If this first week of the year is any indicator of how the year will look in the political sphere, we are in for a rough 2021. A week that started with a controversial phone call between the President and the Georgia Secretary of State eventually ended with a coup by a pro-Trump mob angrily storming the Capitol to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. 

Earlier in the week, on Jan. 2, 2021, President Trump contacted Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican colleague, over the phone to discuss the results of the November election, in a last-ditch effort to win the electoral votes of the state of Georgia for the 2020 Presidential election. This proved ineffective, as Raffensperger would not budge. Prominent Democrat politicians heavily criticized this abuse of power, but this altercation was nothing for what was in stock later in the week, on Wednesday, Jan. 6, the day Congress was scheduled to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election and discuss any objections.

Earlier that day, President Trump held the “Save America March” in Washington D.C., where he spoke to his supporters about voter fraud, an allegedly stolen election, and a premeditated march at Capitol Hill. “We will never give up. We will never concede, it doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” Trump remarked to the crowd of his supporters, after blaming the “radical left Democrats” and “fake news media” for supposedly stealing the election. He then told his supporters to march down to the Capitol to protest the certification and cheer on Republican representatives. 

Following this speech, everything spiraled into madness when this crowd of his supporters rallied at the Capitol building, sporting Confederate flags and pro-Trump flags, and they engaged in violence with police and security as they stormed into the building. This resulted in five deaths, including a police officer. During the riots, Vice President Pence deployed the National Guard to defend the building, an action that President Trump would later take credit for. 

A notable story that came from the riots was that of Eugene Goodman, a Capitol police officer. A trending video depicts Goodman being chased up stairs by rioters, then glancing down a hall to see that the Senate entrance was unguarded. In order to protect the Senators, who had no secure line of defense, Goodman lured the rioters away, using himself as bait. He shoved the closest rioter so the angry crowd would chase him as he moved away from the Senate and into a room with more Capitol police officers to back him up. He has been commended for preventing numerous potential assassinations in this heroic act.

In a video response on Twitter at 4:22 p.m. EST, Trump encouraged his supporters to “go home” – but not without once again fueling the flames with fraudulent claims about a stolen election and telling the insurrectionists: “We love you. You’re very special.” He has been heavily criticized for this reaction; while he praised his supporters after engaging in a violent coup, he responded to Black Lives Matter protests on May 29, 2020 with “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The subtle changes in tone from our leadership have not gone unnoticed. 

Social media companies have taken this situation into their own hands; Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and numerous other private companies have either banned Trump or locked his accounts for violating their terms of service, which include provisions against inciting violence on the platforms. 

Since these events, representatives have strongly considered different ways to hold Trump accountable for inciting the riot, including having Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, and introducing an article of impeachment, citing incitement of insurrection at the Capitol. Despite his term ending in less than two weeks, plenty of his political opponents want to go through with the proceedings to set the record straight, that even a lame duck president can be held accountable for their actions. 

No matter the outcome, this week will never be forgotten, and it will quite likely be a major topic of discussion in U.S. History classes in the near future.