My Reflections One Year After Being in Washington

I went up to Washington last January 6th, not as a participant, but as a journalist to interview people about what was going on. I came away with many different impressions, but one of the impressions I certainly had was that I was almost glad that it had occurred after hearing so many angry Trump supporters that day. I truly believe that if the Capitol riot had not happened and Trump had not at least had a little bit of a slap on the wrist, the violence in the subsequent weeks may have been something we can’t even begin to comprehend.

It seems like for a little while the forces of democracy would prevail. There was some fairly strong condemnation by many Republicans. And the majority, even those like Lindsey Graham, agreed to certify the election that night after the events occurred. Of course, some of that optimism was short-lived as only a handful of Republican House members actually voted to impeach Trump and only a few senators voted to convict him. Those who voted no used the excuse that he was no longer president, and so it was not “Constitutional.” That is what Mitch McConnell did-using some type of loophole to get out of upholding the broader idea of having a constitutional republic.

Since then, Trump has still remained the star of the Republican Party, and if the election were held today, he would without a doubt win the primary. What I am frustrated with is the fact that the people like Trump have not been held liable yet by the Department of Justice. I know there’s an ongoing January 6th committee. But really, how much evidence do we need? We are arresting people that walked into the Capitol Building and defaced public property as we should. But those who were actually responsible for inciting the whole thing have gotten off scot-free. What a mockery it is to the system of justice and democracy. Trump should be in prison right now for seeking to undermine the very tenets of democracy. Yes, there’s always some loophole where he can not be held responsible, but the fact remains that he first sought to destroy our republic in a nonviolent, but still horrific way by getting legislators to refuse to certify the election based on false claims of voter fraud. That in and of itself should not have only led to his impeachment but should have led to charges of sedition.

However, it seems that simultaneously, Trump was encouraging people to threaten legislators into not voting to certify the election. Did Trump actually call for them to break into the White House? Maybe he didn’t use those words, but by encouraging them to go down to the Capitol knowing the anger and violence that was surrounding the movement to pressure leaders not to ratify a legal election, he is responsible and guilty of sedition. I’m afraid if we don’t do something and actually hold people like Trump accountable, our democracy is coming to an end. It could be that Trump comes back in 2024 and causes the end of our Republic whether he wins or loses. Or perhaps, Trump himself does not run again but some leader in the same vein who realizes that they can get away with it tries to pull something similar. There need to be consequences for what has occurred. Because there have been no consequences, I’m afraid our republic is at the breaking point. We barely survived January 6, 2020, but we might not survive January 2024 unless we wake up right now.