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      Did the Capitol Attack Break Trump’s Spell?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyOpinionSupported byContinue reading the main storyDid the Capitol Attack Break the President’s Spell?Either the beginning of the end for Trump, or America.Opinion ColumnistJan. 7, 2021A scarf discarded at the Capitol after the mob incursion on Wednesday.Credit…Jason Andrew for The New York TimesIt was probably always going to come to this. Donald Trump has been telling us for years that he would not accept an electoral defeat. He has cheered violence and threatened insurrection. On Tuesday he tweeted that Democrats and Republicans who weren’t cooperating in his coup attempt should look “at the thousands of people pouring into D.C. They won’t stand for a landslide election victory to be stolen.” He urged his supporters to mass on the capital, tweeting, “Be there, will be wild!” They took him seriously and literally.The day after Georgia elected its first Black senator — the pastor, no less, of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church — and its first Jewish senator, an insurgent marched through the halls of Congress with a Confederate banner. Someone set up a noose outside. Someone brought zip-tie handcuffs. Lest there be any doubt about their intentions, a few of the marauders wore T-shirts that said “MAGA Civil War, Jan. 6, 2021.”If you saw Wednesday’s scenes in any other country — vandals scaling walls and breaking windows, parading around the legislature with enemy flags and making themselves at home in quickly abandoned governmental offices — it would be obvious enough that some sort of putsch was underway.Yet we won’t know for some time what the attack on the Capitol means for this country. Either it marked the beginning of the end of Trumpism, or another stage in the unraveling of American liberal democracy.There is at least some cause for a curdled sort of optimism. More than any other episode of Trump’s political career — more than the “Access Hollywood” tape or Charlottesville — the day’s desecration and mayhem threw the president’s malignancy into high relief. For years, many of us have waited for the “Have you no sense of decency?” moment when Trump’s demagogic powers would deflate like those of Senator Joseph McCarthy before him. The storming of Congress by a human 8chan thread in thrall to Trump’s delusions may have been it.Since it happened, there have been once-unthinkable repudiations of the president. The National Association of Manufacturers, a major business group, called on Vice President Mike Pence to consider invoking the 25th Amendment. Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr, who’d been one of Trump’s most craven defenders, accused the president of betraying his office by “orchestrating a mob.”Several administration officials resigned, including Trump’s former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who’d been serving as special envoy to Northern Ireland. In an interview with CNBC, Mulvaney was astonishingly self-pitying, complaining that people who “spent time away from our families, put our careers on the line to go work for Donald Trump,” will now forever be remembered for serving “the guy who tried to overtake the government.”Mulvaney’s insistence that the president is “not the same as he was eight months ago” is transparent nonsense. But his weaselly effort to distance himself is still heartening, a sign that some Republicans suddenly realize that association with Trump has stained them. When the rats start jumping, you know the ship is sinking.So Trump’s authority is ebbing before our eyes. Having helped deliver the Senate to Democrats, he’s no longer much use to Republicans like Mitch McConnell. With two weeks left in the president’s term, social media has invoked its own version of the 25th Amendment. Twitter, after years of having let Trump spread conspiracy theories and incite brutality on its platform, suddenly had enough: It deleted three of his tweets, locked his account and threatened “permanent suspension.” Facebook and Instagram blocked the president for at least the remainder of his term. He may still be able to launch a nuclear strike in the next two weeks, but he can’t post.Yet the forces Trump has unleashed can’t simply be stuffed back in the bottle. Most of the Republican House caucus still voted to challenge the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election. And the MAGA movement’s terrorist fringe may be emboldened by Wednesday’s incursion into the heart of American government.“The extremist violent faction views today as a huge win,” Elizabeth Neumann, a former Trump counterterrorism official who has accused the president of encouraging white nationalists, told me on Wednesday. She pointed out that “The Turner Diaries,” the seminal white nationalist novel, features a mortar attack on the Capitol. “This is like a right-wing extremist fantasy that has been fulfilled,” she said.Neumann believes that if Trump immediately left office — either via impeachment, the 25th Amendment or resignation — it would temporarily inflame right-wing extremists, but ultimately marginalize them. “Having such a unified, bipartisan approach, that he is dangerous, that he has to be removed,” would, she said, send “such a strong message to the country that I hope that it wakes up a number of people of good will that have just been deceived.”In a Twitter thread on Thursday, Kathleen Belew, a scholar of the white power movement, wrote about how, in “The Turner Diaries,” the point of the assault on Congress wasn’t causing mass casualties. It was “showing people that even the Capitol can be attacked.”Trump’s mob has now demonstrated to the world that the institutions of American democracy are softer targets than most of us imagined. What happens to Trump next will tell us all whether this ailing country still has the will to protect them.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Reflects on the U.S. Capitol Riot

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyOpinionSupported byContinue reading the main storyKirsten Gillibrand: ‘Yes, We Are Safe,’ I Texted From the CapitolMy fellow lawmakers and I just wanted to do our jobs and certify a free and fair election.Ms. Gillibrand is a Democratic senator from New York.Jan. 7, 2021, 4:59 p.m. ETPeople in the Capitol ran for cover on Wednesday as protestors entered the building.Credit…Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesOn Wednesday afternoon, I gathered with members of both chambers of Congress inside the Capitol to certify the electoral votes, a ceremonial and routine step in our nation’s process for a peaceful transition of power. As we sat in the Senate chamber listening to our colleagues, the Senate staff started to get up and move very quickly across the chamber. Vice President Mike Pence was abruptly removed from the presiding chair by his security detail, and Senator Chuck Grassley was shuttled across the floor into that seat. Moments later, a Capitol Police representative informed us the Capitol had been breached and that we were sheltering in place.I looked at my phone; my mother was calling. I told her I was safe and that they were locking down the chamber. Over the next hour, I answered the same text, “Are you safe?” over and over. The Capitol Police led us out the chamber’s back doors, through the corridors, down the stairs, into the tunnels under the Capitol to a secure location in a nearby office building. As we descended the stairs, I held Senator Mazie Hirono’s hand.In the secure room, I called home and reassured my husband that I was OK. He was angry, worried and had a lot of questions about how this could happen. The room was filled with the sounds of my colleagues having the same conversations with their families. Meanwhile, the rioters raced through the Capitol, ransacking offices and desecrating public spaces. Their chants of “stop the steal” echoed in the halls.We waited for hours. Anxiety faded to frustration and impatience. We wanted to vote, to do our jobs. It is our job as senators to represent the will of the American people. That meant making it clear that while this riot was a temporary disruption of the democratic process, it was not a disruption of our democracy. So, after the violence came to an end, we set out to fulfill our constitutional duty.We were escorted back to the Senate chamber, swept free of broken glass, and resumed our certification of the electoral votes. We held fast to the oath we swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. State by state, we certified the results that have been checked, rechecked and certified by Democratic and Republican state officials alike. That is how elections are conducted in this country — not by mob rule.Unlike the peaceful protesters who gathered in Lafayette Square or across New York City last year for Black Lives Matter protests, the rioters at the Capitol were not met with overwhelming police and military force. They were not stopped from storming onto the Senate floor, taking a podium or defacing the speaker’s office. We should all consider what that says about our country, how we see public safety and racial biases in our law enforcement.These rioters must be held responsible for their criminal actions. So should the president who incited them. Every option available, from invoking the 25th Amendment to impeachment and removal to criminal prosecution, should be on the table. These options will require the vice president, cabinet members and Republican members of the Senate to hold the president accountable in a way they never have before. When they fail to take decisive action, history will judge them as complicit.Congress and the Department of Justice must undertake a thorough investigation of how this happened, and why the planning for this protest and response to these white supremacist groups was so inadequate, putting lawmakers and the people who work in and maintain our Capitol building at risk. More broadly, we must assess the role of the ultra conservative media, which purports to be news but only offers misinformation and division, as well as the power of unchecked social media to divide our nation.I’m a person of Christian faith, and my faith teaches me to love one another as ourselves. That’s a pretty tall order given where we are. But, we can start by identifying the sources of the hate and division and addressing them through investigation, accountability and justice.Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) is a Democratic senator representing New York.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Be There. Will Be Wild!’: Trump All but Circled the Date

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential TransitionliveLatest UpdatesCongress Confirms Biden’s WinBiden Denounces ViolenceHow Mob Stormed CapitolScenes From InsideAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Be There. Will Be Wild!’: Trump All but Circled the DateInside Trump supporters’ online echo chambers, the chaos of Jan. 6 could be seen coming. People posted their plans to come to Washington — and showed the weapons they would carry.“We will never concede,” President Trump said at a rally on Wednesday.Credit…Pete Marovich for The New York TimesDan Barry and Published More

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      Trump Is to Blame for Capitol Attack

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyOpinionSupported byContinue reading the main storyTrump Is to Blame for Capitol AttackThe president incited his followers to violence. There must be consequences.The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.Jan. 6, 2021, 8:01 p.m. ETCredit…Samuel Corum/Getty ImagesPresident Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress incited a violent attack Wednesday against the government they lead and the nation they profess to love. This cannot be allowed to stand.Mr. Trump’s seditious rhetoric prompted a mob of thousands of people to storm the U.S. Capitol building, some breaking onto the House and Senate floors, where the nation’s elected representatives had gathered to perform their constitutional duty of counting electoral votes and confirming the election of Joe Biden as president.It is fitting that some carried the Confederate flag as they attacked the seat of American government and forced the suspension of congressional debate. They shattered windows and broke doors, clashing with overwhelmed security forces as they shouted their support for Mr. Trump and their defiance of the lawful results of the 2020 election. One woman was killed. The nation’s leaders were sent scurrying for shelter.Explosives were found in the Capitol and multiple locations around Washington. Pro-Trump protests also shut down statehouses around the country.Mr. Trump sparked these assaults. He has railed for months against the verdict rendered by voters in November. He summoned his supporters to gather in Washington on this day, and encouraged them to march on the Capitol. He told them that the election was being stolen. He told them to fight. He told them he might join them and, even as they stormed the building, he declined for long hours to tell them to stop, to condemn their actions, to raise a finger in defense of the Constitution that he swore to preserve and protect. When he finally spoke, late in the day, he affirmed the protesters’ anger, telling them again that the election was stolen, but asking them to go home anyway. It was the performance of a man unwilling to fulfill his duties as president or to confront the consequences of his own behavior.The president needs to be held accountable — through impeachment proceedings or criminal prosecution — and the same goes for his supporters who carried out the violence. In time, there should be an investigation of the failure of the Capitol Police to prepare for an attack that was announced and planned in public.This is not just an attack on the results of the 2020 election. It is a precedent — a permission slip for similar opposition to the outcomes of future elections. It must be clearly rejected, and placed beyond the pale of permissible conduct.The leaders of the Republican Party also bear a measure of responsibility for the attack on the Capitol.Many in the G.O.P. have participated in the vigorous retailing of lies about the election. They have sought to undermine public confidence in democracy, questioning the legitimacy of Mr. Biden’s victory without providing any evidence for their claims. Their statements led some of those who trust them to conclude violence was necessary.Few have been as explicit as Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, who earlier Wednesday suggested, “Let’s have trial by combat!” But even as extremists boiled up around the Capitol, lapping against the security barriers, Republicans in the House and the Senate were chipping away at democracy from the inside.Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, invoked the 1877 commission that resolved the disputed presidential election of 1876 as a model for what he described as addressing reasonable doubts about the 2020 election. There is no factual basis for such doubts about the 2020 vote, but Mr. Cruz’s choice of analogy is historically resonant. In the 1876 election, white Democrats used widespread political violence to prevent Black people from voting and then demanded the end of Reconstruction as the price of the survival of a compromised Republic — ushering in an era of racial terror and cementing the exclusion of Southern Blacks from participatory democracy.The modern Republican Party, in its systematic efforts to suppress voting, and its refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of elections that it loses, is similarly seeking to maintain its political power on the basis of disenfranchisement. Wednesday’s insurrection is evidence of an alarming willingness to pursue that goal with violence.It is clear that some Republican leaders are starting to fear the consequences of enabling Mr. Trump. Before the attack started, Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, decried efforts by his fellow Republicans to overturn the results of the election. But his eloquence was the very definition of a gesture both too little and too late. They who sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.Other politicians have had firmer convictions. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney tweeted, “What happened at the U.S. Capitol today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.”The Constitution requires Congress to count and announce the results of a presidential election on Jan. 6 of the following year. While the mob was able to put that process on hold, it will not be able to prevent it, or Mr. Biden’s inauguration in two weeks.But the attack is a reminder of the fragility of self-government.Jan. 6, 2021, will go down as a dark day. The question is whether, even as Mr. Trump’s time in office ends, America is at the beginning of a descent into an even darker and more divided epoch or the end of one. The danger is real, but the answer is not foreordained. Republican politicians have the power, and the responsibility, to chart a different course by ending their rhetorical assaults on American democracy and rising in defense of the nation they swore oaths to serve.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More