The Daily Fuckup

On the eve of the first anniversary of the Capitol attack, Donald Trump used the moment to repeat the same false story he has pushed since leaving office. In remarks and statements tied to the anniversary, Trump again referred to people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot as “hostages” and kept arguing that the 2020 election was stolen from him. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/2ca7441852577795123845811b06bc06?utm_source=openai))

That language matters because it shifts attention away from what happened at the Capitol and onto Trump’s preferred version of events. The mob that entered Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, was trying to interrupt certification of the election results. Trump’s continued use of the word “hostages” for defendants in those cases presents them as political victims rather than people facing criminal charges tied to the attack. ([pbs.org](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-fact-check-on-jan-6-anniversary-trump-sticks-to-election-falsehoods?utm_source=openai))

The anniversary put Trump back at the center of the political fight over Jan. 6, but the facts of the day did not change. Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden’s victory when the Capitol was breached, lawmakers were evacuated, and police were assaulted during the attack. In the year that followed, Trump kept returning to the same claim that the election had been rigged, even as courts and election officials rejected those allegations. ([pbs.org](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/read-bidens-full-speech-marking-anniversary-of-jan-6-attack?utm_source=openai))

Trump’s latest comments also showed how little distance he has put between himself and the riot. Instead of acknowledging the attack as an effort to stop a lawful transfer of power, he again relied on a grievance narrative that recasts the defendants as martyrs and the investigation into Jan. 6 as the real abuse. That is not a neutral description of the record. It is a political choice, and one that keeps the false election story alive heading into the anniversary. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/2ca7441852577795123845811b06bc06?utm_source=openai))