Americans marked on Friday the second anniversary of the storming of the Capitol amid sharp partisan divisions that loomed over the rooms of the same building that witnessed the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Instead of visiting the Capitol building, US President Joe Biden chose to stay at the White House.
This year, divisions are rife at the Capitol and Biden is seeking to avoid controversy on a day when he needs to talk about unity instead of the sharp disagreements that overshadowed the events of the storming.
Biden chose to shed light on “those who defended democracy in the face of insurrectionists who sought stopping Congress from approving the results of the 2020 election.”
The White House announced that Biden would award the Presidential Citizens Medal to election workers and local officials, as well as security personnel who helped protect the building on the day of the attack.
At the Capitol, Republicans continue to struggle with divisions that show a large and deep-rooted rift between the party’s traditional and right-wing factions. Hardline Republicans insist on not compromising.
Republicans remain divided on choosing a speaker for the House of Representatives.
These are the same divisions that two years ago led hundreds of skeptics of the US election results to rush into the Capitol, refusing to acknowledge the loss of former President Donald Trump.
Those who questioned the election results back then stand today in the House of Representatives refusing to surrender to the will of the 200 Republicans who support their leader, Kevin McCarthy.
At a point in time, McCarthy rejected both election results and recognizing Biden as president. He also angered moderate Republicans after he decided to visit former President Donald Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago a few days after the Capitol stormed.
