When the Black Lives Matter protesters began to protest, they were faced with a very harsh military response. Trump tweeting things to them like, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” and calling the protests “domestic acts of terror.” The BLM protestors were faced with tear gas, pepper spray, and projectiles like rubber bullets. There have been more than 125 incidents in 40 states, where police harmed peaceful protestors, as well as non participants and journalists. 

But when the Trump supporter mob protested at the capitol, they were faced by Trump saying  “I know your pain, I know your hurt,” before adding, “We love you.” He told the Trump protestors that they were special, and to sleep well. 

During the capitol storm, few police stood in their way. There were videos of the police talking peacefully with the protestors inside the capitol building. Protests had been expected, yet the security at the capitol was minimal- the doors were not even locked. In most BLM protests, the protestors end up being the ones that get injured, but more than 50 police officers were injured during this one Trump rally. Even though the officers were being treated with violence, the rioters were not faced with violence back. 

In America, people are a lot more comfortable with protests from the right. There is an idea of leftists/liberals being radical, and therefore nothing they do is taken seriously, and they are expected to be the violent ones. There is a huge double standard in the way that both of these groups of people were treated. Eddie Glaude, who has written multiple books about race, said,” Demonstrations from the left are often considered to represent “an existential threat to the country,” whereas right-wing protests are taken “as a kind of patriotic gesture.” 

Every group should be treated based on the severity of the act that they are doing. Not, treated based on the stigma of their political affiliation. 

Disturbing remarks about the Capitol storm on Twitter, is one of the main reasons Trump is banned from multiple social media. The social media owners don’t want their platform being involved, in Trump using his words to incite violence and hate. Apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tiktok have banned Trump’s accounts due to his disturbing remarks.

Even Trumps daughter, Ivanka, knew the capitol storm was wrong, as she replied to one of his tweets supporting the rioters, by saying, “American Patriots- any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.” 

But people had a large problem with Ivanka’s tweet. People noticed how Ivanka referred to the rioters as patriots. She later deleted the tweet because of the backlash, but people replied saying things like, “We were always told that @IvankaTrump was going to be the “voice of reason” for her father. Instead, she’s just as complicit. You can delete the tweet, but you calling rioters “American Patriots” will live on!” So her tweet just added to the overall feeling that the rioters were being viewed as patriots.