187 Minutes

Ian Ayres

As our nation confronts the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, we might consider a 187-minutes of silence – from 1:10 pm to 4:17 pm EST today.  This is the length of time President Trump waited after the end of his speech on the Ellipse before asking the attackers to go home. 

The attack had begun in earnest at 12:53 pm when rioters “overwhelm[ed] police along the outer perimeter west of the Capitol building, pushing aside temporary fencing.”  So our President waited 204 minutes (from 12:53 to 4:17) after the violence began before uploading a video to Twitter which included the words:

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. 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. It's a very tough period of time. There's never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us — from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.”

Our President wasn’t completely Twitter silent during this 187-minute period. 

The first rioters breached the Capitol defenses and began entering the building at 2:12 pm.  Trump responded at 2:24 pm, not by asking them to “stand down, and stand by” but by posting:

Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!

Then at 2:38 pm, more than an hour and half the attack began, he tweeted:

Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!

The insufficiency of this tweet, which again failed to ask the rioters to leave the Capitol was immediately apparent to his son, Donald Trump Jr., who franticly texted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows:

            He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.

At 3:13 pm, more than two hours after the attack began, our President tweeted:

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!

As with his earlier tweets, Trump fails to ask the protesters to leave the Capitol. It is hard for me to fathom that for still another hour from 3:13 to 4:17, Trump maintained Twitter silence. Only then did he tweet the mixed message which simultaneously inflamed by reiterating the lie that the election was “stolen” along with the call “So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.”  To say that this was too little, too late does not begin to convey the dilatory scope of Trump’s failure. 

* * *

As I think back to these harrowing moments a year ago, I am filled with visceral fear that the Capitol would be burned.  Much of me wants to turn away from those memories. 

We should resist the impulse to rush to enshrining particular modes of remembrance. And I tend to favor ways of observing anniversaries of our past that allow us as a nation to move forward.  But at least for this first anniversary, we might consider meeting Trump’s past silence with silence of our own. It is difficult in our constantly-connected world for people to remain silent for even one minute, and I can’t imagine that many Americans could bring themselves to remain silent for 187 minutes. But as we watch video footage of the Capitol attack today, let us consider for at least a few moments what for so long was left unsaid.