Newspapers from across the country speak out against scenes of violence in the nation’s Capitol

Pro-Trump rioters broke Associated Press television equipment on Wednesday outside the Capitol.(Photo: Jose Luis Magana / The Associated Press)
Pro-Trump rioters broke Associated Press television equipment on Wednesday outside the Capitol.(Photo: Jose Luis Magana / The Associated Press)
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America's Newspapers invites members to share their editorials on this topic with us, as well.  Send links to your editorials to cdurham@newspapers.org.

A Truly Ominous Sight — Selma Times-Journal, Selma, Alabama
The presence of the Confederate battle flag during Wednesday’s siege at the Capitol was perhaps the most disturbing sight of the whole charade, as it represents the first time ever that the flag has entered that building and a chilling motive behind these rioters’ actions.

This is the Cost — Selma Times-Journal, Selma, Alabama
The real reason for Wednesday’s melee is this country’s aversion to truth and the slow death of facts – we have become a people truly incapable of accepting reality when it no longer suits our worldviews.

Attack on Washington Unpatriotic — The Paris News, Paris, Texas
Jan. 6, 2021, will be a date remembered in U.S. history for all the wrong reasons. Rather than being noted for yet another successful exercise of American government, Wednesday will be remembered as a day of insurrection by a rebellious mob hellbent on preventing the American government from doing its constitutionally mandated work.

Editorial: Trump's violent mob  — CNHI
What happened in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday was anarchy. It was sedition. It was as close to a coup d'etat as we have ever seen in this nation. Make no mistake. President Donald Trump was responsible.

'Enough is Enough' (A Publisher's Opinion) — Mike Blinder, E&P Magazine
Today, I am urging the entire media industry to join in with Mr. Biden and Mr. Graham by saying, “Enough is enough.” Because those three words should not just be directed at our president, but include the megaphones we give all newsmakers.

Covering Pro-Trump Mobs: The Media Became a Target — The New York Times
“Murder the media” was scratched into a door of the Capitol. Violent protesters smashed equipment and punched a photographer.

Our View:  A National Embarrassment — Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
There can be no sympathy given to those who took it upon themselves to smash through barricades and run riot through the halls of the Capitol. Those who did so must be punished to the full extent of the law.

We See Where Cynicism Leads; Let's Show Instead the True Face of America — Daily Herald, Chicago, Illinois
If there is anything to be remembered from Wednesday's ghastly display in Washington — and it is something inspiring, indeed — it is that the Congress that this field of miscreants sought to disrupt regrouped on the very day of the disruption and got back to its business.

Help USA TODAY Identify Rioters Who Stormed the US Capitol
USA TODAY is working to identify those who stormed into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as lawmakers met to count electoral votes in the presidential race.

Invoke the 25th Amendment: Donald Trump Forfeited his Moral Authority to Stay in Office — USA TODAY
By egging on a deadly insurrection and hailing the rioters, the president's continuance in office poses unacceptable risks to America.

Opinion: A Trump Mob Stormed the Capitol. Now What, America? — Los Angeles Times
What we have seen over the past day has not been some benignly excessive display of the passion of politics. It was an attack orchestrated by the president on us as a people, as an electorate and as a nation. It was an attack on our history. It was an attack on our democracy.

Opinion: Sedition is a White Man's Luxury — Houston Chronicle
The rioting and violence at the Capitol on Wednesday only further proves that the country is divided, and that there are two different Americas we are living in. Rioters violently stormed the Capitol, and police did absolutely nothing to stop it ... If the roles were reversed, and Black Lives Matter protestors even attempted to do something of the magnitude that occurred at the Capitol on Wednesday, it would be a massacre. You can't witnessed what happened Wednesday and not see that white privilege is real.

Opinion/Editorial: Rebellion in our Capitol — The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia
There is no way to avoid the obvious. Donald Trump has incited this violence. Even a so-called stand-down statement by the president was nothing but a veiled effort to continue stoking disaffection. We condemn this. It is wrong. It is unpatriotic. It is unlawful. This is rebellion.

Colorado Democrats Should Nudge Congress to the Center — The Denver Gazette
Georgia voters ratified the Democratic Party’s embrace of socialism Tuesday by electing two of the farthest-left American politicians to receive the nomination of a mainstream party. When this happens in a traditionally red state in the deep South, consider socialism a mainstream movement. We hope Colorado’s Democrats will put a stop to it.