Both events were largely driven by the misguided belief that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election – hence the moniker “Stop the Steal.” But outside of Democrat and media attempts to suggest otherwise, the two events do not appear to have been planned with any coordination or collaboration.
And the attempts are … many.
Rolling Stone released an exclusive report detailing Jan. 6 protest planning meetings that allegedly included sitting members of Congress. It did little to clear up the fact that those planning meetings pertained to the rally — coordinating logistics and speakers for an organized event supporting Trump — and made no mention of attempts to breach the Capitol, overwhelm law enforcement or overthrow the government.
Critics pointed out the apparent attempts to conflate the two, noting that people reading Rolling Stone’s report likely understood it to mean that members of Congress and the Trump White House had assisted in coordinating the attack on the Capitol.
And prominent Democrats were quick to capitalize on and amplify the conflation of the two events.