I was a journalist on the ground at Capitol Hill yesterday. Here's what it was actually like watching rioters storm the building right in front of me.
- Andrew Denney is a 36-year-old Brooklyn-based journalist who was on the ground in Washington DC yesterday as rioters stormed the US Capitol building.
- He describes the chaos, anger, and oddly festive mood of the mob of Trump devotees who broke windows, kicked down doors, and scaled walls to enter the building.
- "It was eye-popping to witness the acrimony that Trump supporters, part of a movement that has shown strong support for law enforcement, had for the Capitol Police," Denney says.
- One Trump supporter Denney spoke to said he hoped the siege would remind Congress and the Senate that the Capitol is "our house."
I'm a 36-year-old Brooklyn-based reporter and I was part of a round of COVID-19-related layoffs at a New York tabloid last year. Since then, I've been paying my bills through a grab bag of freelance jobs.
One of those gigs was for the US Press Freedom Tracker, an organization that investigates and documents attacks on journalists who cover protests. The job requires watching hours of protest footage to get the details of assaults on reporters - baton strikes by law enforcement agents, protesters throwing punches, Proud Boys firing off paint balls.
The job gave me a voyeuristic view of the anger and chaos that has exploded onto America's streets.
On the evening of January 5, as the polls closed in Georgia and an army of President Donald Trump's supporters streamed into Washington, DC, I decided it was time for me to get off the sidelines.
I stepped off the Amtrak at Washington's Union Station early the next afternoon and, before I could even find the exit to the street, I was already awash in a sea of MAGA red - a mix of Trump supporters just arriving to the capital and those heading home after getting their fill from the president's speech.
Just hours before, Trump instructed his supporters to march on the Capitol, just a short walk from the train station. I followed the crowd south to the Capitol, still lugging everything I brought along for a two-night trip.
"Pence is a p---y!" a man yelled as I walked in. "Pence is a traitor!" a woman behind him yelled.
At that point, the crowd had already burst through barricades and police lines and asserted dominance over the Capitol Grounds. Rioters scaled the walls of the west side of the building and a mob had taken over the Capitol steps.
At about 2 p.m., I struck up a conversation with a veteran DC photographer who spotted my New York City Police Department-issued press badge. He said he had never witnessed so many people on the Capitol steps and so close to the front door.
While violence raged inside the Capitol, there was at times a festive atmosphere outside.
Tobacco and pot smoke - occasionally intermingled with tear gas - wafted over the mostly maskless crowd while Trump 2020, Don't Tread on Me, and Blue Lives Matter flags flapped in the breeze.
Rallygoers parroted right-wing slogans to each other and conducted heated discussions that sounded more like people loudly agreeing with each other rather than arguments. I spotted two women holding a Missouri state flag with a sign reading "Blunt Don't Come Home" pasted to the pole. The sign referred to US senator Roy Blunt. I'm a Show-Me State native and Blunt has been in Congress since I was a child.
One of the women, who identified herself as Rachel J., said she doesn't see much hope for the future of the current Republican Party.
"I just think most patriots like myself are going to go home, take care of my family," she said. "Are you going to get us out to vote again? I doubt it. I don't think a Republican could ever win another national election."
Other people I spoke with echoed the same theme - that Trump should form a new "Patriot Party" and leave the GOP in the dust.
On the Capitol steps, people sang along to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." A woman stood on top of a black truck parked in front of the steps and played air guitar to Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealing."
"Doors are open!" one man near me shouted at about 3 p.m., while the crowd sang the National Anthem. By this time, rioters had already smashed their way into the building and were having their run of the place, snatching up trinkets and livestreaming themselves while they rooted through empty offices. Others got in violent skirmishes with Capitol Police.
Hundreds of people were using their phones all at the same time, so getting any real-time updates about what was happening inside was extremely difficult and slow-going.
When a man with a megaphone shouted that police had "shot a girl right in the f---ing head," it sounded like a rumor.
"They are pulling their guns and they are shooting us!" the man said. As we know now, a woman was indeed shot and killed during the siege.
I was nervous approaching the Capitol - I didn't know what to expect from a revved-up crowd of people who have a reputation for loathing the press. However, I felt I could move freely through the crowd and never felt that I was an any danger.
As it approached the 6 p.m. curfew, I was more concerned for other media covering the event. Carrying TV equipment tends to make you a huge target, and as curfew approached, a group of men converged on a group of correspondents grouped together on the lawn, knocking over camera stands and looting their equipment. I saw one man in red MAGA hoodie threatening physical violence against a crew that he believed was from NBC.
"No Body Cares!" someone else yelled at them, riffing on the name of the station.
It was eye-popping to witness the acrimony that Trump supporters, part of a movement that has shown strong support for law enforcement, had for the Capitol Police on Wednesday.
A Florida resident who identified himself as Jeff told me that he felt that the police had turned their backs on the MAGA faithful.
"I do feel there are a bunch of them out there kinda giving the wink and kind of feel supportive of what we're doing," he said. "At the same time they have to do their job, but it would be nice to have some of them stand down sometimes and side with us."
I asked Jeff why the president's supporters would want to storm the halls of Congress, what they hoped to accomplish (he declined to say whether or not he went inside). He said that our elected representatives need to remember that the Capitol is "our house."
"My buddy made the perfect analogy - we feel that ever since we supported Trump, Congress has been doing their job of, you know, shoving our nose in sh-t like a dog just took a dump in the house," he said.
What happened at the Capitol and what I heard from people there made me fearful about the future. When I asked people if they think that the violent civil unrest in our country would subside in the coming years. The answer was always a flat "no."
This was an angry crowd, some openly bragging that they have guns and "know how to use them."
At the Capitol and even back at my hotel - which was fully booked by people who came to hear Trump speak - I overheard people talking about "losing our republic," sometimes emulating Trump's cadence. No amount of finger-wagging from politicians or talking heads is going to make them instantly change their minds.