Donald Trump knew he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
He knew there was no widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome in key swing states.
But he lied to his followers and summoned an armed mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Despite these clear take-aways from Thursday afternoon’s public meeting by a House select committee investigating the violent assault, one question remained unanswered.
How many Americans care that a sitting president fought to stop the peaceful transfer of power and overturn the results of a free and fair election?
Many willfully ignore the evidence and continue to support Trump. They believe the big lie that the election was stolen. The big lie is now a mainstream platform of the Republican Party.
“A majority of Republican nominees on the ballot this November for the House, Senate and key statewide offices — 291 in all — have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election,” the Washington Post reported Oct. 6.
GOP candidates and elected officials who refuse to denounce the big lie encourage large numbers of Republican voters to buy into the nonsense. That’s why it feels that not only is democracy on the ballot in this year’s midterm election, but that truth itself hangs in the balance.
“The facts and testimony are clear, consistent and undisputed,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., committee chair.
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Republican politicians could tell their followers the truth, but they won’t because it would hurt them politically. They’re willing to sacrifice truth and democracy for political power.
“Why assume our institutions will not falter next time?” asked Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming. “What happens when the president disregards the rule of law? That, my fellow citizens, breaks our republic.”
Thursday’s session and the committee’s eight previous hearings have been extraordinary, historic and shocking. Yet Republicans repeatedly downplay their significance.
One of the bigger bombshells revealed Thursday was that the Secret Service knew full well the attack was coming but did nothing to alert U.S. Capitol Police an armed mob would assault them and seriously injure many law enforcement officers.
There is no way a political party that claims to stand for law and order can justify the attack on police officers.
“The big lie was premeditated,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California. “It was a plan concocted in advance.”
Thursday’s session included evidence and testimony that established Trump’s role in inciting the violence. This was not a ragtag group of random foot soldiers that gathered for a peaceful assembly.
Rather, they believed Trump directed them to come to Washington, D.C. for the explicit purpose of preventing Congress from certifying results of the 2020 election.
Why isn’t this a bigger news story?
By the time the committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Trump to testify, witness testimony and documented evidence had established that the Jan. 6 assault was the culmination of a multipart plan to keep Trump in power.
The plan involved fake electors from numerous states. The plan involved coercing key gatekeepers like Georgia’s secretary of state. The plan involved seizing voting machines.
The assault on our democracy continues. Republicans across the country are trying to win key offices in November that could prove significant if an attempt to reject the outcome of a presidential election is repeated in 2024.
Right-wing media would prefer you worry about crime, inflation and other concerns. Billionaire elites who want Republicans in power so they can get even richer from tax cuts want you to think the Jan. 6 committee’s work is a big nothing burger.
It’s up to every American to decide what to believe and whether to exercise their right to vote in the midterms.
I only hope the diligent work of the Jan. 6 committee has shown enough Americans that our democracy is in peril, and voting is the best way to show people are paying attention.
Ted Slowik is a columnist at the Daily Southtown.