Vice President JD Vance has posted a bigoted AI-generated meme mocking Congressional Democrats holding a candlelight vigil to remember the violence that erupted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In an X post, Vance’s post edited sombreros onto a freeze-frame of Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries with their colleagues on the Capitol steps Tuesday. Democrats were marking five years since the riot that saw police officers beaten and government property destroyed.
On that day, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building as Congress held a joint session to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win. The failed attempt to overturn the results and keep Trump in office came after the president and his allies repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the election was stolen from him.
Vance’s AI-generated photo riffs off memes Trump circulated last fall. At the time, Republicans were baselessly claiming Democrats were refusing to support a spending bill to keep the government open so undocumented immigrants could get free healthcare. Vance previously brushed off the memes, calling them “funny.”
During a speech at Tuesday’s vigil, Schumer, the minority leader of the Senate, said the January 6 rioters were “egged on” by Trump.
“Five years ago, a vicious mob tried to undo American democracy,” the New York Democrat said. “Thousands of rioters, egged on by Donald Trump, stormed the U.S. Capitol, smashed its windows, desecrated its hallways, ransacked its offices in an attempt to steal the 2020 election.”
Schumer said the White House released a “maliciously false account” on Tuesday that “blamed the Capitol Police for the violence.”
On a new White House webpage, the Trump administration claimed police officers “deliberately” escalated tensions between the “peaceful protesters.”
Four police officers who responded on January 6, 2021, had died by suicide in the days and months following the riot, Reuters previously reported. Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by an officer while trying to climb through a broken window inside the Capitol building.
Shortly after Trump returned to the White House, he pardoned people convicted of crimes in relation to the January 6 riot, including those who assaulted police officers.
Trump has claimed the rioters, whom he has called “patriots,” were unfairly treated by the Justice Department.
Speaking at the vigil, Jeffries said, ”I have a simple message for the violent mob of insurrectionists: Donald Trump may have pardoned your crimes, but only God can pardon your sin.”
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