When did you Find Out that J6 was happening....

[electric_blue68]

I'd stayed up very late following the results for John Ossof, and Rev Warnock.

So I really slept in till around nearly 2PM.
I didn't have a TV at that point, sometimes I listen to my local Public Radio later morning, or listen to the news in the evening. I checked maaaybe ?Buzzfeed back then, and DU.

I came here to DU. At first the threads were about Ossoff & Watnock. But suddenly a bit later they blew up about the insurrection! WTF?!!!

Then I jumped in to follow the sureal horror into the evening/night.
Have never forgotten!

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. Was watching CNN

The Republicans were doing their objections and the anchor broke in and said there was a disturbance at the capital.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Same here, so I'd say from the beginning.

I was sick in bed with COVID while in a rehab facility recovering from a fractured ankle and subsequent surgery to fix it. Nothing to do but watch TV.

[electric_blue68]

7. Geeeebzzz, hioly crap!....

(btw, I had a similar accident, stint in rehab etc but back in 2012 at least a quieter time)

Ohhh, boy, from rally, march, into full blown riot!!

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. Happily, the ankle has healed well, though the range of motion isn't what it was.

Also, my only bought with COVID so far.

It was hard to believe what I was watching. Unreal.

[electric_blue68]

16. That's great it's healed well. Luckily (relatively) a contained covid bout....

It was, continues to be surreal!

[greatauntoftriplets]

26. I had a good surgeon and good PT when I finally got it.

I was afraid that I'd never walk again.

[OnionPatch]

15. I was watching tv too

And I couldn’t believe what was happening! My daughter and I were aghast and yelling at the TV for someone to stop them.

[electric_blue68]

17. I'll bet (yelling at the TV)!

[jaymac]

39. SAME here.

[fmdaddio]

3. Home with Covid

Got to watch live coverage on MSNBC.

[electric_blue68]

4. Oh, dear! I hope you don' have any long term after effects...

I was on on line following a few news servces.

[senseandsensibility]

5. I was following it online

for the most part. The people I followed were raising the alarm hours before CNN, etc. It was an eerie feeling knowing what was going down (even seeing photos posted) and how it was getting or going to get violent and seeing the alternate universe on TV.

[electric_blue68]

8. Woah... that must have been awful knowing that....

there was probably going to be trouble!

[PatSeg]

6. I was taking a nap on the couch

My son knocked on my door to see if I was aware of what was happening. I turned on the TV and the insurrection was in full swing. It was really hard to absorb at the time and it still is in many ways.

It was easier to accept terrorists flying planes into buildings on 9/11 than Americans attacking our capital.

[electric_blue68]

11. Woah.. You had a "in person" alert from your son

[PatSeg]

24. Yes, often it is in reverse

I may have had the TV on when I fell asleep. I think I watched some of Trump's speech before dozing off. Seeing it in real time before all the commentary was very disturbing. It was right up there with watching daytime TV when Kennedy was shot. A moment in history that we never forget.

[electric_blue68]

34. Woah...

Hmmm...(Nov 22) my dad would have been at work, and my mom idk if she had the TV on.
I was at school - 4th grade.

[PatSeg]

37. Actually, it was unusual for me to be watching

television during the day, but someone else in the house had turned the TV on.

On 9/11 my son called me and told me to turn on the TV as someone had just told him what had happened. We were both stunned.

[electric_blue68]

41. I get it.. wasn't a daytime TV watcher in general, either....

Although... if some important world event was happening I'd be partly following it by radio, and maybe TV earlier in life when not at school, or work. Then adding on line after the Web evolved, and DU even later on.

[PatSeg]

43. For awhile after 9/11

I had the TV on all day for quite some time. There was so much news everyday and no one wanted to miss anything.

My default mode, however, is usually no TV until evening unless there is a major breaking story. I've always been surprised by how many people I knew who watched daytime TV. Most of it was so superficial and boring.

[Timeflyer]

10. Listening to public radio in car as it began, then watched the whole nightmare unfold on TV.

First thought, "this can't be happening here." Americans attacking Americans on the grounds and in the halls of Congress, howling, looking for blood. Trump wanted blood, so he could stay in office. Pelosi and VP Pence (gotta give him credit) kept our country together that day.

Pearl Harbor
9/11
J6

[electric_blue68]

14. Ohhh, boy! You do not want to hear that kind of awfulness while driving!....

"Trump wanted blood, so he could stay in office."

THIS is sooo true! 😬

[lamp_shade]

12. From the start... all day long.

[electric_blue68]

18. Woah! Watching going ftom one thing into mayhem!

Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 03:33 PM - Edit history (1)

[tanyev]

13. I know it was a Wednesday because that was my usual day off.

I wasn’t following any coverage of the rally or swearing in at the Capitol, but I was spending more time on DU that day because I was at home. Then it blew up in real time on DU and the sinking feeling in my stomach just got worse and worse and worse.

[electric_blue68]

20. No kidding! Living alone it was important to have people on DU to be with on line!

[malaise]

19. Was following on Cable and at DU

Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 03:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Knew it was a coup

[electric_blue68]

21. Following from another country had it's own sureal quality, I'm thinking. I know you visit, and have

people here.

[malaise]

25. Yep

I was in touch with my folks

[electric_blue68]

27. Definitely sureeal!

[Katinfl]

22. Came home from the dentist following an extraction.

Sat down to do a jigsaw puzzle with MSNBC on. Not paying too much attention until Chuck Todd said they are storming the Capitol. That caught my attention, I looked up in disbelief. Then I teared up at what I was seeing. That was all I could watch far into the night and the following days.

[electric_blue68]

29. Ohhh, boy. Personal physical pain meeting up with Societal, Democracy in Peril right there and then!...

Wow, hearing that in "the background"!

[Katinfl]

49. With everything going on I forgot about the extraction.

Except for the taste of blood. In the big scheme of things, really nothing.

[electric_blue68]

55. Too bad it wasn't a really happy reason instead

[Freddie]

23. Was babysitting my granddaughter

Giving her a bottle when my son called from Florida. He almost never calls, just texts. “There’s gunfire in the Capital.”

[electric_blue68]

30. Oh,crap!

[La Coliniere]

28. I watched the whole thing transpire on MSNBC.

I was outraged and thought within a short time of the events unfolding that this was an example of white privilege on steroids; if this were Black folks or Latinos attacking the Capitol they would be shot dead immediately! Where was the National Guard? How could this be allowed? Towards the end of the attack I had a premonition that this event was not the end of this hideous, outrageous and dangerous movement…and here we are today.

[electric_blue68]

32. Absolutely true about a "White riot" vs BlPOC!

[Vinca]

31. I usually lay down for an hour and read, getting up about 2:30. I walked into the living room and noticed the muted

TV was showing some kind of incident and turned the sound up. Couldn't believe my eyes. I called my husband who was traveling home from somewhere and asked when he would arrive because he would never believe what was going on. It's still hard to understand. How can people be so stupid, gullible, nasty and violent?

[electric_blue68]

33. Some people are whether intrinsically, or eventually by circumstances, and their responses....

Actually reading an autobiography by someone who's childhood, teenhoid etc life was so bad he could have become as bad, but luckily went towards kindness, and empathy instead.

[RB77]

35. I saw it live

I was home watching the rally at the ellipse while having a text conversation with friends and satirizing the clown show. As soon as he said, “We are marching to the Capitol and I’m going with you”, - I texted my friends and said, “ It’s not funny anymore, they’re going to attack the Capitol. It’s been 5 years and the perps are running around free, getting in trouble and expecting compensation for trashing the Capitol after trying to overthrow our Government. I’ve lost most of my hope and getting close to giving up the little bit I have left. After they have already gotten away with trying to stop the certification of a legal election I really don’t think that the Epstein file’s, stealing Venezuelan oil or screaming and yelling about ‘woman’s reproductive rights’ are going to turn things around. Michael Fanone, - former Metro Police Officer and J6 victim, said on MSMBC yesterday that he’s convinced the Democrats in Congress are all cowards. Then he said, “Hakeem Jeffries, you are a coward”. I’m beginning to share his feelings. Sorry about such a negative post, - having a depressing day and needed a release. Thanks for being here🤓

[electric_blue68]

36. Sorry you are having a bad day... I am definitely worried, but still have hope.

Must have been awful watching it unfold, and morph.

[dpibel]

38. I was streaming PBS

Had been watching all morning, including the big speech and the ensuing violence.

But the really chilling part was a PBS reporter reporting from inside the Capitol using a phone or handheld camera. It was just her, no crew.

And she was on some sort of balcony overlooking the first window that was breached. It was...spooky.

[electric_blue68]

62. Woah! Scary for her!

[FloridaBlues]

40. When I got home from work around 4!pm I was really confused on what the hell happened for a few mins.

[electric_blue68]

42. Oh, sure! Could be expected since it Was Unprecedented!

[SamKnause]

44. I was outside with my niece and her husband burying their dog that died that morning.

They live in a rental house so they wanted to bury their dog Ri Ri on my farm.

When we came inside we saw what was happening.

I missed less than an hour and watched the rest live. (I saw the first hour later that day or night)

In a sane world things would have turned out much differently, but unfortunately sanity is no longer

required to govern in the U.S.

[GoodRaisin]

45. While I was in the hospital recovering from cervical spine surgery.

I watched the entire day from my hospital bed in shock from what I was seeing.

[electric_blue68]

46. Oh my! I hope your surgery gave you a lot of relief!

[GoodRaisin]

50. Thanks. It did give some relief.

[electric_blue68]

53. Thank goodness some at least!

Backs are sooo tricky

[irisblue]

47. Listening to NPR, On Point program from WBUR at noon, the NPR from DC until after the votes were certified

Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 05:13 PM - Edit history (1)

The program on WBUR that day was prescient

https://www.wbur.org/radio/programs/onpoint/archive?date=2021-01-06

'Stay Above It': Ex-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's Call To Preserve Democracy
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen On How Trump's Push To Overturn The Election Threatens Democracy

Audio is still there.

[electric_blue68]

61. TY

[marmar]

48. Driving back to work in downtown Detroit for a meeting I flipped on Thom Hartmann in the car.....

.....and immediately thought, "I knew something like this was going to happen."

[The Blue Flower]

51. I was watching CNN

It looked to me like giant cockroaches were climbing the walls of the capital to overrun it--like a sci fi movie.

[no_hypocrisy]

52. Taking my lunch break at work. New Jersey news station.

I was flabbergasted and didn't want to return to my shift.

[Cha]

54. I got a Text from my sister in Gainesville, Florida..

saying "WTF:" I wasn't sure what it meant until I turned on DU.

[OC375]

56. My Wife

She said CNN was showing live footage of a bunch of geriatrics that had apparently broken into the Capitol. At the time, it looked like alumni wandering around after a Big 10 football game. It was very surreal and weird.

[Emile]

57. Like most, I watched it on live TV. I watched Trump

orchestrating the whole damn thing. Trump should have been arrested, and thrown in jail that fucking day.

[electric_blue68]

60. Oh, hell, yeah! Sigh.

[Deep State Witch]

58. I think I was coming home from a Pilates Class

I turned on the radio to MSNBC and heard about it on the way home, about noon. When I got home, I turned on the TV.

[electric_blue68]

63. Ohh, boy. Talk about from relaxation to agitation!

[haele]

59. At work. On a military base; building was next to a main gate.

We got an incident alarm notification probably within the first five minutes of the crowd starting to get violent.
We also got an incident alarm notification when Tangolini had protesters tear gassed for his Bible waiving stunt with the military brass earlier that summer.
Base commander at the time was rather jumpy about protestors (yeah, there was one couple that would come out with a protest sign about military spending once a year and picnic near the bus stop for the day...I think it was their anniversary) which was rather odd because it was a fairly difficult base to get to in the city.
On edit - no work got done that day. Everyone had a CNN or PBS window open on their computer.

[electric_blue68]

64. Ohhh, boy. And yeah, i remember "the Bible walk", too.

[Tommy Carcetti]

65. I remember first hearing reports about protesters in the Capitol...

…but I initially assumed they were like other protesters at the Capitol in the past, where they enter through security, go to some of the offices, say their piece and then leave.

Then I recalled seeing a tweet from a Congress person being evacuated—that’s the first sense I knew something was wrong.

Then I remember seeing pictures of insurrectionists at the Senate dais and my heart dropped to my stomach.

[electric_blue68]

66. Wow... what a way to get on the story!