January 06, 2026 03:41 PM UTC

Colorado Dems Push Back On Trump's January 6th Revisionism

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today is the fifth anniversary of an event that when it occurred was universally condemned, and at the time it was believed marked the calamitous end of Donald Trump’s singularly tumultuous and divisive term as President of the United States. The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Trump determined to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory ended with Trump finally conceding that someone other than himself would take office on January 20th, 2021. But almost immediately after leaving office, Trump began to reconsolidate his support among Republicans he had led to ruin, and by 2024 was fully back in control of the party. Republicans who condemned Trump after January 6th switched to deflections and “whatabout” foils.

After retaking the White House in January of 2025, Trump immediately set to work rewriting the official history of the 2020 presidential elections, pardoning even the most violent rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6th, and turning his vengeance–now backed with official federal power–on the state of Colorado for our dual sins of challenging Trump’s constitutional eligibility to serve as an insurrectionist, and the imprisonment of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters for her actions in a crackpot scheme to supply evidence to support Trump’s contention that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump’s refusal to accept his loss in 2020 gave rise to a whole movement of conspiracy theorists and other marginal players who churned out incoherent technobabble that supported his baseless allegations. Although it slowed after Trump had no need to second-guess the election in 2024 that he won, this movement created more or less to salve one man’s ego has a life of its own now.

And as Politico reports, Trump is no more interested in taking responsibility today for the violence of January 6th, 2021 than he was five years ago:

President Donald Trump continued to deny responsibility for the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection in an address to House Republicans on Tuesday, in a speech that took place on the fifth anniversary of the riot.

Trump’s remarks — which came during a broader address during House Republicans’ daylong retreat in Washington — are part of a yearslong pattern of the president downplaying his supporters’ seeking to stop the certification of his 2020 election loss.

Trump on Tuesday accused then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being at fault for much of the fallout and said that the media hadn’t accurately reported statements he made before Congress voted to ultimately certify his 2020 election loss.

“Do you know that the news never reported the words walk or march peacefully and patriotically to the Capitol?” the president said. “Do you know that they never reported it? It’s a scandal.”

Like most subjects, Trump has a different narrative of the events of January 6th, 2021 depending on the audience he’s addressing. Instead of calling the January 6th insurrectionists “heroes,” “patriots,” and “warriors” as he has in stump speeches, before members of Congress who were present on January 6th, the story is about how Trump only wanted a peaceful protest, not a riot where his supporters smashed their way into the Capitol. In today’s retelling, the real problem is that Nancy Pelosi refused soldiers who would have…greeted the “heroes” and “patriots” with hugs? The story never quite makes sense in its full telling because there’s no way to make it make sense. The violence of January 6th for whatever reason didn’t prevent Trump’s re-election, but despite Trump’s attempts to recast the narrative of that day, it remains an open and very much unhealed national wound.

In a press release today, Colorado’s Rep. Jason Crow did what he could to ensure Trump’s version of history does not prevail:

Congressman Jason Crow (D-CO-06), on the 5th anniversary of the January 6, 2021 violent insurrection on our nation’s Capitol, introduced a resolution to designate January 6th annually as “Democracy Day.”

Congressman Crow’s resolution would remember the sacrifices of over 140 law enforcement officers on January 6th who were injured or killed by a violent mob who attacked the Capitol, as well as acknowledge the successful transition of power despite the attack. Each year on Democracy Day, state and local governments, civil and educational authorities, and the American public would be encouraged to observe the day with civics and pro-democracy programs and activities.

“January 6th was a violent assault on our democracy and one of the darkest days in American history. I will never forget being trapped in the House Gallery as a mob of President Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and tried to stop the certification of a free and fair presidential election. No matter how many years go by, we cannot forget the events of January 6, 2021. Democracy Day would ensure that every American works to defend our democracy, protect free and fair elections, and ensure the peaceful transfer of power,” said Congressman Crow.

Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver was there too:

“Five years ago today, Donald Trump incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election — the most brazen attack on our own government by a sitting president in American history.

“I was in the House gallery that day, and I will never forget how I felt watching the anger and chaos that Donald Trump stoked erupt across Congress. It is unconscionable that one of Trump’s first acts of his second term was to pardon insurrectionists who assaulted police officers and hunted for lawmakers in the Capitol. Those convicted individuals weren’t ‘peaceful’ or ‘patriots,’ as he called them, they were domestic terrorists.

“This anniversary reminds us we must never take democracy for granted.”

Donald Trump’s return to power after events that when they occurred made that prospect seem unthinkable has left the story arc of which the insurrection of January 6th, 2021 is just one part unresolved, pending whatever redemption or further destruction results from the decision a small majority of voters made in 2024. Trump would prefer to not be remembered for the violence of January 6th, but to have that day eclipsed by his own self-authored glowing record of achievements in office. Instead, Trump’s lawless rampage from one scandalous overreach to the next in his second term as President tells a story entirely consistent with the man who refused to accept the results of an election he didn’t win.

The harder Trump tries to live it down, the more January 6th will haunt him.