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Inside the insurrection at the Capitol | Morning Newsletter

Scenes and emotions from the historic day.

Pro-Trump insurrectionists breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Pro-Trump insurrectionists breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.Read moreJESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

    The Morning Newsletter

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Good morning.

Trying to target American democracy, a mob of insurrectionists attacked the U.S. Capitol yesterday, marking a worrisome final stage of a turbulent presidency in its coda.

To get you the inside story of what it was like within the walls, our Washington-based politics scribe, Jonathan Tamari, was in the Capitol building yesterday reporting on the chaos (fortunately, from a safe location).

— Ashley Hoffman (@_ashleyhoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

“What began as a furious congressional debate over the integrity of the 2020 election in Pennsylvania and other battleground states ended with lawmakers huddled on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, tear gas wafting through the soaring Rotunda, and attackers — American attackers — smashing their way through House and Senate chamber doors,” Tamari’s dispatch of Wednesday’s events begins. “Security staff barricaded themselves inside the House chamber, aiming pistols through the smashed glass panes in the doors, as the mob pressed from outside, attempting to overturn a democratic election.”

Police temporarily lost their battle with the insurrectionists, who paraded around the House and Senate chambers chanting and waving flags — some Trump, some Confederate. Four people died, police said. Trump incited the mob in a speech earlier in the day and expressed his “love” for them after they breached the Capitol. The attack forced lawmakers into lockdown and caused an hours-long delay in the certification of the Electoral College vote that finalized Joe Biden’s victory as president-elect. Lawmakers later returned to the chamber and had the certification wrapped up by early Thursday. But this won’t soon be forgotten as the country — and the world — grapples with the aftermath.

Tamari captured the scenes and emotions of the tense and historic day from the inside.

What you need to know today

  1. Among Trump’s many false claims about the election are several related to Pennsylvania, which he repeated in his speech Wednesday. We fact-checked those statements again.

  2. Pennsylvania Congresswoman Susan Wild spoke to us about the attack on the Capitol and a chilling photo taken of her during the mayhem.

  3. Democrats gained control of the Senate after Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won their runoff races in Georgia.

  4. If you’re looking for a timeline to tell you when the rest of us can get vaccinated after higher-priority groups, there is none. But a new vaccination site in Montgomery County offers some insight into how a large-scale push could work. We’ve also published a helpful vaccine Q&A.

  5. This is one of the non-vaccine-related reasons we’re nowhere near where we need to be to snuff out the coronavirus.

  6. South Philly residents say their windows were smashed after complaining about a neighborhood bar owner. The bar and its neighbors are clashing over coronavirus safety, racism, and construction.

Through your eyes | #OurPhilly

Get in reader, we’re going island cruising. Thanks for sharing this shot of a classic resort-ready car, @phlspecial.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout-out!

That’s interesting

  1. ❄️ Philly people: Fantasizing about a side of snow with all this winter rain? Blame the pattern. Today’s the 25th anniversary of the snowstorm of the ages that plastered the city with 30 inches. Things have never been the same since.

  2. ☎️ Give the doomscrolling a rest for a change and dial up a little positive affirmation in a buttery tone with the toll-free Healing Verse Philly Poetry Line that will give you a 90-second poem by a Philly-connected poet.

  3. 💖 What’s “cardiovascular health equity”? Answering that question is this award-winning doctor’s life’s work.

  4. ☕ One way to stay warm if you’re thinking about outdoor dining: hot chocolate cocktails spiked with all the correct things.

  5. 💌 Let a two-dimensional mariachi band player mark your next occasion. Meet the woman who wants to fill the gaping greeting card void with designs that celebrate her Mexican heritage.

  6. 📚 These are this year’s best new books to read based on what you loved reading last year.

Opinions

“The actual reality is that we witnessed an attempted, and bloody, coup.” — the Inquirer Editorial Board, a group of journalists who operate separately from the newsroom, writes that this siege will be Trump’s legacy, but every Pa. Republican who enabled him share it.

What we’re reading

  1. There’s a case in Mel magazine that good men are taking back the over the shoulder sweater prepster look and making it super cool now. It’s a task.

  2. These young people are very determined. Philly students Zoom-ed into the lives of their Georgia peers to help them get registered in this week’s election, ABC tells us.

  3. After undergoing coronary bypass surgery less than a week before, Wilmington’s mayor took his virtual oath, and WHYY has the story.

The pandemic gave the swim club an ultimatum: Stop swimming together or move the pool party outdoors.

The answer for the group’s 210 members aged 6 to 18 was easy. Why not really chill out for invigorating swim practice in good company? To try to prevent the further spread of coronavirus, they space things out and hawk the latest guidelines closely.

And they may keep the water at a toasty 79 to 82 degrees, but it’s less about that moisture and more about that air. The wind burst can be a real sucker punch. So they layer. “It’s definitely a little cold,” one swimmer said in a factual statement to us.

But you have to admire how tough they can hang.