January 6th should have been a quiet day, with only government nerds tuning into CSPAN to watch the counting of electoral votes. We should have been talking about something much more interesting in here, like Hunter's laptop or something.
I'm not all that concerned with how the President addressed the crowd on Jan. 6th. I honestly don't even know what he said. The people should have never been there. What we saw last week was the inevitable result of rhetoric that started before November 3rd. I don't think it's likely people stormed the capitol because of literal instruction from the President. But he bears responsibility for it happening, because they wouldn't have even been there without his rhetoric.
The messaging about this election from the President is probably the most damaging thing to the country a President has done in my lifetime. It started before the election, planting the seed for allegations of fraud. And it's been continuing ever since. Advancing conspiracy theories, unfounded allegations, and outright lies from the most powerful microphone in the world has done damage that will continue beyond the events of one day. The complete disregard, even disgust, toward the Constitution, law enforcement, and the justice system is antithetical to American ideals, particularly conservative ideals.
We're seeing the fracturing of conservatives right before our eyes. This is exactly why there should have been a unified effort to thwart his campaign in 2015 and 2016. The damage the President has done to the conservative cause is already considerable (See: White House, Senate, HoR), and the full extent is yet to be seen. Even more importantly, he has helped conspiracy theories become mainstream, instead of residing in the fringes, and has modeled a careless disregard for truth and decency that has infected millions of Americans.