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IU prof on anniversary of Jan. 6 riots: Anger from 2021 binds supporters to parties

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two years after the U.S. Capitol riots, the bitter taste remains on both sides of the political aisle.

The anger on the faces of the 2021 rioters is also fuel for politicians. 

Steven Webster, an assistant political science professor at Indiana University, said, “For politicians, anger is what sells. Anger binds their supporters to their party and it encourages them to vote. It encourages them to donate money. So, there are really strong incentives to appeal to the electorate’s anger.”

Dale Huttle and his nephew Matt from northern Indiana were in the District of Columbia for the “Stop the Steal” rally featuring President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.

The elder Huttle was captured on a police body-worn camera angrily striking an officer with a flag pole. A few minutes later, another picture shows him forcibly taking a baton from a cop. He was seen inside the Capitol holding with what investigators say is the cop’s baton.

Huttle told an investigator that he lost a firearm during the rioters’ scrum on the Capitol steps.

In video recovered by investigators, Huttle is heard saying, “Let’s go. Let’s go. Storm the front.”

Webster from IU said, “Political anger can actually cause Americans to socially polarize and so, we may not be on the verge of civil war, but what we do see is Americans are increasingly likely to avoid any kind of social gathering that is likely to be populated by supporters of the other party.”

On the one-year anniversary in 2022, I-Team 8 traveled to southern Indiana and spoke with Anna Morgan Lloyd. She was arrested and has since been convicted for entering the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. She told I-Team 8 during the 2022 interview that she regretted providing unintentional cover for people who had evil intentions.  

“I was there. I admit that I was wrong for being part of a crowd that provided cover unintentionally, provided cover for people that did want to do bad things,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd went to the Washington, D.C., with Dona Sue Bissey, who also was arrested and convicted for entering the Capitol. Bissey served 14 days in jail for involvement in the riots.

She told I-Team 8 she considered the jail sentence a service to her country.

Both women had not been active in politics before the 2021 riot, but their anger toward the system motived them to get involved.

The IU professor said, “We are not seeing people attacking the Capitol but we still see lots of political engagement. We see high turnouts in mid-term elections. We see people perceiving there to be high stakes in election outcomes, and people care about what is going on. So, I think anger is still present. It is just being channeled in different way than what we saw on January 6.”

The most recent conviction involving a Hoosier at the Jan. 6, 2021, riot was Mark Mazza of Shelbyville. He was sentenced to five years in prison for having a loaded firearm when he entered the Capitol.