History Bends Toward Distortion When Accountability is Denied
The Unstable State of Democracy Five Years After the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol
By Harry Dunn, Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer
Five years ago, I stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, staring down a mob fueled by lies, hate, and rage. As a Capitol Police officer, I fought to protect our democracy from violent insurrectionists and am still fighting today. But now, the battleground has shifted. We’re confronted by those who want to whitewash that day’s horrors, rewrite history, and evade accountability. Let me be clear: January 6, 2021 was not “legitimate political discourse,” as Republicans have claimed. It was an assault on the Constitution and the fibers of our democracy, orchestrated by a defeated president and enabled by cowardice. If we fail to punish that betrayal, we risk losing democracy itself.
The events of January 6, 2021, remain a defining moment in American democracy: a day when violence replaced debate, conspiracy upended truth, and the peaceful transfer of power was nearly derailed. Except it wasn’t. The good guys won that day.
Though, what haunts me most is not the memory of rioters screaming for blood, but the audacity of some recalling those insurrectionists as heroes. To hear them lionized as “patriots” or “political prisoners” is to spit on the memory of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died defending the Capitol, and to mock the trauma of my colleagues who were beaten, tased, called racial slurs and traitors. Over 140 officers were bloodied, blinded, or left with shattered minds and horrible PTSD as a result of that day. Yet our testimony is drowned out by Trump pardoning every person (over 1,500) convicted or charged in connection to January 6th, including those who violently assaulted us police officers. The hypocrisy is staggering: The same leaders who praise law enforcement and “Back the Blue” in speeches, vilify us when we defend institutions from their allies.
When Congress passed a law to honor us officers with a plaque commemorating our sacrifice, I assumed it would be a simple act of decency. Instead, I am in the process of suing the Architect of the Capitol to compel them to hang the plaque as they have refused to and defied this law for over two years! Think about that: After defending lawmakers from a mob, I had to drag the government to court just to make them acknowledge our service. But this isn’t about a plaque. It’s about the truth.
Every time a politician downplays January 6th as a “protest gone wrong,” or a talking head peddles conspiracy theories about “Antifa instigators,” or a “fed-surrection” they erase the bloodstains on the Capitol floors, not a metaphor, but actual bloodstains. They ignore the gallows erected outside the Capitol, the chants to “Hang Mike Pence,” or to “Kill Nancy,” the fire extinguishers sprayed and thrown at my coworkers and me. To glorify those who committed these acts while wiping their butts with the idea of a free and fair election is pathetic.
However this isn’t new. The Confederacy’s Lost Cause myth: You know, where they say the Civil War wasn’t about slavery, whitewash Jim Crow, and minimize McCarthyism. History bends toward distortion when accountability is denied. Future “anniversaries” of January 6th will be battlegrounds for memory. To claim neutrality, to “both sides is to ignore unambiguous facts: This was a coup attempt incited by a sitting president. No other modern movement has so explicitly sought to dismantle election certification.
Yet here’s what gives me hope: The same voters who reelected Trump and failed us in 2024 are now rising up. Since Trump’s return to power, Democrats have flipped seats in districts once thought unwinnable. Teachers, nurses, and veterans not professional political pundits are leading voter drives. “No Kings” protests saw record numbers of people (over 7 million!) showing up and demanding accountability. The energy is raw, furious, and alive. It’s the same defiance from January 6th, but channeled where it belongs: at the ballot box!
To those who say, “Move on,” “Get over it,” or “Focus on the future,” I say this: You cannot build a democracy on a foundation of lies. Accountability isn’t revenge, it’s prevention. Every election Democrats win is a brick in the wall against authoritarianism. Every local race matters. Every judge, prosecutor, and secretary of state who rejects MAGA extremism is a bulwark.
We didn’t win in 2024 but the fight isn’t over. I still see the faces of the rioters who tried to smash their way into the House chamber. I still hear their screams, their chants… If we let their enablers rewrite this history, LOOKING AT YOU MIKE JOHNSON, if we let them hold on to power, they will finish the job.
Democracies thrive not just through elections, but through collective commitment to truth. To remember January 6th is to condemn it unequivocally and to recognize that those who still rationalize it are not merely rewriting history, but paving the road for its repetition. The bloodstains are still there. So am I.
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Harry, you and your 6 Jan defenders are among my heroes. Millions of Americans stand with you. Thank you for your service.
We cannot allow them to extinguish our first amendment rights with their second amendment rights.
I am beyond grateful to all the officers who gave their lives on January 6th, 2021, including those that were seriously injured, or fought the violent insurgents back as long as humanly possible as heroes and true patriots. They will always be remembered as the last line of defense, and won the day so admirably. We will never forget you.