A collection of rightly concerned patriots. Confused tourists. A motley band of hapless, harmless dopes.

In the six months since the dramatic conflict at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, large parts of the Republican Party, working alongside the right-wing media machine, have labored to make the case that what happened that day was no big deal. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) argued that it was not an insurrection, but a largely peaceful protest. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) who can be seen in photos from Jan. 6 looking horrified as he rushed to barricade the House gallery doors to stop the rioters from entering called the riot a normal tourist visit. Fox News megastar Tucker Carlson has even asserted that perhaps the uprising was a false flag event orchestrated by the FBI .

There were indeed some people at the Capitol who were basically harmless and have claimed they didnt realize what would happen. A 49-year-old Indiana woman was sentenced this week in federal court on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge for being inside the Capitol for only 10 minutes, during which she didnt break anything or assault anyone, prosecutors say. She wont serve prison time. I would have never been there if I had known it would turn out that way, she said at her sentencing, while apologizing to the American people.

Later that day, however, another man pleaded guilty to far more serious charges. Graydon Young of Sarasota, Florida, faces up to 78 months in prison for conspiring with members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia to overrun the Capitol and stop electoral votes from being counted. He will cooperate with authorities in cases against his co-conspirators.

Youngs case points to a fundamental, terrifying fact about Jan. 6: A dedicated core of bad actors, from architects of the Stop the Steal rally to a wide range of extremists and militia members, came to Washington to derail the democratic process. And it almost worked.

On this half-year anniversary of that fateful day, its important to remember the horror of it, to retain our dwindling sense of shock, so that those who were complicit face justice and it never happens again.

The Extremists Who Were There

The White Nationalists