This past week we recognized the first anniversary of a violent attack on our Capitol by a motivated mob of Trump supporters’ hell bent on stopping the certification of a presidential election by hanging Mike Pence and other lawmakers. By their own admission on videotape and in court, the insurrectionists claimed that they were sent to the Capitol by Donald J. Trump because they believed his claims, despite any credible evidence, that the November 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. However, I argue that it was never really about a stolen election.
In fact, there was ample evidence to the contrary that this had been a fair election, completely devoid of the level of fraud needed to overturn any electoral votes. Biden had won the popular vote by over 7 million legally cast ballots. Trump’s failure to produce evidence of fraud in dozens of courts didn’t matter. The testimonies of Republican election officials and the attorney general upholding the integrity of the election didn’t matter. Multiple audits confirming Trump’s loss didn’t matter. Even with Fox News being sued for defamation by voting machine companies and Trump lawyers losing their law licenses over filing baseless lawsuits hasn’t been enough to stop the narrative of a stolen election. These insurrectionists and their sympathizers have chosen to continue with the false narrative of a stolen election because it is too awful to admit that what they are actually reacting to is the threat of losing “their” country to white liberals, people of color, LGBTQ folks, feminists, non-Christians, and in particular, Jews.
At times like this, I turn to history, human nature, and big picture thinking to understand a problem before trying to find a way forward. History and human nature tell me that we have been here before. White men in this country like Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rudy Giuliani, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Ron Johnson, and Rick Scott who are motivated by greed and power, have always been willing to limit democracy whether through legislation or violent intimidation. Our history tells us that the conservative white seat of power and wealth does not relinquish its hold on either without a legal fight or actual violence. And since the founding of this nation and even beyond the Civil War, we have been fighting to reach the ideal that all men are created equal as set forth in our Constitution. It’s been a bloody and very rocky road with conservative white males in power fighting against the progress of women and minorities each step of the way. And they have always used fearmongering and inflammatory rhetoric to stir up insecure “Christian” whites to do their violent dirty work.
The presidency of Barrack Obama was a sign to those old school conservative white Americans that they were in danger of losing their control and supremacy over what they considered “their” country. Donald Trump merely said out loud what was etched in the minds of too many insecure white people: that the opportunities, wealth, and control of this nation belongs to them and “those outsiders” were trying to steal “their” country away from them. The insecure and largely uneducated white masses who identified as conservative white Christians listened and then clothed themselves in an American flag, calling themselves patriots, as they deny the humanity, dignity, and Americanness of people of color, LGBTQ folks, feminists, and non-Christians. They seek to preserve a nation that was never great for citizens other than ambitious rich white men. And in truth, it was never really all that great for them either, but at least they weren’t outsiders. They are “real” Americans.
It is no coincidence that the Republican Party has successfully stacked the Supreme Court in their favor, failed twice to impeach Trump despite clear evidence of his guilt, and that some voted not to certify the 2020 election. We should all note with concern how Republicans have thwarted every effort to limit gun regulations while right-wing commentators and lawmakers elevate a person like Kyle Rittenhouse to hero status. They need their army ready and willing to perpetrate violence and according to a recent poll, they have succeeded. It is becoming clear that the attempt to overthrow the election was planned by a growing number of Republicans in the White House, in Congress, and in other places such as Fox News. I believe they intended to use the rally and the insurrection as their first blow. However, it didn’t succeed.
In fact, it had the opposite effect as millions of Americans, like me, watched the event in horror and laid the blame squarely at the feet of President Trump. Attempts by Republican congressmen and rightwing media to blame others or to downplay the event have largely failed except among those insecure white folks. The almost laughable narrative that the election was stolen and that there was no insurrection on January 6th is just the continuation of a cover for the Republican Party to continue to try to thwart democracy by suppressing voting rights in Republican held states.
Our democracy is in actual danger. The civil rights gained by people of color, feminists, LGBTQ people, and non-Christians are being threatened. And they are being threatened by wealthy and powerful conservative white men who are determined to hold onto their ill-gotten gains through legislation upheld by their stacked courts and by creating an army of scared white Christian terrorists whom they have convinced that “their” country and their value as white people is being stolen from them. Ironic, given that their ancestors brutally stole land, labor, and human lives to secure their position in the first place. But of course, they also want to erase that bit of U.S. history.
Given this reality, it should come as no surprise that no Republicans are in favor of the new voting rights legislation. They are aware that they can’t win on their policies and ideas of white Christian supremacy in a multicultural society, so they will keep as many of “them” from voting as possible or legally overturn results they don’t like. If these tactics fail, they will once again incite their misinformed, insecure, gun-toting white conservative Christians to violence. This is where we are.
At this point, it is up to the Department of Justice to prosecute the laws that are already on the books that make election tampering, fraud, dereliction of duty, and inciting an insurrection illegal. Section three of the Fourteen Amendment actually bars elected officials who engage in insurrection or give aid and comfort to insurrectionists from holding office or running for office. It is our responsibility to pressure the Attorney General do his job. It is also up to those who are being defamed by the lies used in service to these white male conservatives to file defamation lawsuits against them like Dominion did.
The 2022 mid-term elections have never been more important. Securing a larger majority in the House and Senate is the only way to ensure our democracy, the rule of law, and continued progress toward civil rights. If we are not careful, we will no longer have representation in our government and the laws governing this nation will once again become discriminatory and oppressive, favoring white Christian male heterosexuals with money and screwing the rest of us again.