The United States is experiencing its most tumultuous period in decades after violent pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, as Congress convened in a joint session to tally the Electoral College results, which showed that Joe Biden won the presidential election held on November 3rd. Since the election, President Trump has been stoking his base over allegations he has made regarding the election, with millions buying into his claims that Joe Biden and the Democrats\u2014with help from Republicans\u2014stole the election from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For weeks, the president has been lobbing accusations of massive, widespread fraud in the presidential election, and has continued to assert his claims despite them having been debunked repeatedly. As the president\u2019s lawsuits attempting to overturn the election kept falling flat and were tossed out when presented in court, Trump focused on the January 6th joint session of Congress as his last, best chance to be handed a second term in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Trump demanded that lawmakers in the House and Senate object to the electors from six swing states and that Vice President Pence should refuse to acknowledge the electors from states in which Trump says the election was fraudulent. He also exhorted his supporters to descend on Washington to join in a \u201cStop the Steal\u201d rally to pressure lawmakers into carrying out his wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How the Riot Unfolded<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wednesday, January 6 began with tension in the air, as it was already known that Stop the Steal protesters would be gathering in Washington in opposition of Congress performing its duty to certify the Electoral College results. Many Republican House members and a couple of Senate Republicans had already made clear their intention to object to the results from several swing states, and it was known from the outset that the day would be filled with drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hundreds of protesters assembled on the Capitol lawn Wednesday, including members of the Proud Boys, a fringe and far-right group. Eric Trump addressed the crowd, telling them to \u201cshow some fight and \u201cstand up\u201d before directing them to \u201cmarch on the Capitol.\u201d Donald Trump Jr. exhorted all \u201cred-blooded, patriotic Americans\u201d in the crowd to \u201cfight for Trump.\u201d President Trump then spoke, telling the protesters that they \u201chave to show strength\u201d in demonstrating against the certification of the Electoral College results and to give Republicans \u201cthe kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.\u201d President Trump then urged his supporters to march to the Capitol building, which they promptly did while the president himself returned to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around this time, two working pipe bombs were found near the Republican and Democratic national headquarters, which may have been intended to divert attention from the growing mob heading to the nation\u2019s seat of power. Protesters then began harassing and fighting with the small contingent of Capitol Hill police officers assigned to protect the Capitol, eventually overwhelming them and breaching the security perimeter around the building, allowing the protesters to stream inside as clashes continued. During the clashes, a Capitol Hill police officer, New Jersey native Brian Sicknick, was struck by a protester, after which he collapsed and died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As rioters broke into the Capitol, security officials began moving lawmakers out of the Senate and House chambers into more secure rooms which they hoped would not be breached by the protesters. Some House members were unable to leave their chamber in time, forcing them to barricade themselves inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the invasion, a woman attempting to breach the Speaker\u2019s Lobby was shot dead by a Capitol Hill police officer. She was later identified as Ashli Babbitt, a veteran of the US Air Force who had become radicalized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would take more than three hours from the time the Capitol was breached for the building to be declared secure by the sergeants-at-arms of the House and Senate, both of whom were later fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Congress Certifies Election Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the mayhem of the day, Congress convened later that evening to continue fulfilling their duty of certifying the results of the election. \u201cTo those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win,\u201d Vice President Pence said upon restarting the certification process. \u201cViolence never wins. Freedom wins, and this is still the people\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The certification process went as expected: some Republican members of both the House and Senate objected to the results from several swing states, forcing the chambers into debates over the validity of the objections. Those objections were then struck down in both chambers, leaving the results unchanged. When all was said and done, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris received 306 Electoral College votes\u2014270 are needed to be declared the winner\u2014and Donald Trump received 232.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blowback Against Objectors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After a number of Republican lawmakers objected to the Electoral College results, large companies, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Airbnb, and Verizon, announced that they would be suspending political contributions to the congressmen involved in the objection, with each releasing a statement decrying the violence seen at the Capitol. \u201cThe insurrection at our nation\u2019s Capitol was a direct assault on one of our country\u2019s most revered tenets: the peaceful transition of power,\u201d The Walt Disney Company wrote in their statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have also been numerous calls for Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, two of the most prominent objectors, to resign. Arguing that Cruz and Hawley \u201cbetrayed their oaths of office and abetted a violent insurrection on our democracy,\u201d Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown called for the two to immediately resign or be expelled from the Senate if they refuse. Senators Patty Murray, Chris Coons, and Tina Smith were among other Democrats calling for their resignations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican, said that Cruz and Hawley are \u201cgoing to have a lot of soul-searching to do, and the problem is they were complicit in the big lie, this lie that Donald Trump won the election in a landslide and it was all stolen\u2026 They compounded that with this notion that somehow this could all be reversed in the final moments of the Congressional proceedings. So\u2026that\u2019s going to haunt them for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where Was Trump?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol, the president was largely unavailable to those desperately trying to reach him and was reportedly unwilling to take action to stop the mob from continuing their rampage. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried calling Jared Kushner, Lindsey Graham attempted to get Ivanka Trump to tell the president to tell his supporters to back off, and Kellyanne Conway called an aide that was near the president. Several Republicans in Congress also tried calling presidential aides to have them intervene and get the president to do something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But they all failed to get their messages through to Trump, who was watching the scene on live TV and was too engrossed to take action, according to a White House official. \u201cIt took a while for him to appreciate the gravity of the situation,\u201d said Senator Lindsey Graham, formerly a staunch Trump ally. \u201cThe president saw these people as allies in his journey and sympathetic to the idea that the election was stolen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the riot ensued, the president took to Twitter to complain about Vice President Pence, who was overseeing the certification of the results and made clear that he would not take unilateral steps to undo the election. \u201cMike Pence didn\u2019t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution,\u201d Trump railed. \u201cUSA demands the truth!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After numerous White House officials pleaded with Trump to take a firm stand against the rioters, the president tweeted again, saying that there shouldn\u2019t be any violence, but the protesters were already ransacking the Capitol and were not turning back. Trump then tweeted a video calling the rioters \u201cvery special,\u201d another move that analysts say only emboldened the invaders of the Capitol. Trump then stoked the flames yet further, tweeting, \u201cThese are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love and in peace. Remember this day forever!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, after Congress had reconvened to certify the election results, President Trump, urged by the White House legal team, released a video that came the closest he is likely to every get to a concession speech. \u201cCongress has certified the results: a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th,\u201d Trump said. \u201cMy focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Social Media Platforms Boot Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to the riot and President Trump\u2019s unwillingness to temper his supporters, nearly every major social media platform decided to boot the president from its platform. After first suspending Trump\u2019s personal account, @realDonaldTrump, for 12 hours, Twitter permanently banned the president last Friday night, a move that was quickly copied by other major social media networks. By the time the weekend was over, President Trump had been banned from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, and Twitch, effectively cutting off his means of speaking directly to his supporters without the involvement of the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Twitter also shut down over 70,000 accounts that subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory, an objectively insane theory whose followers believe that President Trump is fighting against child traffickers who are in high positions of power in Washington and that he will eventually unleash a massive wave of arrests of these unnamed individuals. Many of the protesters involved in the storming of the Capitol were believers of the QAnon theory and have been inciting violence and disseminating wild theories about the integrity of the presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, Facebook announced that it would remove all posts with Stop the Steal content. Apple and Google announced that they were removing Parler, a social media platform similar to Twitter favored by extremists, from their app stores, and internet domain registrars pulled the plug on their website, forcing it off-line until if found a new host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Administration Officials Head for the Exits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Numerous high-ranking White House and administration officials bucked the president following the violent protests, with many of them citing his lack of a coherent response as the final straw for them. Included in those who resigned were Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, Melania Trump\u2019s Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, special envoy and former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger, and other high-level but less well-known officials including John Costello, Tyler Goodspeed, Rickie Niceta, Sarah Matthews, Elinore McCance-Katz, Eric Dreiband, and multiple national security officials who worked in the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was reportedly talk of resigning among Trump\u2019s top officials, including national security adviser Robert O\u2019Brien and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, but Pentagon officials pleaded with them not to leave so that there would not be a power vacuum in Washington, which could have serious adverse national security implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview with CNBC, Mick Mulvaney said that nearly everyone at the White House wanted to quit, but they were hesitant to do so for the sake of the country. \u201cThose who chose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they\u2019re worried the president might put someone worse in,\u201d Mulvaney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a resignation letter sent to the president, Betsy DeVos, a billionaire donor to Republican causes, wrote that \u201cthere is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n World Leaders Express Shock, Dismay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Numerous world leaders expressed their shock at the images coming from the US Capitol as rioters attempted to overturn an election that had been proven legitimate, despite the president\u2019s incessant claims otherwise. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a Trump ally, called the scenes \u201cdisgraceful\u201d and demanded that a peaceful transfer of power take place. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the events \u201cshocking,\u201d and European Union representative Josep Borrell wrote that American democracy appeared to be \u201cunder siege.\u201d Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called what was happening \u201ca real scar to democracy,\u201d and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called the rampage \u201ca disgraceful act,\u201d adding that he has \u201cno doubt that the American democracy will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other world leaders who condemned the attack include Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and French President Emmanuel Macron, among many others. In a slap in the face to the US, Iran\u2019s president Hassan Rouhani took a victory lap over the incident. \u201cWhat happened in the US shows how fragile Western democracy is,\u201d Rouhani, the leader of an autocratic regime, said. \u201cDespite all their scientific and industrial achievements, we see a huge influence of populism. When a sick person takes office, we see how he disgraces his country and creates troubles for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats Move to Impeach Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after the Capitol Hill protests, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats leader in the Senate Chuck Schumer demanded that Vice President Pence invoke the 25th Amendment, with which the president\u2019s Cabinet could vote to remove the president from office, bypassing the need for Congressional action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a Sunday interview with CBS\u2019s 60 Minutes<\/em>, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that if Pence refuses to invoke the 25th Amendment, the House of Representatives would move ahead with impeachment proceedings. Vice President Pence, in a letter sent to Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday evening, wrote that he will not invoke the 25th Amendment, because he \u201cdoes not believe such a course of action is in the best interest of our nation or consistent with the Constitution.\u201d Pence also chided Pelosi for what he called a \u201cpolitical game\u201d in trying to remove the president \u201cat a time so serious in the life of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of this writing, Democrats were poised to vote on impeaching Trump on Wednesday evening for \u201cincitement and insurrection,\u201d with at least five Republicans and all Democrats in the House of Representatives saying they would vote to impeach the president. \u201cPresident Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government,\u201d the article of impeachment reads. \u201cHe threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as president, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.\u201d Once the House impeaches Trump, as is expected, he would become the first president in history to be impeached twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a sign of growing discontent with President Trump and his actions, Republican leadership in the House said they would not lobby their colleagues to vote against impeaching President Trump, although House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wrote in a letter to GOP House members that he himself was opposed to having the president impeached for a second time. Doing so, McCarthy said, would only serve to further divide an already fractured nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to reports, the Senate\u2019s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, has indicated that President Trump committed impeachable offenses and that an impeachment of the president would help McConnell rid the Republican party of Trump and Trumpism. McConnell was reportedly \u201cpleased\u201d that Democrats are moving to impeach Trump and was weighing whether he would vote to convict the president. According to multiple reports, the relationship between President Trump and McConnell has essentially collapsed in the past few weeks, and the two men have not spoken to each other since mid-December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President-elect Biden has not said whether he thinks Trump should be impeached, but he is reportedly concerned that an impeachment proceeding could derail the Senate confirmations of his top-level nominees. Biden reportedly called McConnell this week to discuss the possibility of \u201cbifurcation,\u201d meaning impeachment proceedings would be carried out alongside the confirmation of his nominees. It wasn\u2019t clear as this article went to print whether the articles of impeachment, if passed in the House, would make it over to the Senate quickly enough for a vote and possible removal of President Trump from office before his term expires this coming Wednesday. It also wasn\u2019t clear whether there would be enough senators agreeable to voting to remove the president from office, although the tide has been turning toward that possibility. Two thirds of the Senate would need to vote to remove the president from office, a tall order considering that at least 17 Republican senators would have to join in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also possible that the Senate will vote on impeaching Trump after he leaves office next Wednesday, but there is some dispute over whether the Constitution allows such a thing. If the impeachment process does move forward after he leaves office, the primary question would shift from whether Trump should be removed from office to whether he should be banned from holding any future federal office, which, if approved, would bar him from running again for president in 2024, as he has indicated he would like to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump Breaks His Silence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After being mostly quiet following the riot, President Trump made his first public comments about last Wednesday\u2019s events six days later while traveling to and attending an event touting his accomplishments on building a wall on the border with Mexico. Speaking to the media at the White House before heading to Alamo, Texas, where the event was held, Trump said that what he told protesters in Washington last week was \u201ctotally appropriate.\u201d \u201cWe want no violence, never violence; we want absolutely no violence,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding the ongoing tensions across the country, the president said it had nothing to do with anything he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve analyzed my speech, my words. Everybody to a T thought it was appropriate,\u201d the president claimed. The \u201creal problem,\u201d Trump said, was what other politicians said about the racial protests that occurred over the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also pointed to impeachment efforts against him as the cause of a lot of the anger seen among his supporters across the country. \u201cThis impeachment is causing tremendous anger\u2026\u201d Trump said. \u201cFor Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to continue on this path, I think it\u2019s causing tremendous danger to our country, and it\u2019s causing tremendous anger. I want no violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the border wall event, Trump added that he wasn\u2019t afraid of the 25th Amendment being used against him, but that it should make Democrats worry. \u201cThe 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me, but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secret Service Preparing for Inauguration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Secret Service and other federal law enforcement agencies are preparing for a possible violent assault on the January 20th inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and have launched an unprecedented security mobilization in an effort to keep it safe. The security precautions began six days earlier than expected and will include as many as 15,000 National Guard troops, thousands of police and tactical officers, as well as layers of steel fencing protecting federal buildings and the inauguration itself. Forty-three states and territories, including New Jersey, are providing support to the security operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Security officials have briefed members of Congress of at least four plots to violently disrupt the inauguration and attempt to block Joe Biden from becoming president. The most concerning of the plots \u201cwould involve insurrectionists forming a perimeter around the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court and then blocking Democrats from entering the Capitol\u2014perhaps even killing them\u2014so that Republicans could take control of the government,\u201d according to information obtained by the Huffington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lawmaker on the briefing call concerning the plans said the details of the plots were scary. \u201cIt was horrifying, the most chilling hour imaginable,\u201d the unnamed Democrat told the Hill<\/em>. \u201cIf you weren\u2019t afraid when you got on the call, you were afraid when you got off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat, said that while there is a lot of fear surrounding the upcoming inauguration, the transfer of power will take place. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a ninety-person ISIS cell\u2026 We\u2019re talking mainly about a bunch of yahoos, who, yes, are very dangerous. People could wind up dead,\u201d Himes said. \u201cBut there\u2019s no danger that they\u2019re going to overthrow the United States government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FBI is also warning that armed protests are being planned for next week in all 50 state capitals, elevating fears that more blood will be spilled before Joe Biden becomes president. \u201cArmed protests are being planned at all fifty state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,\u201d an FBI bulletin states. The bureau said that their \u201cefforts are focused on identifying, investigating, and disrupting individuals that are inciting violence and engaging in criminal activity\u201d and that they are working with state and local law-enforcement officials to ensure that violence does not take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pentagon has also commented, reminding servicemen of their duty to the country in this precarious time. Mark Milley, the United States\u2019 top general, and the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff, comprised of the heads of all military branches, issued an extremely rare statement condemning the invasion of the US Capitol and reminding servicemen that they must abide by the Constitution and reject extremism. \u201cWe witnessed actions inside the Capitol building that were inconsistent with the rule of law. The rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition, and insurrection,\u201d the statement says, adding that the riot was a \u201cdirect assault on the US Congress, the Capitol building, and our Constitutional process.\u201d The statement was a highly significant step because military commanders make it a point to stay away from statements that could appear to have political overtones. But given the gravity of the events surrounding the upcoming inauguration, they felt it was imperative that they comment publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigation into Capitol Invasion Underway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been opposing narratives as to why the Capitol building was so insecure when there were so many angry protesters outside it. Some officials claimed that they had no prior warning of the attack and did not expect anything major to occur. However, records show that a day before the attacks, the FBI issued an explicit warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington intent on carrying out acts of violence and \u201cwar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n An internal FBI document obtained by the Washington Post<\/em> shows that officials knew what was coming. \u201cAn online thread discussed specific calls for violence to include stating, \u2018Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march or rally or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our president or we die. Nothing else will achieve this goal,\u201d the document reads. BLM is a reference to the Black Lives Matter movement, which carried out its own violent protests over the course of the summer, and Pantifa is a derogatory term for Antifa, a radical-left group whose members have torn up American cities, most notably Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But even though the FBI had this information, it may not have been transmitted to the people who were in charge of protecting the Capitol. Steven Sund, who resigned as Capitol Police Chief following the riot, said in an interview that he was never made aware of the FBI\u2019s knowledge. \u201cI did not have that information, nor was that information taken into consideration in our security planning.\u201d Sund said, adding that had he been told of it he would have taken it seriously and implemented proper security precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after the riot on Capitol Hill, the FBI posted a tweet requesting any information that could be of help in identifying the people involved in the incident. Since then, the FBI says it has received over 100,000 pieces of digital evidence which have assisted them in opening numerous investigations into the perpetrators. At a press conference on Tuesday, FBI officials said that the bureau had opened around 170 cases into individuals who are believed to have been involved, and the US Attorney for the District of Columbia has already brought charges against 20 people, with another 40 having been charged in DC\u2019s Superior Court. \u201cYou will be found,\u201d an FBI official said to rioters who had not yet been arrested. \u201cThe FBI has a long memory and broad reach. Even if you\u2019ve left DC, agents from our local field offices will be knocking on your door.\u201d The Department of Justice is also working to build sedition and conspiracy charges against some of the rioters, a charge that can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some Republicans and many Trump supporters have been circulating rumors that the rioters were actually members of the radical-left group Antifa looking to cast Trump supporters in a bad light. However, there is ample evidence that at least a large number of the individuals involved in the riot were indeed supporters of the president. The FBI released a statement saying they had not seen any evidence that Antifa members were in any way involved in the attack on the US Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Capitol Hill police officers were suspended over their roles in the riot, and multiple others are under investigation. According to police, one of the suspended officers took a selfie with protesters as they stormed the building, while the other donned a \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hat and gave directions to the invaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where Does America Go from Here?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The burning question on many minds across the country these days is whether the promise of freedom in the United States is over. Right-leaning individuals worry that the banning and censorship of certain conservative voices on their platforms means that they will never again be allowed to express their opinions and ideology in public\u2014a massive blow to First Amendment\u2019s guarantee of free speech and freedoms in general. On the other side, Democrats worry that the lies and misinformation about the election disseminated by the president and his minions is so deeply ingrained in right-wing thought that it will be impossible to ever again have an election without baseless accusations of fraud, and that it is possible for a right-wing militia to eventually carry out a successful coup of the US government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only time will tell if the fears of either side are warranted. But there is a simple truth to keep in mind: most Americans are not radical, and that is true for both sides of the political aisle. Far-right and far-left voices are the loudest because they attract people with their rhetoric. But the vast majority of citizens of the United States are fair-minded and cherish democracy and the liberties afforded to them in this country. The US has gone through a lot in its 244-year history, and each time it has emerged stronger than before. It can be hoped that, despite the obstacles currently standing in its way, the United States will once again emerge as a beacon of freedom for the world to envy and aspire to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The United States is experiencing its most tumultuous period in decades after violent pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, as Congress convened in a joint session to tally the Electoral College results, which showed that Joe Biden won the presidential election held on November 3rd. Since the election, President Trump has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[19],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}