Monday Briefing: How Trump Re-Wrote Jan. 6

Four years ago today, protesters stormed the Capitol with clubs, chemical irritants and other weapons, inflamed by Donald Trump’s lie that the election had been stolen from him.

Several people died during and after the riot, including one protester by gunshot and four police officers by suicide. More than 140 officers were injured. After the attack, Trump’s political career seemed done. But in two weeks, he takes the oath of office.

In the years since the riot, both he and his supporters have devoted considerable effort to reinventing the events of the day. They have spread conspiracy theories to their ultimate political gain. As his allies in Congress and the media played down the attack and redirected the blame, violent rioters — prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned — were turned into patriotic martyrs.

Now, Trump has the platform to further spin the attack into what he has called “a day of love.” He has vowed to pardon rioters in the first hour of his new administration, while his congressional supporters are pushing for criminal charges against those who investigated his actions. This is how Trump inverted a violent day and turned it into political capital.

Analysis: Trump refers to the U.S. as ravaged by crisis, calling it a desolate hellscape of crime, chaos and economic hardship. The numbers tell a very different story.