Is this Democracy’s Death Spiral?

Voting While We Can

It’s a strange time to be an American. Politics has never been an easy conversation to have in this country. But ever since the 2016 election, it’s an issue that evokes such hostility it’s a wonder that we can all live in this same country together.

By the time I graduated high school, there had never been an election so serious that our teachers had to take sides. But a year and a half after the events of January 6th, I’m still coming to terms with what happened. I’m still coming to terms with the fact that the elected President of our country incited a mob and then instructed it to march on the Capitol Building.

If it had ended there, it would have already been one of the darkest moments in our country’s democracy. But the details that have emerged in the past few weeks reveal that it was far worse and even more harrowing than many had feared.

According to testimony, Trump had been fully aware that his audience had violent intentions. When Trump learned that his audience was armed and many wouldn’t be able to pass the metal detectors at his speech, he simply asked that the detectors be removed. “Take the F-ing [magnetometers away,” he reportedly said. When members of his staff objected, Trump casually explained that, “They’re not there to hurt me.”

The President of the United States instructed a mob of people that he knew to be armed to march on the Capitol. Once there, they broke into the building, photographed confidential government documents, stole computers, attacked policemen and threw smoke bombs. They searched for Nancy Pelosi and they erected gallows. They chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”

As Pence was evacuated, members of the Secret Service were unsure whether or not the smoke from the rioter’s smoke bombs could be poison gas. Some of them called their loved ones, fearing they wouldn’t survive the day. Shortly after Trump gave his January 6th speech, his Secret Servicemen attempted to escort him back to the White House.

According to testimony, Trump attempted to attack one of the Secret Servicemen. He apparently made a lunge for his throat before attempting to commandeer the vehicle. He wanted to march with his supporters on the Capitol Building, where congress was meeting to formally declare Biden the winner of the election.

When he arrived back at the White House, he was informed immediately of the riot he’d fomented. He then retreated to the White House dining room. Testimonies detail a steadfast and perplexing refusal to address any of the violence he’d inspired. For hours this riot went on without more than a couple of tweets from the president. When he did tweet, he called Mike Pence a traitor. Video footage shows the mob’s furious and immediate response to that tweet.

Trump is objectively responsible for what happened. It’s a subject unworthy of debate. And yet… I know people who could state plainly that “Trump did nothing wrong.” We were minutes and inches away from becoming a country where elected leaders are executed by extremists, and yet, it’s nearly half of the citizens in this country who would vote to relive all of this, given the opportunity.

Some of the leaders of militias have spoke candidly, if secretly, about what they were planning to do. Before the election had even occurred, chief strategist Steve Bannon explained that Trump’s plan was simply to declare victory regardless of whether he won the election. He explained that it would be chaos if Biden rightly won the election. Just as broken clocks are right twice a day, Bannon was correct. He knew full well the violence that was likely to occur if Trump lost the election and spoke about it frankly.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the insurrection is the colossal coverup that has occurred in its wake. Initially after the riot had taken place, some of Trump’s staunchest supporters denounced what he’d done. Mitch McConnell explained that Trump was “Morally and practically responsible for the events of that day,” and yet, within a matter of only months, conceded that he’d be willing to vote for Trump again.

Our Senate Minority Leader can admit that our former President fomented a violent insurrection. He can admit that it was an attack against our very democracy. But he simply doesn’t value democracy enough to vote against him. It’s an odd disconnect.

It’s not an overstatement to say that today’s Republican Party doesn’t believe in democracy. Since Biden’s victory, they’ve passed hundreds of laws across the country that reflect their distaste for it. It’s now the case that, in many states, Republican legislatures can pick their own leaders if they are unhappy with the results of elections.

The 2020 election saw similar, more rudimentary attempts to throw out the democratic results of their state’s election. In multiple cases, Trump loyalists simply pretended to be their state’s rightful electors in an attempt to falsely declare Trump a winner of the election. But these plans have only grown more well-established in the years since.

Democracy is in a death spiral. Our next two elections will decide whether or not our very system of government can continue. Our votes are more important than ever; we’re voting for a future in which voting still matters.

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