1/6: Will Be Wild

On January 6, 2021, over 100,000 people showed up at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to attend President Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally. For four hours, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy by speakers' exhortations to "Never give up! Never conceded!" The President of the United States brought the rally on the Ellipse to a close with these words, "Something's wrong here. Something's really wrong. Can't have happened...we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don't fight like Hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." Minutes later, a mob of Trump's supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building to prevent the joint session of Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes. The rioters assaulted Capitol Police officers and, within an hour, had broken through the police lines protecting several of the building's entrances. Over two thousand insurrectionists swarmed inside, vandalizing and looting the House and Senate Chambers, the National Statuary Hall, and Congressional offices, including the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. As rioters ransacked the Capitol, they searched for, called out, and threatened many lawmakers by name. They even erected a gallows on the lawn west of the Capitol Building. At 2:24 p.m., the President tweeted: Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth! Upon seeing the President's tweet, the mob inside the Capitol Building took up the chant, "Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!" 1/6: WILL BE WILD seamlessly braids together what actually did happen on January 6th with the terrifying and all too plausible alternate history of what might have happened. The story's pace will keep readers turning pages from the breathtaking first paragraph to the startling climax. Readers will long remember both how this book begins and how it ends.