Op-Ed by Albert Geokgeuzian, Staff Writer

“We love you, you’re special” Trump said in the video he released in his “attempt” to calm his supporters who stormed the US capitol at approximately 2 pm GMT. the video has since been removed from Twitter and Facebook because of “risks it may encourage violence.” 

This is Trump’s legacy, violence, division, hatred. He will go down as the worst President in US history, especially after the events of january 6. The events of january 6 were historic, it was only the second time in over 200 years where the US capitol was under siege, the last time this happened it was in 1814, by the british. Rep. Cory Booker (D) put it best when he spoke on the senate floor on the night of jan 6 after congress reconvened, he said: “What's interesting about the parallel between the two is, they both were waving flags to a sole sovereign, to an individual, surrendering democratic principles to the cult of personality. One was a monarch in England and the other with the flags I saw all over our Capitol — including in the hallways and in this room. To a single person named Donald Trump. The sad difference between these two times is, one was yet another nation in the history of our country that tried to challenge the United States of America. But this time, we brought this hell upon ourselves”  

The worst thing about this for the US is that this wasn’t a surprise, in 2017 a group of 27 mental health experts released a book titled “The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump”, they described him as being a pathological narcissist, who is delusional, suffers from paranoid ideations, lacks conscious and empathy, and exhibits a host of destructive and dangerous psychiatric symptoms. Their consensus news is that “Mr. Trump is a danger to national and international security” some of the psychological signs are paranoid reactions, having a loose grip on reality, having rage reactions which are all highly associated with violence. And it unfortunately bore fruit on January 6th.

The above pictures showcase the difference between what happens when you protest against Trump and when you protest for Trump in DC. DC is a unique state, it is federal land and thus doesn’t have a state guard, those who are called upon to defend the capitol is the National Guard, which is under the control of the President. 

On the left happened on June 1, amidst the protest of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of policemen, Trump callled on the National Guard to disrupt the protests so that he can take a photo. They set off explosions, fired sting balls and gas into the crowd before pushing the protestors out. The right happened on January 6th, again in DC, this time no National Guard, barely a single police officer tasked with holding back a mob. Eventually though, the National Guard was mobilized even though Trump was initially reluctant to do so, and that’s why it took so long.

Make no mistake about it, Trump loved what happened, he was described as “borderline enthusiastic because it meant the certification was being derailed” mere hours before the attack on capitol happened, Trump had appeared in front of a crowd of his supporters and told them “you will never take back our country with weakness”, later on, after Trump had left for the White House, his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani told the crowd that they should have a “trial by combat” for the election. Yes, the President’s personal lawyer who has been talking about widespread voter fraud in public but offered no evidence in courts. 

Trump wanted this, his enablers allowed it to happen, and the US suffered as a result.

The events of the 6th and the past 2 months have left the Republican party in complete chaos. After 2 months of Trump peddling home the crazy conspiracy theory that the election was “stolen” from him, Republicans lost control of the Senate. The runoffs were supposed to go to Republicans, in 1 of the original races the Republican candidate got more votes than the Democratic candidate but didn’t have a majority and thus a special election was held, while in the other race, Republicans overall had more votes than Democrats but again didn't have an outstanding majority. The Republicans rode the high of Trump when he burst onto the scene in 2016 and they are falling with him.

Trump’s legacy is simple; he is the single worst President in US history.