WASHINGTON – Hours after President Donald J. Trump announced “Wild” protests in Washington on January 6, 2021, his supporters began discussing the construction of a gallows in front of the Capitol.
“Can be built very quickly with the right planning and the right people getting the pre-cut material to the site!” One user wrote on an online forum in support of Trump. “Does anyone have blueprints for a gallows like that? Who with me?! ”
A few days later, a second user posted a diagram depicting the cuts of wood and rope needed to erect the gallows and form a noose. An extended plan discussion followed. A third posted instructions on how to tie the knot.
“We will be setting up the gallows right in front of the Capitol, so traitors know the stakes,” wrote another user.
An outstanding array of far right icon Trump supporters littered the Capitol during the riots, such as Confederate flags, Crusader crosses, an Auschwitz-themed hooded sweatshirt and “white power” hand gestures. . But the gallows erected in front of the Capitol, where rioters chanted “Mike Pence’s Cave” as they stormed the building in search of the vice president, is one of the scariest. Picture emerged after a day of violence and extremism.
This is also one of the larger unsolved mysteries in the investigation of what happened that day. 17 months after the riot, little is known about it. No one has publicly claimed responsibility for erecting the gallows or been accused of erecting it. It seemed too small to be of any use, though its presence – along with the orange noose hanging from it above the base of the Capitol dome – clearly conveyed a threat of physical violence. corpse.
The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol attack is expected to refer to the gallows at a hearing on Thursday, as it details the intense pressure campaign that Mr. conducted against Mr. Pence, threats of violence against him, his ways. the security team tried to keep him safe from the crowd, and how Mr. Trump responded approvingly his supporters threatened to execute the vice president.
Subject of House Committee Hearing on January 6
However, Mr. Pence is hardly the first public figure to face such threats. The gallows have a prominent place in the far-right language and belief system, and are especially accepted by white supremacists.
Experts studying domestic extremism say the image evokes the hanging of early traitors; the nation’s dark history of secession and violent attempts to terrorize black Americans; and a novel enjoyed by white supremacists that culminated in the mass hanging of political enemies.
Above all, they say, it is aimed at instilling fear.
“The noose represents an unspeakable message,” said Charles L. Chavis Jr., an assistant professor at George Mason University who studies racial violence.
On January 6, 2021, Mr. Chavis said he had completed the amendments to the book on lynching 1931 of a Black man in Maryland when he turned on the television and saw “the spirit of the crowd that I have studied for over five years”.
“It is the same type of terrorism that Black communities have witnessed directly and systematically for many years,” Mr. Chavis said in an interview. “We have individuals who believe their rights are being violated, that justice is too slow. So they must take matters into their own hands, and replace institutions that are supposed to bring justice. That is, in essence, what racial terrorism stands for: It is the frenzy that emerges beyond the law. ”
One Review of The New York Times Of the more than 75 threats against members of Congress, some have specifically made the offer before January 6.
“You’d better go after Donald Trump, or we’ll hang you,” one caller told several senators in a series of voicemail messages.
Far-right figures have continued to capture that message. The Arizona state senate censored one of its lawmakers, Wendy Rogers, in part for calling for a white nationalist rally this year to “build more gallows” to “make it more visible” mirror” to her political enemies.
Pete Simi, an associate professor at Chapman University who has studied extremist and violent groups for more than 20 years, says the gallows erected in front of the Capitol can be a reference for extremists. inundated with racist writings with a violent 1978 novel. The revolution in the United States resulted in the extermination of non-whites in a single day of mass hangings.
In far-right circles, Mr. Simi said, “mass violence against your enemies is called for frequently. This is not something that is limited to the outer contours.”
Whether the gallows were erected on January 6 in honor of the novel, he said, remains unclear. But it “represents the kind of violence the novel depicts.”
Mr. Trump, who often uses violent language, is said to have adopted the image that day. During the committee’s first hearing on January 6 last week, Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and vice president, cited witness testimony citing Mr. charged with members of the crowd as they chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!”
“Maybe our supporters have the right idea,” Trump was quoted as saying. Mr. Pence, he added, “deserves it.”
Kurt Braddock, a professor at American University who studies extremism, said that in choosing an overt and visceral symbol like a noose, towering over the Capitol, Trump’s supporters. wanted to send a message to a large Republican audience.
“It’s also intended to try to prevent others from doing what Mike Pence did: go against the lie that the election was stolen,” Braddock said. “It makes a lot of sense to inform others that this is the fate that awaits those we consider traitors.”
Luke Broadwater and Alan Feuer contribution report.
