Victor Davis Hanson: January 6, Five Years Later — Were We Played?

YouTube/The Daily Caller ^ | Jan. 5, 2026 | Victor Davis Hanson

[MikelTackNailer]

Victor Davis Hanson: What We Were Told About January 6 Doesn’t Add Up

As the fifth anniversary of January 6 approaches, the Left’s carefully constructed narrative is starting to crack.

On today’s episode of "Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words," Hanson explains how branding January 6 an “insurrection” drove impeachment efforts, investigations, and years of specifically framed media coverage. He also examines the arrest and confession of Brian Cole Jr., the alleged January 6 pipe bomber, and why the delayed investigation and lingering questions surrounding his background cast doubt on many of the conclusions Americans were first told to accept.

“To sum up everything we've been told about January 6th from the congressional committee to Kamala Harris' description of it, to comparisons with the four-month, $2 billion, 35 dead, 1,500 police officers, prior riots, arson attacks on courthouses, police precincts that was never really mentioned as a comparable crisis in the republic, all of these things, a number of FBI informants, a number of FBI agents, any effort to find the pipe bomber, the treatment of the January—it was all never transparent. We never got the honest story. So, that begs the question, why? Why didn't they just come out and say, "Here's all the information"? And the reason is, they wanted to cement a narrative in everybody's mind that a reckless demonstration that turned into a riot was a pre-planned insurrection by Donald Trump, who ordered it, and therefore, should forfeit his political career, and he should never be allowed to run for office.”

0:00 The January 6th Narrative
1:40 Inconsistencies in the Investigation
2:20 The Mysterious Pipe Bomber
3:49 Media and Political Reactions
5:05 FBI Informants and Undercover Agents
7:02 Summarizing the January 6th Events
8:47 Conclusion

[Hot Tabasco]

There’s one minor detail that may or may not be significant. Ray Epps, a resident of Arizona, claimed he flew to Washington to attend Trump’s rally. Strangely enough, he never attended the rally. Instead, he was at the capitol building urging everyone on.

[roving]

Also the woman that was beaten to death in a tunnel by that woman police officer.

[equaviator]

I knew, or at least had strong suspicions, that J6 was not what it was made to look like, especially after I noticed Capitol police just standing around inside the building acting like it was no big deal, and when it was suggested that a lot of the rioters wearing Trump gear and waving Trump flags were not who they appeared to be. Then came the reports of Trump’s request for more security having been blown off by Pelosi. Factor in that we already had reason to suspect, if not safely assume, that there had been major election and voter fraud enough to make it look like Biden had actually won. It just didn’t sit right with me, and by the end of the day, I decided to trust my instincts.

[teeman8r]

https://rumble.com/v181401-january-6th-rally-2021.html

never forget the reason for the left’s treason. a peaceful protest for the protection of election integrity

[mewzilla]

On a related note...

Libs of TikTok
@libsoftiktok

OMG

Capitol police officer Michael Byrd who shot unarmed Ashli Babbitt on January 6th, reportedly has a taxpayer funded daycare in his home run by his wife…

Because of course he does…

1:57 AM · Jan 6, 2026 214.4K Views

https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2008432778816188680

[JohnnyP]

Biden got more ballots, not votes.

[TheDon]

January 6th, a day of remembrance for the martyr for American electoral integrity Ashli Babbitt. RIP.

[Bob Ireland]

***they wanted to cement a narrative in everybody's mind that a reckless demonstration that turned into a riot was a pre-planned insurrection by Donald Trump, who ordered it, and therefore, should forfeit his political career, and he should never be allowed to run for office***

Very good, Victor. Incidentally, we have known this on the FR Q thread since 2021.

Beyond that, the Autopen Administration HAD to establish the idea that the 2020 election was NOT stolen... because at least half of the country knew that it WAS stolen.

Now, with the capture and arrest of Nicholas Maduro, we can PROVE that the Biden / Autopen Administration was never legitimate!❗ Globalism will suffer a serious blow.

[Tunehead54]

L8r! BTTT!

[JackFromTexas]

I recall reading posts on FR warning us, those who were planning to be in Washington on the 6th, to beware of antifa types going there to mislead everyone, to encourage mayhem, by posing as us. They were preparing for violence, but dressing as MAGA. When I see videos of people breaking windows, I think ‘that is just what antifa moles in the crowd would have done.’

[oldtech]

This statement makes sense to me & I’m sure there are a whole lot of folks that may not get judgement in this life, but later on.

[Savage Beast]

On January 6, 2021, US Citizens exercised their right to peaceably assemble in Washington D.C., a right which the US Constitution recognizes as one granted by God.

They were arrested and persecuted.

[MikelTackNailer]

And let us not forget that nearly a thousand protesters were tracked down like felons by the FBI using co-opted Verizon phone records (and NSA technology meant for foreign enemies), dragged to D.C. where they were prosecuted by biased D.A.s, defended by assistant D.A.s, given the choice of pleading to crimes they didn't commit or life in prison.

Those who opted for trial suffered kangaroo treatment from ultra-Democrat judges and jurors, then incarcerated in abysmal jails and prisons under tortuous conditions administered by thugs in guard uniforms.

While nearly all were eventually pardoned by re-elected President Trump they still lost chunks of their lives, and livelihoods, to a viscous and illegitimate administration who insured they were treated like the victims of gulags in the USSR era.

Justice isn't done until the persecutors responsible for that travesty are filling those cells under similar conditions.

[equaviator]

Although they're weather-dependent, airshows at military bases are sometimes disrupted by protestors and their antics. 2026 might be a year where enhanced security at these events would be appropriate, if not necessary. Keep the riff-raff away from America's 250th celebrations so we can all have a good time...A real good time!

[Savage Beast]

What you have said is the exact truth.

And the propaganda concerning this is terrifying.

My grandson came home horrified by the "insurrection on January 6." His school teacher had shown him a video of the "attack on Congress and the entire USA"! She no doubt also believed the propaganda, which clearly indicates her stupidity and unsuitability to teach children but also reveals the ubiquity of government propaganda and its effect of weak and stupid minds.

This is why Trump is a great man and a great President. His mind is neither weak nor stupid. He sees January 6 et al. for exactly what they are and takes effective, meaningful action. This frightens his self-serving adversaries and their weak-minded, stupid stooges, like the school teacher, and accounts for the attacks on him, but truth, greatness, and the security of honest, decent people are its beneficiaries. In fact the entire world is.

[combat_boots]

At 1:24pm on Jan 6th, DC Police Commander Robert Glover ordered stun grenades to be thrown at the peaceful crowd of protesters

No orders to disperse were ever given before the grenades were thrown

I saw this happen myself from Constitution Ave pic.twitter.com/CPEh1dNNkP— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 6, 2026