in real time. You kn[ew] that history was unfolding before your eyes.” Though at first the violence seemed sudden and unexpected, in reality, there was a massive buildup to the event. “We’ve been on a disturbing trajectory under the Trump presidency. … Even with his soon departure and … second impeachment, it’s very disturbing how many Republicans backed him and that he’s likely going to continue to have a grip on that party, even when he’s out of office,” Hilton explained. The hours following the insurrection demonstrated the impact of Trump’s deep ties in the Republican Party. The evening of, as the votes of the Electoral College were at last certified, Cruz denounced Trump’s actions. Later, he would speak against the second impeachment. “What I see in play here are deep currents in American history that too many people had thought had dried up. I think Trump politically was a genius in essentially tapping into those currents and bringing them to the surface,” Professor of History Dan Czitrom said. For Czitrom, “deep currents” are systemic racism and anti-democratic features in the American political system, such as the Electoral College and the Senate, which give more power to land than people, and finally, allegations of voter fraud. Those allegations are “almost always … trying to mask the reality of CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
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Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons On Jan. 6, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election.
Biden administration sworn in BY KATIE GOSS ’23 STAFF WRITER
On Wednesday, Jan. 20, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were officially sworn in as the 46th president and vice president of the United States, respectively. With the COVID-19 pandemic now having claimed over 400,000 American lives and still surging across the country, the inauguration itself looked different. Everyone in attendance wore face masks, and the people in front of the Capitol sat physically distanced from each other. Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and other government officials, as well as past presidents, were seen in attendance. The number of tickets for each person to hand out, as well as receive, was limited to keep the size of the crowd down. The National Mall, where people can usually stand to watch the event, was instead decorated with American flags. “There were many things that marked [the inauguration] as different — the few people there, the masks, the social distancing. But it was really nice to see President Biden and Vice President Harris walking up the Capitol steps into the rotunda and participating in all these traditions, and it was a really good reminder of [the] government returning
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a bit to normalcy. Also, it really pointed out the historic nature of this time,” Maggie Micklo ’21, the president of the Mount Holyoke College Democrats, said. An increased amount of security was placed at and around the Capitol due to the threat of violent protests from Trump supporters who believed the election was “stolen.” Members of the National Guard were stationed at locations around the Capitol to prevent this from happening. After the violent riots and insurrection at the Capitol in early January from Trump supporters who believed he had won the election, this was a serious threat that loomed over the inauguration. “We’ve learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed,” Biden said in his inaugural speech. “Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war,” Biden said. “And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.” Harris also made history, as she became the first woman, Black and South CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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