Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene once again used social media this week to glorify and sanitize the January 6 insurrection, praising jailed participants in the attack on the U.S. Capitol while minimizing — and effectively excusing — one of the most violent assaults on American democracy in modern history.

In a post on X, Greene described a November 2021 visit to the Washington, D.C., jail, which she routinely refers to as the “DC Gulag,” where some January 6 defendants were being held pretrial. She portrayed the rioters as “broken men,” recounting stories of detainees singing the national anthem and holding hand-drawn American flags, and framing them as victims of government oppression rather than perpetrators of violence.

Greene claimed the men were unjustly punished and argued that the United States operates under a “two-tiered justice system,” suggesting that the rioters were “crushed as an example” for daring to challenge the government. She concluded by asserting that Americans have a right to “rise up” and hold the government accountable — rhetoric that echoes the same logic used to justify the attack itself.

What Greene’s post omits — and what the country watched unfold live on television — is that January 6 was not a peaceful protest or a moment of patriotic dissent. It was a coordinated, violent insurrection aimed at overturning a lawful presidential election.

On January 6, 2021, a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol after being whipped into a frenzy by the outgoing president’s false claims of election fraud. Rioters assaulted police officers, smashed windows, breached secured entrances, and roamed the halls of Congress while lawmakers and staff barricaded themselves or fled for their lives. More than 100 police officers were injured. Five people died in connection with the attack.

The goal of the mob was explicit: stop Vice President Mike Pence from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Chants calling for Pence’s execution echoed through the building. Offices were vandalized, including that of then–House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This was not hidden, disputed, or ambiguous — it was broadcast in real time to millions of Americans.

More than 1,500 people were later charged for their roles in the attack. Many pleaded guilty. Others were convicted at trial. Their crimes were documented through bodycam footage, surveillance video, social media posts, and their own statements. When Donald Trump returned to office, he issued sweeping pardons to those convicted — not because they were innocent, but because they were politically useful.

Since then, dozens of those same individuals have been rearrested or charged with additional serious crimes, including child sex offenses, illegal weapons possession, DUI-related crimes, and rape — facts that further undermine Greene’s attempt to portray them as harmless political prisoners.

Greene’s defense of the insurrectionists is not new. She has repeatedly dismissed January 6 as “just a riot,” mocked concern over the violence, and falsely claimed that Democrats failed to help secure the House chamber during the attack — a claim contradicted by multiple witnesses, including Democratic lawmakers who are military veterans and were instrumental in protecting colleagues.

She has even suggested that the attack would have “succeeded” if it had been organized differently and openly mused that it “would’ve been armed.”

By romanticizing the people who attacked the Capitol and rewriting what the nation witnessed with its own eyes, Greene continues to legitimize political violence and undermine the rule of law. January 6 was an attack on democracy. The people who carried it out were not heroes, martyrs, or patriots — and pretending otherwise is not just dishonest, it is dangerous.