“But it served as a jumping-off point for many supporters to head to the Capitol.”
The Capitol riot began before Trump ended his speech. The rioters were already there. It’s more than a mile from the Ellipse to the Capitol, at least a brisk 20 minute walk.
I was near the Washington Monument during the speech, and walked down the mall toward the Capitol. (This means I had a head start over the folk even further away in the Ellipse.)
By the time my little group was near the Air and Space Museum, about 1/3 of a mile from the Capitol, there were already people swarming all over it, with banners and flags hanging from clearly out-of-bounds upper balconies. Binoculars gave us a very clear picture of events.
It would have been impossible for anybody from the Ellipse to have gotten there before us. The rioters were already there.
We stopped and stayed by the A&S Museum, seeing that the Capitol was already engulfed in a s#!t show, and no good would come of it.
See above.
I was there, too. I actually looked for you and the flags you posted about a day or so before the event. I was near the Washington monument, somewhat southwest of it, I think.
Took us about forty minutes, in no particular hurry, to get to the capitol. The sh!t show was already well underway by the time we got to the reflecting pool. People were starting to get texts about the curfew, so we eventually made our way out of there.
“Escape from DC” would make an interesting story in itself...