6 January, 2021, exactly two weeks before the transition of power from former President Donald Trump to current President Joe Biden saw a violent attack on the Capitol Building and Capitol Hill. These attacks were held by a mob of his supporters. Their reasoning was out of anger they felt from the election of 2020 which they believe was “stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats”(NPR) and they demanded that at the time Vice President Mike Pence must not allow Joe Biden to be sworn in. These attacks resulted in the deaths of five people and caused $1.5 million worth of damage to the US capitol building. The fact that an attempt to prevent an election was made, despite the fact that this country’s constitution has established a balanced and organized structure when electing its leader for over 250 years is enough of a reason to hold hearings about Trump’s role in this insurrection.

Now, it’s October 2022 and ongoing hearings about the attack are being held. An indictment was held against the leader of the oath keepers, Stewart Rhodes. A number of other politicians who are under suspicion for their involvement are also being questioned. On the 3rd of March, 2022 a court filing claimed they believed “there was enough evidence to suggest that the former president might have engaged in a criminal conspiracy”, according to the New York Times. When 30 federal agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida they found that the president retrieved 15 boxes of documents, gifts, and other government property that should have been transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at the end of his term. They found boxes that included documents from the CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency that were on a variety of topics of national security interest. This shows that despite his loss in the 2020 election, Trump is still trying to exert his power however he can to secure his position of president.

Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, Trump was known for making blatant insensitive remarks such as laziness being a “trait in blacks”. As a result, many media outlets who had more left leaning views, consistently protested against his derogatory quotes. This also resulted in many conservative critics using the term “liberals” as having a negative view on the president throughout his term, and therefore being the“enemy”. However news stations on the right also suffer from the same issue as they constantly praise their political idol. It is a clear problem that both sides are out of line as this separation of political parties and opinions has been so heated in recent years. Freedom of speech has been a staple in America since its foundation, it’s in the 1st amendment, however, because people are now using it to the point where we are divided as a nation has caused many problems and this attack has resulted from the chaos and division that we are suffering from in this nation today.

Former President Donald Trump may very likely be guilty, but we can’t let our personal opinions cause us to be at constant tension with each other. Storming the capitol building of our nation that allows us to utilize freedom, opportunity, and prosperity is inexcusable, and so is belittling someone else’s opinions as less than yours. America has so much potential in its constitution, amendments, and laws, that today, many people are taking for granted. We have to realize how much capability we have and if we do, I know that we can do better.