January 6 – remember who is responsible
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the mob attack on the Capitol as the 2020 presidential electoral votes were being counted in the House of Representatives. Unlike the protestors who thronged the streets after Trump’s election in 2016, the insurrectionists are not written off with that generic term.
As you might remember, there were scores of protests across the country after the 2016 election. But the protesters were never called “Clinton supporters.” They were correctly called “protestors.” Reporters and analysts even helpfully pointed out that many of the protestors hadn’t bothered to vote in the election; they were just mad that Trump won.
Not so with the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021. No—those were all labeled “Trump supporters.” As though every person who cast their ballot for President Trump’s re-election put on a horned buffalo hat and packed up some bear spray to go riot at the Capitol. All 75 million of them.
Of course that’s not what happened. The insurrectionists of January 6 who used violence to break their way into the Capitol, which resulted in the injury of 138 law enforcement personnel and five people dead, do not represent the average Republican voter. But if you listen to the anniversary coverage, it sure sounded like anyone who cast their vote for the Republican candidate had a shoulder against the Capitol doors as well.
While the violent mob who forever changed America’s view of the peaceful transfer of executive power may not represent rank and file Republicans, former President Trump does continue to wield tremendous influence in the Republican Party. And this is a huge problem, both for the GOP and the country.
Months before the 2020 general election President Trump began priming the pump for a declaration of mass voter fraud in the case of an election loss through constant messaging about supposed weaknesses with absentee and mail ballots. It was clear that a lost election would be contested. And it was. But not in a way meant to reinforce trust in our elections.
President Trump never ordered an investigation into the election fraud he bombasted about endlessly and over which his legal team filed dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits. The Justice Department merely advised its field offices they were free to look into any irregularities that were brought to their attention—that is, to do their job in the first place. The Attorney General stated mildly three weeks after the election that no irregularities were found—although none were sought—and quietly resigned before Christmas. Any official who dared to declare that our elections were secure was immediately fired.
Meanwhile, the President’s staff and President Trump himself gave inappropriate attention and power to the Stop the Steal movement which led to the hodgepodge of white supremacists, anti-government activists, domestic terrorists, unapologetic thugs, and angry citizens who formed the mob who stopped a succession of 45 peaceful transfers of power in the world’s oldest democracy.
And while screaming Foul! and whipping up support from friendly community groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, President Trump raised money. A half billion dollars in the six weeks following the election for his “legal fight” that accomplished nothing.
An investigation would have brought about real answers to the questions the President was positing 24/7 on social media. To create that doubt without attempting in any way to seek the truth, but to instead overturn the result of an outcome he did not like, was at best corrupt and at worst evil.
I watched the speech at the Stop the Steal rally on January 6. I heard the President tell the rally, “We’re going to the Capitol!” I watched the mob break in. I followed the news coverage all day sick at heart because one man could not let go of his own ego in favor of America.
To this day, former President Trump remains true to himself and his lie. Election audits of the states he has contested show no change in outcome in his favor, even when the audits are ordered and conducted under Republican control. According to the most recent reports, Trump’s political action committees are raising $1 million a week, and spending millions in social media ads perpetuating the myth that the election was stolen.
That is a slap in the face to the 75 million Americans who voted for him.
Vladimir Putin probably uses the image of the Capitol being breached as his screen saver.
My best hope is that other power-hungry Republicans will tire of this after another year or so. Sure, Trump is polling around the same as President Biden right now—but Biden’s numbers are awful. There is space for new voices to emerge in the next year, and the GOP would be wise to foster and burnish them.
Democracy isn’t rioting when the election doesn’t go your way. And it isn’t rewriting election laws to suit the current political majority in your state. It isn’t gerrymandering. Democracy isn’t polarizing the nation into tribes who refuse to speak with each other, nor is it a legislative body that can’t pass the majority’s agenda after months on the docket.
We deserve better. And we can get better. All it takes is a trip to the voting booth. Which, despite millions of dollars’ worth of propaganda to the contrary, still works just fine.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appears regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican, she lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run two head of dog, and two of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com.