By John Macgovern
Aunique, previously unimaginable event occurred just one year ago: a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol — not merely a building but the iconic, functioning symbol of our representative form of government — to prevent certification of electoral votes as stipulated in the Constitution.
This was not a justifiable political protest but a calculated assault on the traditional peaceful transfer of power in what has stood as the citadel of modern democracy. As an astonished world watched, a frenzied mob bludgeoned through fences, windows and doors. They hurled projectiles promiscuously, planted bombs, and beat not only the overwhelmed Capitol police officers but also the District of Columbia police with poles holding American flags.
The deadly riot succeeded in halting the congressional proceedings: members of both houses of Congress were hurried to secure locations; some hid in closets and bathroom stalls. Fortunately, however, the assailants fell short of their further purpose: That very evening, the session reconvened, the certified ballots were counted, and Joe Biden was confirmed as president of the United States. The hand of God was upon us.
What has been the response of the Republicans, my own party, the party of Lincoln, Grant and Eisenhower, to this outrage?
After an initial widespread condemnation, then a short silence followed, then an obsequious procession to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring of the self-anointed head of the party — despite their reputed private revulsion against what had happened.
And now, even after a year of damning revelations and the glorious behavior of members like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, more members of the Republican Party now profess belief that the 2020 election was “stolen” and that the sordid insurrection of Jan. 6 has been exaggerated, or secretly instigated by government agents, than had accepted the truth of what their eyes had witnessed when it happened. Can anything be more alarming to defenders of democracy than such cultishly willful resignation from evidence?
If the Republican Party is to survive, not as the extension of a dishonorable creature and those who would generate and exploit social unrest, how should its traditional adherents respond?
First, a declaration of what every responsible inquiry has ascertained: an unequivocal statement in the name of the party that the 2020 presidential election was a free and fair election and that Joe Biden won, legitimately and decisively. This must be done not merely to restore faith in our elections and faith and comity in our political fellowship, but to free the party from the Trumpian albatross and an impression of idiocy.
Republicans should pay attention to the fact that, in toto, Republican candidates won more votes than Mr. Trump. Trump, a loser, dragged the party down.
Second, Republicans must join the genuine effort to hold all participants in this seditious attack on democracy to account, not continue to obstruct it.
As a unified nation, we must treat this event with the seriousness it demands. Around the sad time of our national Civil War, Gen. Winfield Scott, a prominent American, offered a harsh judgment: “I have said that any man who attempted by force or unparliamentary disorder to obstruct or interfere with the lawful count of the electoral vote should be lashed to the muzzle of a 12-pounder gun and fired out of the window of the Capitol. I would manure the hills of Arlington with fragments of his body, were he a senator or a chief magistrate of my native state. It is my duty to suppress insurrection, my duty.”
Scott’s words, for all their severity, were appropriate to the moment. We must commit ourselves to our duty in no less dangerous a menace to our nation.
The necessary process to hold the perpetrators to account is well launched. The Department of Justice has made hundreds of arrests, and more will be coming. Steadily, a bipartisan committee of the House of Representatives methodically pursues its inquiry into the details, planning and execution of the events of Jan. 6. The elements involved have to be exposed and understood. Who initiated and who contributed to the planning? What intentions lay beyond disruption of certification of the electoral vote?
To be sure, the prosecution of the investigation must be judicious in making distinctions in levels of guilt. But those aiming to obstruct the proceedings were guilty of a serious crime. And those who — if there are any — planned to use the power of high office to obstruct the count and seize power, those would surely warrant extreme punishment.
If the Republican Party supports cynical evasions and cover-up, it will forever forfeit the trust of the American majority it should be courting.
We face many profound challenges as a nation, not in some distant future but immediately. To meet those challenges, we urgently need to come together as a people in an honest quest for solutions. The debates can be hard-fought, but ultimately based on mutual respect.
The Republican Party’s role in that process hangs in the balance. How it deals with the cancerous eruption of Jan. 6 may be the greatest test the GOP has faced in its history.
John MacGovern is chairman of the Windsor Republican town committee, finance chair of the Windsor County Republican Committee, and a member of the Vermont Republican State Committee. He was a four-term member of the Massachusetts Legislature and in 2012 ran against U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. He lives and works as a realtor in Windsor, Vt.
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