The Jan. 6 Insurrection Three Years Later
No event during my lifetime more shattered my faith in the willingness of my fellow Americans to understand and respect the principles upon which our nation was founded
I came across a Substack post this morning by Steven Beschloss titled “How Has the Jan. 6 Attack Affected You?” I don’t think a day has gone by since Jan. 6, 2021, that I haven’t thought about what happened that day and what it said about the state of our country and, more specifically, our people.
Like millions of others, I was horrified by what I saw take place, something that, before Donald Trump’s presidency, I never imagined was possible in a country that, despite our intense political differences, had always respected without question the sanctity of our elections and the peaceful transfer of power.
But was I surprised by the events of that day? Not totally. Because, as Beschloss’ piece states so vividly, Donald Trump had told us all who he was in the years leading up to that fateful day, and yet millions of Americans chose to support him, and believe his every lie, nonetheless. And millions of others chose to remain silent in the face of those lies and threats to our democracy.
Beschloss:
Long before the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump told us who he is. Rewind to 1989 when he called for the execution of the Central Park Five in a full-page ad in The New York Times, then said nothing when it was found that the five Black and Latino men had been wrongly convicted. Remember that he started his campaign in 2015 by descending a golden escalator and calling Mexicans criminals and rapists. Never forget that he stood on a Helsinki stage with Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2018 and sided with him over his own country’s intelligence community about Russian interference in the U.S. elections. It was hard to be surprised that this man—this criminal, anti-democratic malignancy—would incite an angry horde of Americans to attack the Capitol in order to illegally hold onto power after losing the 2020 election.
And I can’t say I’m surprised at all that Trump and his movement have remained a potent political force in the three years since, entering 2024 with a real chance to recapture the White House through the votes of the American people, not the violent force that we saw on display on Jan. 6, 2021. If Americans chose to turn a blind eye to all of the assaults on truth, decency and democracy that preceded that day, why should we be surprised that they have continued to do so in the three years since?
More than anything, Jan. 6 shattered by my faith in my fellow Americans, not just those who supported and voted for such a corrupt demagogue who made clear for years who he was; but those who have sat by silently in the three years since and said and done nothing to try to save our democracy, in many cases more concerned about the fate of their favorite sports team than the very foundation of our nation, more concerned with their social status and being liked by as many people as possible, even those who strive to destroy the very foundation of our country.
I am hopeful that there are enough of us who will do what is necessary to save our democracy in 2024 and beyond, but really, it shouldn't even be a close call, and the fact that it is even a question is a stain not only on those misguided enough to follow the lies and propaganda of this fascist demagogue, but those who know better and still say and do nothing.
That’s probably the hardest pill for me to swallow in all of this. My training and experience as a journalist, and the education I was fortunate enough to receive, taught me to be open-minded and respectful of differing political beliefs and ideologies. And they taught me to realize that no political movement holds a monopoly on the truth and righteousness, that they and we all are flawed and prone to missteps and mistakes along the path of life, and the complex political and social challenges we face are more often colored in shades of gray than black and white. Hopefully, we all learn from our mistakes, learn to see problems from different perspectives, and become better, more kind and just people in the process.
But that’s not what the MAGA and Trump political movement have ever been about. They’ve been about doing whatever they deem necessary, even overthrowing democracy itself, to seize and hold onto power for power’s sake, because they’ve been blinded by their own hate-filled grievances and warped views of reality. They don’t believe in respecting differing viewpoints, or respecting facts that lead to different outcomes and conclusions than they want; they only care about demonizing their opponents, dehumanizing them regardless of the harm it causes, and even stripping them of their basic rights if that’s what it takes to seize power.
And the fact is millions of my fellow citizens just don’t care. They didn’t care in the years leading up to Jan. 6; they didn’t care on Jan. 6 itself; and they don’t care today.
I only pray that there are enough of us who do care in 2024 to save our country and extinguish Trump and his movement once and for all. But even if we succeed, I don’t know that I will ever get over the fact that we even had to fight this battle in the year 2024 in the first place; the realization that so many of my fellow Americans simply don’t understand or appreciate the immense sacrifices past generations made to provide us the freedoms and rights that so many of us now take for granted, and so many others are willing to destroy for their own perverted purposes.
My feelings, exactly, Craig. So apparently, Elise Stefanik was interviewed recently and asked if she would accept the 2024 results. Here’s what she said:https://x.com/nbcnews/status/1744026232801403077?s=46&t=EOOumJOPwoxhVWOAXAd1Bw