For the last two weeks, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack has held televised committee meetings to show America the events that led up to the capitol riot. Their staff of 45 interviewed 1,000 witnesses and reviewed 140,000 documents to determine whether the president of the United States was trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
The committee laid out a compelling case. President Donald Trump ran a campaign to deceive voters into thinking he had actually won the election, though footage revealed that he and his staff knew he had lost. Attorney General William Barr told him repeatedly that there was no evidence of voter fraud, yet Trump used the falsehood to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. When court appeals failed to overturn the election, Trump encouraged a mob to forcibly stop certification of the electoral college vote. Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards described the ensuing assault as “a war scene.” Gladys Sicknick watched footage of the riot that resulted in the death of her son, capitol police officer Brian Sicknick. When Vice President Mike Pence didn’t go along with the plan, rioters began chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” to which President Trump commented, “Maybe they have the right idea.”
Normally, party politics do not affect America’s standing in the world. How much income a society redistributes through taxation or whether more services are provided by the government or by the free-market is generally a matter of choice. However, since 2016, Donald Trump has rotated party politics 90º so that it lies along the path of societal progression—and tragically, he is trying to push our country backward. Authoritarianism runs counter to progress—it is a more primitive form of government and if it continues, it will ultimately cost America its leadership position. America needs to recognize this and correct it—and not just elected officials but the people as well.
Some say showing these hearings on television was meant to influence mid-term elections; if that were the case, the committee should have waited three months. It is more likely to ensure that history has a clear understanding of an attempt to usurp power. While charges against the former president are unlikely, at least the record will be straight for future generations.
Source:
Michael Gerson, “History Will Accept Only One Jan. 6 Narrative—the Panel’s,” Washington Post, 12 June 2022, A21 (editorial).
Luke Broadwater, “The Hearings Put Trump at the Center of the Plot that Resulted in the Capitol Riot,” New York Times, 13 January 2022, accessed from https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/09/us/jan-6-hearings
Mary Clare Jalonick, “Jan. 6 Hearings: What We’ve Learned, and What’s Next,” Associated Press, accessed from https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-ivanka-trump-donald-presidential-elections-5b2e01152621b4dccf7f877db46bd15b
Photo: Applewhite, AP
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