Mob at U.S. Capitol encouraged by online conspiracy theories

CHICAGO (AP) — Every video the Louisiana man posts on Twitter and Facebook starts with a big smile and a wish for his thousands of followers to have a blessed day.

But as he drove to the nation’s capital Tuesday morning, he grew loud and angry talking about the presidential election.

“You aren’t going to wake up and see?” Christian Suprean, 42, said in one of a dozen videos that together have drawn more than 30,000 views on Twitter in recent days. “I think we won everything. I think we won everything!”

Suprean is one of thousands of President Donald Trump’s fiercest supporters who, fueled by dozens of internet conspiracy theories about the November election, responded to online cries to join a “fight” on the president’s behalf Wednesday. In posts liked and shared thousands of times, far-right social media users openly hinted for weeks that chaos would erupt at the U.S. Capitol while Congress convened to certify the election results.

Despite those warnings that disgruntled crowds of Trump supporters were headed for Washington, a mob seized control of the Capitol and vandalized the building, sending members of Congress into hiding for several hours. Lawmakers from both parties have pledged to investigate law enforcement’s actions and questioned whether a lack of preparedness allowed the melee.

“It’s what brought them out to the streets yesterday — that’s how they found information about where to gather,” Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation expert at the nonpartisan Wilson Center in Washington, said of the social media posts. “Yesterday, the effect of disinformation, conspiracy theories and extremism was on display for the entire world to see.”

The president encouraged his Twitter and Facebook followers to attend Wednesday’s rally, at times using warlike imagery to urge supporters...