Experts: 'Downward spiral' tough to fix
Unity requires work and a change of habits, political analysts say.
The violent assault on the U.S. Capitol last week by supporters of President Donald Trump could spark a pivotal moment of reckoning over the nation’s bitter political divide, but it will take work by everyone to battle dangerous conspiracy theories and heal the divisions, according to local experts in politics and history.
“It’s going to take a collective effffffffffffort. Everyone needs to be thinking about their role: clergy, educators, parents, community leaders, etc.,” said Lee Hannah, associate professor of political science at Wright State University.
People needto leave their social media and news echo chambers, get to know others they might not agree with and intervene when loved ones fall into conspiratorial “wormholes,” Hannah said.
“Unfortunately, wehave anumber of charismatic charlatans who have realized that they can profifit from doubling down and tripling down on these conspir-
acy theories. So, we’re in a bit of a downward spiral right now,” he said.
Unity will be hard to achieve in the current “toxic brew” created by “social media, our gullibility, narrow-casting media outlets, or craven elites onbothsides who feed fear and anger,” saidMarkCalebSmith, director of CedarvilleUniversity’s Center for Political Studies.
“We see that violent and hateful rhetoric can have serious, even deadly, consequences,” said Christopher Devine, assistant professor of political science at the University of Dayton.
Role of conspiracy theories
The riot happened after Trump urged protesters to come to Washington on Wednesday when Congresswas counting the Electoral College votes declaring Democrat former Vice President Joe Biden andU.S. Sen. KamalaHarris the winners. They beat Trump and Vice PresidentMike Penceby more than 7million votes on Nov. 3 and in the Electoral College 306 to 232.
Since Election Day Trump andhis allieshave contended without proof that massive fraud and voting irregularities resulted in the election being stolenfromhim. Those claims, some involving elaborate international conspiracy theories, were found to be baseless across thenation in nearly 60 court cases, by state and local offifficials and the U.S. Justice Department.
“Americans are very inclined to believe conspiracies. It waxes and wanes over time,” said Paul Beck, professor emeritus of political science at the Ohio State University. “What’s difffffffffffferent todayis thatyouhave a series of conspiracies and conspiracy theories that are perpetratedby the president of the UnitedStates, whohasapowerfulmegaphone. There are a lot of people who believe what comes out of the president’s mouth.”
Trump spoke at a rally prior to the riot, urging protesters to march on the U. S. Capitol to protest “this egregious assault on our democracy.” As they reached the Capitol, thousands broke through barriers and clashed with police before breaking into the building, where they trashed offiffices, broke windows and furniture and stole things. Police killed a protester, one police offifficer died of injuries and three other people died in medical emergencies. Multiple police offifficers were injured.
Congress members were evacuated but later reconvened to affiffirm the Biden/ Harris win over the objectionsof 147 Republicanmembers of the Senate andHouse of Representatives.
The impact is playing out now, with calls for Trump’s impeachment, removalusing the 25thAmendment or resignationbefore Bidenis inaugurated on Jan. 20.
“This really opened up the divisions within the
GOP. The Republicans in the House are nearly even divided among those who have accepted the results and those that continue to parrot President Trump’s talkingpoints about the election,” Hannah said. “In the Senate, I will be curious to see if there are repercussions for Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in particular, who led this charge.”
Impact going forward
Key questions going forward for Republicans are how much of the broader Republican Party is alienatedbytheviolenceandwhat will be the role of Trump’s base, Beck said.
“He’s done things that are notworthyofapresidentand things that basically defifine him as a whiner and a sore loser,” Beck said. “I think there will be a number of people who voted for him who will say, ‘I can’t accept that.’ ”
Marc Clauson, a professor of history and lawat Cedarville University, said future historians will determine if the assault on the Capitol is a pivotal moment in the nation’s history.
He expects itwill shore up
divisions that already exist in the country and must be addressed.
“Maybe that’s the bigger turning point. We’re so polarized,” Clauson said. “It’s getting more radically polarized. But we’ll have to wait and see exactly how this particular event plays into it.”
Beck saidabout two-thirds of the 73 million peoplewho voted for Trump believe the electionwas stolenfromhim, despite the lack of evidence.
People need to begin to look at information more critically and do fact- checks using reputable sources rather than“looking at things through partisan lenses,” said Beck.
“There really is an effffffffffffect that is caused by politicians themselves who are in what wewouldthink are responsible positions, many of them members of the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. And many of them governors who are lending credence to these kinds of charges that are out there,” Beck said.
“One way to prevent it is to make sure that we don’t have political leaders who are fanning these flflames.”
The the attack draws
neededattentiontotheproblem of domestic terrorism, Beck said.
“We know they are out there. We know that there are these militiamovements that have been there a long time. Remember the Oklahoma City bombing,” Beck said. “We do indeed have domestic terrorists.”
What will be the international fallout?
Repercussions of the attack go beyond the U.S., said Jacque Kahindo, a history instructor at Wilberforce University. It might make the country lookweak to the international community at themoment, he said.
Even so, Kahindo said the U. S. continues to be one of the strongest countries in the world in terms of its democracy and military power. The damage to the nation’s reputation and international relationships will likely be repaired once Biden is sworn in, he said, and brings to bear his broad geopolitical experience and the respect of allies he has after his years as vice president.
The challenge for Biden will be to bring the country together, Kahindo said,
andmend the deep wounds before things get evenmore out of hand.
“(The country) is fragile, and we’re moving toward a very, very dangerous situation,” Kahindo said. “So if the Biden administration can move quickly in uniting the country and ( persuading people that) conflflict and violence don’t have a place, I’m thinking everything will be OK.”
While the Capitol breach is a symbol of democracy being attacked fromwithin, Kahindo believes the incident can help the country come together, heal and show the stability of American democracy.
“We canbe shaken, butwe can stick together, and we can succeed,” Kahindo said.
Will access to the Capitol change?
The breach will undoubtedly lead to changes in security at the Capitol, said Clauson.
That likelywill include an extra ring of security fencing that expands into the Capitol neighborhood, said Glen Duerr, an associate professor of international studies at Cedarville. Tours will probably resume, but the experience will not be the same, he said, particularly for schoolchildren.
“In a way it’s kind of sad, because you’d like to know that you could just have access to those famous buildings, but what do you do?” Clauson said.
Hannah said authorities need to assume that proTrump protesterswill come back for Biden’s inauguration and prepare a far more robust defense.
“I guess there are two major concerns now,” he said.“Howdoes lawenforcement go about securing the Capitol and holding the insurrectionists accountable and howdoes Congress respond?”