From Wolves and Sheep: January 6 A study in contrasts
By MATT KERBEL
I would like to note what did not happen last Monday, when Congress assembled in joint session to certify the votes of the 2024 presidential electors.
President Biden did not hold a rally on the ellipse to incite supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
Angry mobs did not breach barriers on the east and west sides of the Capitol building.
They did not overwhelm security, rush up the Capitol steps, break windows, and invade the structure.
They did not attack, assault, injure, or kill police officers.
They did not cause representatives to don gas masks, barricade doors, hide under their seats, or fear they might not get out alive.
They did not spark a chaotic evacuation of the House and Senate.
They did not terrorize staffers barricaded in the Speaker’s office.
They did not carry a Confederate flag through congressional hallways.
They did not desecrate the Rotunda or Statuary Hall.
They did not construct a gallows on the Capitol grounds and chant “Hang Kamala Harris” when learning that the vice president intended to certify the electoral votes.
Instead, everything went as planned, just as it had on January 6 for every quadrennial joint session prior to 2020.
Members gathered in their respective chambers. The proceedings were orderly. There were no false challenges to the results. Harris certified her own defeat.
For a very long time, I worried about what would happen when last Monday arrived. Had the election gone the other way, January 6, 2025 could have been a day of extreme peril—the moment when a movement primed to believe it is illegitimately disempowered by a deep state conspiracy would have faced a final confrontation with its imagined opposition.
Early on election night, when Donald Trump anticipated defeat, he was sending out social media messages alerting his supporters about voter irregularities, including a false claim of “massive cheating” in Pennsylvania. Those messages stopped abruptly once it became clear he was going to win. To MAGA, elections are only illegitimate when they lose.
But to the other side, elections are legitimate regardless of the outcome. Democrats did not raise objections to the vote because there are no objections to be raised, even though the election resulted in the return of someone who stood against democracy four years ago Monday and pledges to continue standing against it as president.
One of the more remarkable and disturbing aspects of the events of the past four years has been how Trump has led a successful effort to drain the events of January 6 of their emotional power. When feelings were raw in the days following the insurrection, even loyal Republicans were ready to give up on MAGA. But when it became clear that MAGA was not ready to give up on Trump, political expedience kicked in and their opposition softened.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader who could have whipped the votes to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial and end any chance of a comeback, gave an impassioned floor speech after the Senate voted to acquit, calling Trump “practically and morally responsible” for the events of January 6. But he let Trump slide, and that slide enabled his return.
Central to that return has been whitewashing the insurrection. So as we look at how January 6 unfolded this year, it should serve as a reminder to us of what lawfulness looks like as we enter a lawless period in our history. Because by quickly forgetting the magnitude of what happened we have made it possible for lawlessness to return.