A deranged mob of Americans, fueled by lies about election fraud peddled by the president of the United States along with multiple senators and House members, sacked the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as part of an insurrection encouraged by Donald Trump to stop the constitutional process allowing for the peaceful transfer of power taking place within the building.

[Y]oull never take back your country with weakness, Trump told the rioters immediately before they marched on the Capitol. You have to show strength and be strong.

Were going to try to give our Republicans the weak ones, because the strong ones dont need any of our help were going to try and give them [the] kind of pride and boldness they need to take back our country, he said to the crowd on the National Mall.

The ensuing riot led members of Congress to flee in gas masks after police deployed tear gas as an armed standoff took place between U.S. Capitol Police and rioters at the doors of the House Chamber. Confederate flags were paraded through the halls of Congress as rioters donned in tactical military gear and carrying zip-tie handcuffs , likely intended to be used to kidnap lawmakers, entered the Senate chamber. They screamed for Mike Pences head after Trump denounced his own vice president in an audio message. Some wore sweatshirts bearing the message : MAGA Civil War and the date, 1.6.21.

On the grounds outside, rioters erected a giant wooden cross and a gallows with a noose. Reporters were beaten and threatened with death . Their cameras and equipment were smashed and burned . Echoing Trumps long-standing calls that the press were the enemy of the people, rioters scrawled Murder the media , on a Capitol doorway. A rioter murdered a police officer with a fire extinguisher. Another rioter was shot dead by a police officer while trying to break into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi s chambers. In perhaps the most indelible image , rioters commandeered a scaffold and used it to take down an American flag and replace it with a Trump Make America Great Again flag.

This was the catastrophic and prophetic culmination of the Make America Great Again myth.