Trump promised supporters a ‘wild’ day, and he delivered

Tense officers pointing guns, lawmakers with gas masks, camouflaged protesters smashing windows -- this was the day that President Donald Trump's bid to overturn the US election went "wild." 

Inside the great domed US Capitol building, images emerged of a scene resembling something from a coup d'etat or terrorist attack.

A mob, waving Trump's blue flags and wearing his red campaign hats, stormed through, making it right into the debating chamber. And the rioters quickly accomplished their main goal: halting the ceremony that had just got underway to certify Democrat Joe Biden's election win over Trump back in November.

Some rioters even occupied the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sitting mockingly at a desk. Others posed for pictures, like conquering troops, in the Senate chamber.

Trump had promised his supporters that Wednesday would be a "wild" day for the nation's capital. And it was.

After several hours of mayhem, Trump issued a short video on Twitter calling on people to "go home." But there was no indication of regret, much less condemnation of the violence.

Ever since November, Trump has been trying to get the election overturned. 

Initially he tried in court, going all the way to the Supreme Court with lurid, often half-baked claims of mass election fraud. Every time, judges threw his cases out for lack of supporting evidence.

Trump then tried to get local election officials to "find" him extra votes, as he put it in a phone call with one in Georgia. Finally, Trump unsuccessfully tried to threaten his vice president, Mike Pence, openly telling him somehow to blow up Wednesday's formal ceremony.

Yet Trump's supporters were up to the job. They got a final pep talk from their leader earlier Wednesday, when Trump encouraged thousands of people on the National Mall to march on Congress.

After 4 hours, the mob was cleared, but the menace lingered. Spotting a cordoned off pen holding journalists trying to cover the scenes outside Congress, a group of about 45 aggressive Trump supporters rushed in, knocking cameras to the ground and yelling "traitors."  "We're the news now," one of them chanted.