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When I turned on the news January 6, 2021, I was horrified by what I saw. Domestic terrorists, ironically carrying American flags and calling themselves “patriots,” were storming the United States Capitol. The actions of these insurrectionists, who were radicalized by the lies of former Narcissist-in-Chief Donald J. Trump, led to the deaths of five individuals, including U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.
The tragedy of this event will go down in our history as one of America’s darkest days. The very symbol of democratic self-governance, freedom, and hope for so many throughout the world, desecrated by homegrown terrorists. Emboldened by President Trump’s doubt-sowing over the legitimate electoral process, many of these individuals truly believed they were defending democracy. Ashli Babbitt, the woman shot and killed by capitol police after attempting to breach a barricaded door, likely believed she was defending democracy and the right to a free and fair election. These people were wrong.
Who is to blame? The answer cannot be boiled down to a simple, singular factor. Many factors contributed to what happened on January 6. Those who stormed the capitol absolutely bear responsibility for their actions and deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But we have to ask ourselves, how did this happen? How did these people become convinced that the electoral system in America was so broken that it warranted storming the People’s House with firearms and zip ties?
The undeniable reality is that President Trump caused this insurrection. No, he did not explicitly tell his supporters to storm the capitol, to vandalize it, or to steal its possessions. Nor do I believe that his words could be classified under the legal definition of incitement. However, a President is supposed to lead. President Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election and his relentless campaign to undermine its validity was an overwhelming failure of leadership. It was a failure of character too, but it does not seem Trump ever had much of that to begin with.
His campaign against the election’s reliability began way before November 3, 2020. Knowing there would be unprecedented numbers of mail-in ballots as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump on numerous occasions publicly questioned and devalued their legitimacy. In the September 29, 2020 debate against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump said of the upcoming election, “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen.” Trump would be within his right to make these claims if there was any merit to them.
The problem is, there isn’t. There has been no substantial evidence provided of widespread voter fraud that would overturn the results of the election. Trump, likely worried by his prospects of winning back the presidency, sought to create confusion about the validity of the results in order to make a pathetic attempt of holding onto the powers of the Oval Office.
Trump’s aims were indescribably selfish and in vain. Nevertheless, he succeeded in part of what he wanted to accomplish. It does not matter that there is no evidence. It does not matter that the Trump campaign filed over 60 lawsuits relating to their voter fraud claims and had 61 out of 62 thrown out (including those brought before Trump-appointed federal judges). Trump was able to convince a large swath of the country that the electoral process was rigged against him and that the election was stolen. According to a November 2020 NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey, as much as 40% of Americans and 25% of Republicans don’t trust the results of the 2020 presidential election. Those numbers are staggering. Those numbers are dangerous. They are a threat to the stability of our Democratic-Republic.
Further, while Trump is the main culprit behind the election conspiracies, the other “conservatives” who supported his efforts also bear responsibility for the degradation of the capitol on January 6, namely Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, among others. Their actions could be described as anything but conservative. Their role as senators and representatives in the certification process is simply that: to certify the electoral votes sent in by the states. They are to be opened, read, and counted. The attempt by any member of the federal government to override states’ certified electoral college results is antithetical to the principle of federalism and a rebuke to the institutions and norms these same conservatives claim to cherish. Perhaps the congressmen and congresswomen were not thinking of their conservative values whenever they took upon this endeavor to override the election results. Perhaps they sought some short-term political gain among Trump’s ever loyal supporters or an attempt to gain attention and legitimacy for future presidential runs. Sacrificing the stability of the republic and its norms for either of these reasons will forever paint these individuals as profiles in cowardice.
Before this article is dismissed as yet another college-aged liberal whining about the president everyone loves to hate, it is important to know that I am not a Democrat. I am a conservative (a registered Republican, no less) and seeing the events of the last four years under the disastrous Trump presidency, particularly in the months following the election, have greatly grieved me. Seeing President Trump degrade the office of the presidency, make the United States a laughingstock on the world stage, and replace regard for America’s institutions and values with the safeguarding of his own ego has been a tragedy I wish I did not have to witness. Seeing self-proclaimed conservative lawmakers try to undermine the process of the electoral college to appease the self-conceit of such a president has been an embarrassment for the party I claim as my own. I am a Republican, and an essential skill for any political party is to know when elements of itself are cancerous and how to remove such deadly elements.
Trump and Trumpism is a cancer. A cancer to conservatism, the Republican Party, and to the United States of America. The negative consequences of his actions as President have fractured this republic in ways I don’t believe can be completely healed for generations. That is what happens when you put an egomaniac reality star in the most powerful position in the world. I hope we have learned our lesson.
Ben Franklin once famously said that we have “…a Republic, if you can keep it.” I pray that with the volatile political time we find ourselves in, we are still able to keep this great republic.
Madelin Shelton is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2022. She is studying political science and philosophy at the University of Louisville.