January 6: The day that still divides America, three years on

Americans watched in horror on 6 January, 2021 as rioters smashed through barricades and ransacked the US Capitol with the goal of stopping the certification of Joe Biden's election.

As Trump supporters stalked the halls of Congress and lawmakers fled to safe rooms in fear, the country seemed united in its disgust.

Yet three years on, the fundamental events of that day, established through eyewitness testimony, thousands of hours of footage, hundreds of indictments and one of the most extensive investigations in federal and congressional history, are no longer agreed upon.

And voters will continue to hear two different interpretations of the attack as the 2024 election gets under way.

The way Donald Trump and Joe Biden talk about 6 January reflects the deep partisan divide that has developed around the riot since it happened.

For Mr Trump and many in his base, the days since have been a tale of nursed grievances and government conspiracy. The former president continues to make the same false allegation that instigated the attack: That the 2020 election was stolen from him.

He has also worked to downplay the Capitol riot's significance and recast the hundreds of supporters convicted of participating in the attack as political prisoners. He has vowed to pardon many if he returns to the White House.

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President Biden, meanwhile, emphasised his opponent's involvement in the violent assault on Congress in his first major campaign speech on Friday in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, a historic site in the American War of Independence.

He invoked many of the most terrifying images from the day, such as the rioter who carried a Confederate flag through Congress and the gallows that Mr Trump's supporters erected outside the building.

His intention, according to his campaign, is to use the anniversary to stress to voters that his predecessor would put US democracy at risk if he wins the election in November.

"Trump's mob wasn't a peaceful protest, it was a violent assault," Mr Biden said on Friday. "They were insurrectionists, not patriots. They were not there to uphold the Constitution, they were there to destroy the Constitution."

His re-election hopes hang, in part, on there being enough Americans who see the Capitol riot in this way - as a dark chapter of American history and Mr Trump's conduct as disqualifying. That view likely aligns with the Democrats and independents Mr Biden will need to win to keep the White House address for another four years.

A majority of Americans - 55% - believe that 6 January was "an attack on democracy that should never be forgotten", according to a Washington Post/University of Maryland poll released this week. That includes Democrats and independents.

Disinformation sown by Mr Trump and his supporters appears to have resonated with some Americans, however. A quarter of Americans believe a false conspiracy theory that the FBI instigated the attack, the poll suggested.

At the same time, a large majority of Republicans have said it is "time to move on" from 6 January. And only 18% of Republicans believed the attack was violent, which is an eight-point slip from a 2021 survey.

"It's very tribal, they're very angry about how [Trump has] been treated," David Kochel, a Republican political strategist in Iowa, said of his party's voters.

"People definitely come to his defence, on everything from legal challenges and all those attacks that they perceive from the mainstream media."

It's a new fault line in American politics, political analysts and pundits said. While the topic has galvanised many in Mr Trump's party, memories of the Capitol riot and attempts at election interference have come back to cut the Republican candidate and kept his allies from major wins at the ballot box.

Focusing on Mr Trump as a threat to democracy helped Democrats deliver a surprisingly successful midterm election in 2022.

• Why the FBI is still searching for hundreds of Capitol rioters

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"Politicians tend to use what worked for them in the past, and Biden is thinking: 'Once we make Trump the centre of attention again, voters will come back and vote for me, even though I'm quite unpopular,'" Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, said.

It is also an angle that has the potential to resonate more emotionally with his voters than boasts about the economy, which have so far fallen flat, one Democrat said.

"To the extent that Biden can clarify that this election is about preserving democracy... it's both beneficial for democracy, and a winning message electorally as well," said Steve Phillips, a Democratic political commentator and host of the "Democracy in Color" podcast.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, continues to present his own version of events to his voters in social media posts and stump speeches. He has dismissed federal felony charges accusing him of interfering in the 2020 election as a "witch hunt".

He has reframed the rioters as "patriots" and "peaceful people". In a memorable moment, he has even called 6 January a "beautiful day" during a CNN town hall in May.

It appears the former president has sought to use the four criminal indictments he faces to strengthen the bond with his supporters, saying at one August rally in New Hampshire, "They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom."

"Legally speaking and politically speaking, Trump needed to find a way to tell the story of January 6 in a way that would keep his hold on the base of the Republican Party," Mr Scala said, "and he has largely succeeded."

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