Five years ago, I watched the United States Capitol get overrun in real time.

I watched it the same way tens of millions of Americans did: on live television, posting on social media, checking in on friends, my stomach dropping, and the sickening realization that something foundational had cracked. Police officers beaten with flagpoles. Windows smashed. Elected officials evacuated. The Confederate flag paraded through the halls of Congress.

That happened.

No press release can undo it.

And yet, on the fifth anniversary of January 6, the Trump White House has published a page that attempts exactly that: a full-scale effort to whitewash, invert, and erase one of the most documented assaults on American democracy in modern history.

This is not spin.

This is revisionism.

After the Civil War, the Lost Cause mythology didn’t deny that the war happened. It reframed it—casting aggressors as victims, defenders of democracy as tyrants, and violence as noble resistance. January 6 revisionism follows the same playbook: invert reality until history itself is on trial.

Gaslighting Is Not Governance

The administration describes January 6 defendants as “peaceful patriotic protesters,” unfairly persecuted by a “weaponized DOJ.” That claim requires pretending that hours of live footage do not exist. That sworn testimony does not exist. That guilty pleas, jury verdicts, and injured and dead police officers do not exist.

It requires pretending that “Stop the Steal” was not a months-long campaign designed to delegitimize a lawful election.

That chants of “Hang Mike Pence” were not real.

That the gallows outside the Capitol were imaginary.

Words still mean things.

Protesting is not the same as violently breaching the seat of government.

The Lie About “No Evidence”

The White House insists there was “no evidence” of an attempt to overthrow the government.

Intent was established by action—and that action was broadcast live.

The mob came to stop the certification of a presidential election. They said so themselves, repeatedly, before, during, and after January 6. You do not need a formal declaration of insurrection when the objective is openly stated and violently pursued.

The Pelosi Distraction

Blaming Nancy Pelosi for January 6 is not analysis; it’s a dodge.

Security failures matter. They can and should be investigated. But they do not explain why thousands were summoned to Washington under a lie, why violence erupted to halt a democratic process, or why the sitting president refused for hours to stop it.

Shifting blame to security lapses does not absolve the people who created the chaos.

Pardons Are Not Exoneration

Mass pardons do not rewrite history. They erase punishment, not conduct. They do not negate evidence, invalidate verdicts, or transform violence into peaceful protest.

Calling January 6 defendants “exonerated” is simply false.

We All Saw It

This is what revisionism cannot overcome:

We saw the windows break.

We saw lawmakers run for their lives.

We saw democracy tested on live television.

January 6 does not require reinterpretation. It requires honesty.

And honesty is exactly what this administration is trying to bury.

January 6 happened. It mattered. And no amount of revisionist prose will change that.

History is watching. This time, it’s all on tape.