Former first lady Michelle Obama said Thursday, “I hurt for our country” in a statement reflecting on Wednesday’s US Capitol breach that left four dead and engulfed the nation’s capital in chaos.
“All I know is that now is a time for true patriotism. Now is the time for those who voted for this president to see the reality of what they’ve supported—and publicly and forcefully rebuke him and the actions of that mob,” Obama said.
Wednesday’s episode, she said, “left me with so many questions – questions about the future, questions about security, extremism, propaganda, and more. But there’s one question I just can’t shake: What if these rioters had looked like the folks who go to Ebenezer Baptist Church every Sunday? What would have been different?”
“I think we all know the answer,” Obama wrote.
Shortly after 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, hundreds of pro-Trump rioters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers “traitors” for doing their jobs. About 90 minutes later, police said, demonstrators got into the building and the doors to the House and Senate were being locked. Shortly afterward, the House floor was evacuated by police.
Only after pleading from aides and congressional allies inside the besieged Capitol did President Donald Trump release a video urging the rioters to “go home,” while still fanning their baseless grievances about a stolen election.
In the video, he also praised the crowd, who had broken into the Capitol using force, stolen items from its rooms and posed for photographs in the legislative chambers. “We love you,” Trump said. “You’re very special.”
As a result, Facebook and Twitter took the extraordinary step of locking Trump’s accounts on their platforms – something Obama maintained should be permanent.
“Now is the time for Silicon Valley companies to stop enabling this monstrous behavior—and go even further than they have already by permanently banning this man from their platforms and putting in place policies to prevent their technology from being used by the nation’s leaders to fuel insurrection,” she said.
“And if we have any hope of improving this nation, now is the time for swift and serious consequences for the failure of leadership that led to yesterday’s shame.”
Obama concluded her statement by positing that “the work of putting America back together” will be “an uncomfortable, sometimes painful process.”
“But if we enter into it with an honest and unwavering love of our country, then maybe we can finally start to heal.”