Welcome to the Tweed Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette, hey girl. And you are tuned in to Tweed Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Today is January 6th. Let's get started. January 6th, 2021, a year ago today, for lack of better words, it was a flat out hot mess.
There was confusion, chaos, mayhem, all of those words that are associated with the commercial about mayhem. All of that stuff was happening at the Capitol. I was in my car when I first heard about it. Do you remember where you were when you first heard about it?
And did it make sense to you? Were you able to process what was being said? Because I couldn't. I could not wrap my mind around what I was hearing.
And it didn't kick in until I got home. And actually, you could see it with my eyes. And it's like, oh, I've seen this before. But I've never seen it in this country.
I've seen it in other countries where they have corrupt governments and everything. And it's like, oh my gosh. Is that what's happening here now? And it was troubling.
Because first off, when I get home, my husband's there, he's explaining what's going on on TV to my daughter. And I'm sad about that. I'm sad that he's having to explain this to her. And now I don't know that she's still got a good understanding.
He did the best he could to explain it to a seven-year-old. But after that feeling went by, then it was like fear. Like, just jumped right there in my face. And people don't really understand it.
But I had a fear that people that look like me were going to be in trouble when this group disbanded, that they were going to be wreaking havoc back to wherever they came from. And there would be innocent bystanders that would have to then deal with whatever situations these people brought along with them. So I was fearful for my husband, my daughter, my relatives, myself. And when I explained that to people, people still don't understand.
They're like, well, I still don't get it because it wasn't a race thing. You're right. It wasn't a race thing. However, I remember not long ago walking over the Ravenel Bridge with my husband in Charleston, South Carolina.
And there was a Trump caravan. I can't tell you how many cars and trucks and 18 wheelers drove by with flags and horns and megaphones and all that good stuff. And they yelled obscenities at us. Well, I didn't think that that was a racial thing, but it sure felt like one.
Now, we weren't the only ones walking on the bridge. But still, if you want to have a parade, a march, a caravan, even, and you want to fly your flags and you want to do your stuff, that's fine and dandy. But why do you need to bring other people into it? Why do you need to try to say things to other people?
It's not a sit down, face to face, where we can try to understand each other. You're in your car. I'm on foot, really? But that's neither here nor there.
Long story short, a year ago, there was so much chaos. But I can't really say that we're that far away from it a year later. When I sit and think about what happened, I automatically wanted to do a root cause analysis. I love root cause analysis.
And so thinking about what took place, what happened, and you backtrack. Why did this happen? Well, why did that happen? Well, why did this happen?
Why did this happen? Although it wasn't a root of the problem, I feel like the rally that Trump had was one of the catalysts for sure, because of all of the different people that came and spoke. And then when Trump got there and he spoke for over an hour, the whole idea of this rally was reinforcing a lie. The false claim that the 2020 presidential race was stolen from him.
It was a lie. But for some people, the lie is better than the truth. So you know what? They took it and they ran with it.
But he also, in my opinion, had a hand in this. Simply because when he was up there, one, he said that he would never concede the race. Now, as far as I know, this is the first time in history that somebody running for president would not concede that they did not win. First time I can, you know of a time when this happened, please, by all means, feel me and give me the history lesson.
But as far as I know, this has never happened before. So the fact that he's saying that he will never concede the race, that's a problem right there. The second thing is that he said that the supporters didn't fight like hell, then they wouldn't have a country anymore. So I kind of look at this like when there's a death in the family.
When there's a death in the family, people are grieving, they're having a hard time with it. And a lot of times, people in that situation do crazy things. People always say that at weddings and funerals, you find out what people are really about. Because they will do things, they will act out of their grief.
And I feel like this is that same type of situation. They were grieving over the fact that their guy didn't win the election. They were in their feelings. They were feeling some type of way.
And they were drinking the Kool-Aid because he's telling them, hey, I won this thing. They stole it. Don't let them do that. You have the power to stop that.
And then we end up with the mayhem. When you think of other riots that have happened in the United States, a lot of times, they're race related. There's something that happened, and somebody was wrong, and something didn't go right, dealing with the law system or whatever. And then people kind of lose their minds.
They have that grieving feeling. They do crazy stuff. It may have started earlier that day with a peaceful protest. And then by the time nighttime rolls around, it's just chaos all over the place, right?
Now, not saying that to try to make an excuse for January 6. But what I am saying is that in the typical riots that you see, you've got people throwing bricks through windows and stuff like that. When we talk about January 6, you had people coming there in tactical gear. Now, that to me says, you came asking for a problem.
You came there knowing that something was going to go down, and you want it to be ready. That's like if it's raining outside, and you put your rain boots on before you go out there, because you were like, dog it rain. You are not going to mess up my shoes. You are not going to get my feet wet and get them cold and everything.
So you go prepared. So the fact that people went there in tactical gear, they were prepared for something to happen. They were almost kind of on that wish factor. Like, I wish somebody would, because I'm ready.
Same thing with the fact that people had Molotov cocktails. Like, that's not something you drink. That is a weapon. And they came there with it.
So to me, that says, you didn't come here for peace. You didn't come here for the right reasons. You weren't trying to be supportive to show your face, nothing like that. You came here to show your ass.
Bottom line, that's what you came to show. And oh my gosh, boy, did they ever. Doo doo doo doo. Thanks so much for joining me for today's episode as we took a look back a year to January 6, 2021, to think about where we were, what we were thinking, when we were finding out what was going on, and how that made us feel.
And I know this is the end of the show, but I kind of have to go there. Shout out to Eugene Goodman. Remember, he was the Capitol Police Officer that diverted the rioters from the Senate chambers. And I can't help but to think to myself, like, if I were him and I was there that day, would I have had the wherewithal to be like, you know what?
I am going to lead them on a wild goose chase. I'm going to have them chase me in the opposite direction, and that should buy time for everybody that's in chambers to get out and be okay. I don't know. But I understand he's former military, so maybe that came from his military background.
Who knows? Maybe they even go over scenarios like that in the police force. I can't imagine it because to me, that's kind of like teaching every day is a new situation. And every time you think that you've seen the craziest thing, something crazier happens.
So I can only imagine being a police officer is about the same, where you've seen some stuff, but there's always that event that tops the previous one. So I don't know. Maybe this was something that he had thought through before and had a game plan already in mind, or maybe it came to him in the second when it was going on. Who knows?
But big ups to him because he did that. I don't know if I would have been that person. All right, second time's a charm. I'm gonna try to close out the show one more time.
So thank you again for joining me. I appreciate you listening to my thoughts and interpretations about what happened a year ago. And I would love to know what was going through your mind and what you were thinking of and just all of that. Just share it with me.
You know where to find me on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook at hey, that's at h-e-y-v-e-t-e or just look for the hashtag tweet trends. All right, I will see you guys back here again on Tuesday. Have a great weekend and God bless.