Threats, Lies and the Continuing Impact of January 6

Three years on, the insurrection continues to fuel shameless GOP extremists bent on taking power by any means necessary

Trump supporters near the U.S Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Photo by Shay Horse/NurPhoto via Getty Images).

In a sane world, we would have moved on. It would have been a near-unanimous recognition that a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol and an attempted coup to hold onto power despite losing the 2020 election would not be tolerated—not by opponents from the Democratic party, not from the large majority of Republicans, not from elected officials who have participated in the democratic process to achieve their positions, not by nearly every American capable of grasping that the peaceful transfer of power is a sacred, centuries-old tradition that has helped make America a special place.

But that is far from the reality in our deeply polarized body politic in which a broken, anti-democratic minority has succumbed to the dark purposes of a malignant cult leader bent on lies, retribution and impunity from criminality to hold onto power. A tyrannizing minority, that is, that has allowed itself to absorb and believe—or cynically pretend to believe—the constant lies and disinformation fed to them by their cult leader and the right-wing media apparatus.

Three years after January 6, 2021, and Donald Trump is still pushing the same damned lie. Three years after the violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol, Trump and his enablers continue to lie that Joe Biden stole the election that he really won and stand by while the death threats mount against public servants and other defenders of democracy and justice. Three years on, the climate of violence has continued to spread and continues to be accepted as a legitimate political act.

It’s as if the coup attempt has never ended, its lead inciter remains determined to prove the rule of law does not apply to him, and the only thing that matters is power itself—perversely made that much more pleasurable if the hated libs and their beloved systems of justice and democracy are the ones taking the blows. “United” States of America? Not their goal. Not if they get their way. January 6 was just a rehearsal for the destructive true believers bent on ending the American democratic experiment.

Consider this sampling of the political landscape from just this week:

On Wednesday, there were more than a dozen bomb threats against state capitols, necessitating evacuations and disrupting court proceedings. The FBI determined the emailed threats were not credible, but the news barely registered for a public increasingly accustomed to such attempts to sow chaos and fear.

To no one’s surprise, The New York Times reported yesterday that the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president—you know, the twice-impeached one facing 91 felony charges and pledging to serve like a dictator—has already racked up nearly 100 endorsements from House members (many of whom voted against certifying the 2020 election) and is relying on his usual mafia-style intimidation tactics to get more.

Note his attitude toward one high-profile holdout, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. “Ted—he shouldn’t even exist,” Trump reportedly said. “I could’ve destroyed him. I kind of did destroy him in 2016, if you think about it. But then I let him live.” Just the mentality to weaken any lingering principle among GOP Senators who Mitt Romney acknowledged refused to convict Trump for his role in January 6 because they feared for their own and their family’s safety from Trump’s violent followers.

On New Year’s Day, Trump spewed the lie that January 6 committee co-chair Liz Cheney deleted and destroyed evidence in an “ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE”—documents that would have proved that he ordered 10,000 National Guard troops and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused the offer. Never mind that he has no proof, just repeat the lie over and over in an attempt to claim this undermines his lawyers’ ability to mount his defense in the upcoming trial.

Speaking of Trump lawyers, on Tuesday they filed a legal brief in his appeal claiming “absolute” presidential immunity, in which they continued to insist there are “vigorous disputes and questions about the actual outcome of the 2020 election.” Among their sources is a report purporting to summarize election fraud and loaded with demonstrably false assertions. That report—from an unnamed source, the Washington Post notes—starts like this: “It has often been repeated there is ‘no evidence’ of fraud in the 2020 Election. In actuality, there is no evidence Joe Biden won.”

Such shamelessness is not limited to Trump lawyers, of course. Three years on, insurrectionist House members like Matt Gaetz tells Steve Bannon on his podcast, “We’re ashamed of nothing.” Regarding this absence of shame or fear of accountability, Gaetz’ Georgia pal, Marjorie Taylor Greene, said last year in a speech to New York Young Republicans, “If Steve Bannon and I had organized [January 6], we would have won. Not to mention, it would’ve been armed.” Missouri’s fist-pumping insurrectionist Josh Hawley offered more of the same last year: “I don’t regret anything I did on that day.”

Is it any wonder, as we arrive at the third anniversary of that heinous day in the nation’s history tomorrow, that 34 percent of Republicans say that FBI operatives “organized and encouraged” the insurrection on January 6—a frequent talking point on right-wing media that federal law enforcement has energetically denied? Or that 11 percent of Americans, according to a just-released Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, insist there is “strong evidence” of the FBI’s catalytic role in the attack? Or that, in October, 23 percent of Americans agreed that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country”—an increase from 15 percent in 2021?

Later today President Biden is scheduled to lean into the dangers facing America from the anti-democratic Trumpist Republicans and their unhinged, dictatorial leader marching toward the GOP nomination. He foreshadowed that speech with a new ad released yesterday. His words are a reminder of both what’s at stake and what our responsibilities continue to be. I hope he turns up the heat and names names in the days ahead

I’ve made the preservation of democracy the central issue of my presidency. I believe in free and fair elections—and the right to vote fairly and have your vote counted.

There’s something dangerous happening in America. There’s an extremist movement that does not share our basic beliefs in democracy. All of us are being asked right now: ‘What will we do to maintain our democracy?’

To date, some 1,240 people have been arrested in connection with the January 6 attack. About 170 have been convicted and about 710 have pleaded guilty. More than 450 have faced jail time. The New York Times estimates that the 1,240 arrests may only be half of the total indictments that will eventually be filed.

As propaganda continues to be spread minimizing the gravity and violence of that day, let’s not forget what most of us saw on our television screens. As I summarized on the first anniversary of that terrible day:

The smashing of windows. The head blows and bone-crunching with flagpoles, baseball bats, crutches, metal pipes, skateboards and a fire extinguisher. The punching and trampling. The use of lasers, stun guns and toxic sprays. The presence of a makeshift gallows, the invasion of the Senate chambers, the chanting to hang Mike Pence, the waving of Confederate flags. Later we learned of the lacerations and concussions, the fractures and burns, the heart attack and the deaths, including several suicides. Later we learned that 140 police officers were injured and at least five people died.

This is the American carnage that Donald Trump incited in order to hold onto power. Let’s not forget it. Let’s not lose our hope that this malignant man will be held accountable for his role before the 2024 election. And let’s do everything we can this year to ensure that Donald Trump’s America—an ugly and failed vision—becomes a thing of the past.

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