Recent revelations reinforce the need for a congressional investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. They also unveil then-President Donald Trump’s deep-seated desire to destroy American democracy.
Trump’s actions since the 2020 presidential election represent an existential threat to the United States. Although he has been out of office for more than year, after suffering a decisive defeat against Joe Biden, details about Trump’s work continue to reveal a man who not only is unfit for office but has actively undermined our nation.
Six weeks after the election, the New York Times recently reported, Trump sought to develop a plan for seizing voting machines in battleground states. He pursued proposals involving the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, and advisers drafted executive orders designed to legitimize the effort. Trump also tried to get lawmakers in Michigan and Pennsylvania to impound voting machines.
William Barr, U.S. attorney general at the time, quickly rejected the plan. So did officials at the state level. They served as a thin line between democracy and a coup.
The prospect of using the military to influence an election is horrifying. The idea is that of a despot, one willing to destroy a nation’s standing as a beacon of democracy because he could not face the reality of being rejected by American voters.
Since even before the election, Trump has pushed an unfounded narrative of widespread voter fraud. No widespread fraud has been uncovered; in the weeks following the election, Barr said, “We have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.”
Some 60 lawsuits were filed on behalf of the Trump campaign alleging voter fraud, and none were upheld by the courts — even though dozens were heard by Trump-appointed judges.
Yet Trump’s psychotic and quixotic quest endures. He now says that if he becomes president again, he will consider pardoning those accused of crimes in connection with the 2021 insurrection.
That insurrection marks the nadir of Trump’s presidency. Yet the Republican National Committee recently claimed that a House investigative committee is leading “a persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
That is an offensive crawl into the gutter of Trumpian politics. The attack on the Capitol, which injured 140 police officers in an attempt to overturn election results, was not legitimate; more than 700 people have been arrested, and more than 70 have been sentenced thus far. Nor does it qualify as discourse, with protesters storming the Senate chamber and breaking into congressional offices.
All of this highlights the necessity of the committee investigating the events of Jan. 6. Trump told supporters at a rally, “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Shortly thereafter, the Capitol was attacked, sending members of Congress fleeing for safety, and Trump watched on TV while refusing to quell the violence.
Immediately after that attack, many Republicans in Congress decried the event and blamed Trump. Since then, most have backtracked, capitulating to the anti-democratic wing of their party while embracing the authoritarian ethos of a tyrant.
The scenario has brought the United States perilously close to a coup, unleashing threats that continue 13 months after the riot. A truthful and comprehensive record of those events is essential for the continuation of American democracy — lest we be doomed to repeat them.
