Three years after the Jan. 6 attack on America’s capitol, E2024 intern Ali Gagliardi interviewed four LMU students to discuss how the insurrection impacted their relationships, their politics and how it will impact their vote this November.
What do you remember about Jan. 6, 2021?
Cole Hendrickx, a sophomore political science major, woke up on Jan. 6, 2021, for his AP U.S. History class on Zoom and saw an Apple News article on his phone about the riot at the Capitol.
“I remember that was the whole talk in the class, even being online. My teacher was like, ‘Hey guys, I know this is happening, but we need to focus on this.’ I kind of thought she would cancel class because this is a historical thing, but she wouldn’t, so I had to sit through this hour-and-a-half class on Zoom wondering what was going on on the TV,” said Hendrickx. “I think it’s kind of ironic because it’s American history, and [my teacher] wouldn’t let us watch it.”
Taylor Ballinger, a sophomore theatre arts major, attended a boarding school but was at home in Washington, D.C. at the time of the insurrection on Jan. 6. She heard about the insurrection from her schoolmates, who reached out to her to make sure she was okay.
“[My friends were] texting me like, ‘Oh my God, are you okay? What’s going on?’” said Ballinger. “I turned on the news and was seeing everything. I wouldn’t say I was necessarily scared that they were going to go other places, but it was crazy to see that this was happening so close to my home.”
Sydney Tencza, a junior screenwriting major, recalled sharing her opinion on Jan. 6 in her AP English class and feeling disrespected by her classmates and teacher — who further questioned only Tencza on her opinion.
“[My classmates] rolled their eyes at me, they turned off their cameras on Zoom. My teacher ended up questioning me on my opinion, and she didn’t question anyone else in the class,” said Tencza. “I said something to my teacher about how it was unfair that she questioned my opinion, but no one else’s. She apologized to me and had a discussion the next day in class about respecting people’s opinions. I get it, at the time it was 2020 […] but I think that was the biggest time in my life that I was disrespected by people in my ‘community.’”
Did Jan. 6 change any of your relationships with family or friends?
“[My grandparents] weren’t ‘MAGA’ but they liked Trump for many different reasons, and I was okay with that because they weren’t necessarily [pro-Trump] for really bad reasons,” said Hendrickx. “After [Jan. 6, my grandma] did not like what Trump did or what he encouraged. So that was definitely a shift.”
Dan Conn, a sophomore management and leadership and environmental studies double major, had a similar experience in his family to Hendrickx.
“My grandparents and my mom at least were moderate Republicans. My mom hated Trump from the get-go, but my grandparents supported him at first. After [Jan. 6], it completely turned them off to him. They just saw how much damage he could do and how many people would so blindly support him. They didn’t want any part of that.”
Three years later, how do you reflect on the events of Jan. 6th? How has your perspective evolved and why?
“At the time, when it first happened, I was like this isn’t real, this is a joke. Nothing that bad is going to happen. The minute I first turned on the TV, I saw people crowding the Capitol. I never thought people would go inside,” said Tenzca. “As a Republican, I am mad at Trump who was supporting the Republican party at the time, because that’s just embarrassing for our party.”
“I think I’ve become a lot more politically informed because of it. I’ve definitely formed my own opinion in a lot of different areas. I guess it just took a huge attack on our democracy for me to see that,” said Conn.
Looking back today, do you believe Jan. 6 was a true threat to American democracy?
“Yes, I do think it was definitely a threat to our democracy,” said Ballinger. “What would that have looked if they had succeeded? And, who specifically would be backing them? I think is just something interesting to think about.”
How do you feel January 6th will affect the 2024 presidential race, if at all? If a political candidate were to endorse or condone the capitol insurrection, would that impact your vote?
“One thing I think Jan. 6 did cement for me — and a lot of people — was Donald Trump as this Republican figurehead, and he’s just such a force to be reckoned with. We all saw at the recent debates; I think it might’ve been the first debate all of them raised their hand and said that they would support [Trump’s] candidacy [in the upcoming election]. It blew me away,” said Conn.
“I think I’m going to have honestly, a pretty hard time picking who I’m going to vote for. Honestly, I don’t want [Trump] to win, it’s just a nightmare after this point,” said Tenzca. “I also have to do a lot of reading over the next few months and really figure it out.”