Who is Brad Parscale?
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Brad Parscale, Trump’s former campaign manager, said Trump’s rhetoric got people killed on January 6th, 2021.
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“This week I feel guilty for helping him win,” Parscale texted a former colleague.
Brad Parscale served as former President Donald Trump’s campaign manager from February to July of 2020.
Before that, Parscale worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign as a consultant and senior advisor.
Parscale Admits Trump’s Words Got People Killed
On the evening of January 6th, Parscale texted Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson.
“This is about Trump pushing for uncertainty in our country,” Parscale said. “A sitting president asking for civil war… This week I feel guilty for helping him win.”
Later on, Parscale texted reflectively, “if I was Trump and knew my rhetoric killed someone.”
Pierson protested: “It wasn’t the rhetoric.”
Parscale disagreed. “Katrina,” he tweeted using her first name. “Yes it was.”
How Trump’s Rhetoric Created a Frenzy on January 6th
In December 2020, Trump invited his supporters to Washington, DC with a tweet: “Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
This “Wild Protest” was scheduled to leave from the Stop the Steal Rally at Ellipse Park and proceed to the Capitol.
On January 6th, Trump spoke to a crowd of supporters at the rally. He knew they were armed with weapons, but he still used charged language to whip the crowd into a frenzy.
During his speech, Trump repeatedly pressured Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results — something Pence could not do.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol,” Trump said. "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.”
At 2:24 p.m. when some people had already breached the Capitol building, Trump took to Twitter. Not to calm the mob but to add fuel to the fire.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted. “USA demands the truth!”
The riot got worse, resulting in the death of Ashli Babbitt, the woman Parscale seemed to be referring to in his texts.
Parscale's Texts with Katrina Pierson Blaming Trump's Rhetoric for January 6th
