On January 6 anniversary, Biden says: “We cannot allow the truth to be lost”

Days before the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden has made no effort to hide the fact that an insurgency is on his mind. Indeed, last week the retiring incumbent honored Democratic Rep. Benny Thompson of Mississippi and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — the leaders of the now-defunct bipartisan Jan. 6 committee — Presidential Civil Medal.

A few days later, during a conversation with reporters at the White House, – said Bidenreferring to the January 6 attack, “I don’t think it should be rewritten. I believe that this should not be forgotten.”

On the anniversary of the Trump-fueled violence, the Democratic president went further, writing opinion piece for The Washington Post.

Efforts are ongoing to rewrite—even erase—the history of that day. To tell us that we did not see what everyone saw with their own eyes. To dismiss concerns about this as some sort of partisan obsession. To chalk it up to a protest that simply got out of hand. That’s not what happened. In time, there will be Americans who did not witness the January 6th riot firsthand, but will learn about it from the footage and testimonies of that day, from what is written in history books, and from the truth we pass on to our children. We cannot allow the truth to be lost.

Part of what makes it so notable is the extent to which it reflects the state of affairs in relation to public discourse. Four years after the violence, we could surely be talking again about Donald Trump, who stood by for hours as mobs of his supporters stormed his own nation’s Capitol in an attempt to claim illegitimate power after losing an election. We could re-examine what the rioters did, their intentions, their motivations, their weapons, their aid, their willingness to engage in violent confrontations with law enforcement, and even their appalling closeness to then-Vice President Mike Pence.

But on the fourth anniversary of one of the most significant instances of domestic political violence in our country’s history, perhaps no element of the conversation is more important than the ongoing crusade to force Americans into submission.

On January 6, 2021, Trump and his allies launched a war against democracy. On January 6, 2025, the conflict developed into inclusion a war against the recent past.

Four years ago at this time, Trump was a defeated loser whose miserable political career lay in ruins, and there was broad agreement among officials in both parties that he deserved to be held accountable for his role in inciting the attack. The riots were so unjustified that the initial line from some Republicans was that the violence should be blamed on far-left Antifa radicals who, according to the absurd theory, were only pretending to be Trump supporters.

Variations of these ridiculous conspiracy theories continue to be popular in conservative circles, with associated nonsense that the FBI is secretly responsible for encouraging the rebels to commit crimes.

Paradoxically, while too many Republicans have outright admitted that the attack was brutal, trying, of course, to shift the blame to those actually responsible, others in the party have chosen to turn the villains into heroes and victims. The New York Times published a vivid report to a “twisted interpretation” of the Republican Party that “didn’t buy into what the country was watching unfold.”

An American disaster happened that day. Legislators huddled for safety. Vice President Mike Pence escaped a mob that shouted that he should be hanged. Several people died during and after the riots, including one protester by gunfire and four police officers by suicide, and more than 140 officers were injured in the prolonged melee that nearly overturned what should have been a routine confirmation of Mr. Trump’s election victory. opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr. But with his return to office, Mr. Trump now has a platform to further whitewash and spin the Capitol attack on what he called “the day of love.” He promised to pardon the rioters in the first hour of his new administration, and his supporters in Congress are pushing for criminal charges against those who investigated his actions on that chaotic day.

given my latest book on Republican attempts to rewrite recent history is a topic of particular interest to me, and my chapter on January 6 is perhaps the most important in the text. Indeed, part of what makes the right-wing gambit so extraordinary is the obvious fact that rewriting history at the time seemed impossible.

The indelible video and images were too powerful to be ignored or forgotten. Rebels in the senate. Cannons pointed at the entrance to the room of the house. The noose is displayed on the gallows. “Hang Mike Pence” chants. Plastic handcuffs with a zipper. The chosen ones run to a safe place. The Confederate flag that never reached Capitol Hill during the Civil War, but was flown through the halls of Congress in January 2021. The rebel was grinning with obvious pride as he planted his foot on the Speaker’s desk at the House of Representatives. Insurgents break into the building, climb its walls, violently clash with law enforcement agencies, and Trump flags fly around them.

The gruesome footage has been seen by too many people across the country and around the world for reality to sink in. The details of the attack—from the perpetrators to the instigators, from its target to its aftermath, from its organizers to its victims—have been all too well documented by investigators, politicians, journalists and prosecutors.

Even the idea of a political party trying rewriting the history of the attack seemed absurd. This would not happen. This could not happen.

That is, until the Republicans decided it had to happen.