Last Updated on September 11, 2022
A number of leftist activists and pundits, as well as elected Democrats, have made statements that compared the January 6 Capitol protests to the September 11 attacks. The 9/11 attacks left 2,977 people dead and over 6,000 injured while the January 6 protests only resulted in the deaths of two unarmed Trump supporters: Ashli Babbitt and Rosanne Boyland.
“September 11 was a terrorist attack…. January 6 was a terrorist attack,” wrote MSNBC contributor Tristan Snell. The tweet has currently garnered 63,000 likes.
“Are they equivalent? No,” Snell wrote in a follow-up tweet, seemingly trying to backtrack from his dramatic statement. “But both were attacks on America. And we must seek justice for the latter as we did the former.”
Are they equivalent? No.
But both were attacks on America.
And we must seek justice for the latter as we did for the former.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) September 11, 2022
“21 years since terror attacks of 9/11. Then the terror attack of 1/6,” wrote Sarah Reese Jones of Politics USA. “Defending this country from attacks foreign and domestic should never be divisive.”
Georgia State Rep. Erick Allen also made the absurd comparison. “I will never forget how angry and sad I felt the day our country was attacked. The lives lost and the families impacted demand we continue to hold those who attack our democracy accountable,” Alan said. “This is true for 9/11/2001 just as it is for 1/6/2021. #NeverForget.
I will always remember how angry and sad I felt the day our country was attacked. The lives lost and the families impacted demand we continue to hold those who attack our democracy accountable.
This is true for 9/11/2001 just as it is for 1/6/2021. #NeverForget
— Rep. Erick Allen (@erickallen) September 11, 2022
U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) — who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee — said that “domestic extremists” pose a greater threat to the United States than international terrorist organizations. The Virginia Senator went on a tangent about the “insurgency” facing the U.S. after receiving a question about Afghanistan and security in the Middle East.
“The stunning thing to me is here we are 20 years later, and the attack on the symbol of our democracy was not coming from terrorists, but it came from literally insurgents attacking the Capitol on January 6th,” Warner told Face The Nation. “So I believe we are stronger. I believe our intelligence community has performed remarkably. I think the threat of terror has diminished. I think we still have new challenges in terms of nation-state challenges, Russia in longer-term, a technology competition with China,” he continued.
“But I do worry about some of the activity in this country where the election deniers, the insurgency that took place on January 6th, that is something I hope we could see that same kind of unity of spirit,” Warner said.
Leftists have frequently compared the mostly peaceful January 6 Capitol protests to the 9/11 attacks. On January 6, 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris compared the event to both Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
“Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly, remind all who have lived through them, where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault,” Harris said. “Dates that occupy, not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. December 7th, 1941, September 11th 2001 and January 6th, 2021,” she continued.
Former President George W. Bush previously used his September 11 20th anniversary speech to compare “domestic extremists” to the hijackers. “We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within,” said Bush. “In their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit and it is our continuing duty to confront them,” Bush said.
Sunday marked 21 years since the 9/11 attacks.