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Friend,
A year ago this week, the world witnessed a stunning scene that few could have imagined – a mob attack on the citadel of American democracy, a deadly insurrection aimed at thwarting the peaceful transfer of power that has endured for more than two centuries.
By the end of that terrifying day, the far-right extremists who sacked the U.S. Capitol – and sent members of Congress, aides and the vice president scurrying for their lives – were defeated, and many of them later arrested and bound for prison.
But a year later, urgent questions remain: Was that bloody battle the end of the movement to overturn American democracy? Or was it simply a gambit that presages an even more dangerous, long-term threat to the constitutional order?
The signs of peril are everywhere.
Even today, with no evidence whatsoever, more than two-thirds of Republicans continue to believe the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump – despite the courts’ rejection of Trump’s arguments as completely unfounded. Perhaps more troubling, according to the same poll released in November by the Public Religion Research Institute, 18% of all Americans agree with the statement that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”
In a poll released this week by USA Today and Suffolk University, 83% of voters were “very” or “somewhat” worried about the future of the nation’s democracy. But they were starkly polarized about the reasons for their concern. While 85% of Democrats called the Jan. 6 rioters “criminals,” two-thirds of Republicans agreed with the statement: “They went too far, but they had a point.” A poll released by Morning Consult/Politico in October found that just 48% of voters – and a mere 18% of Republicans – approve of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Public opinion is not the only sign of trouble.
After record turnouts that tilted the balance of power in Washington, D.C., to Democrats, Republican-controlled legislatures in some states moved quickly to enact onerous, new anti-voter laws to restrict ballot access for people of color, people with disabilities and others who are more likely to vote for their opposition. In some states, they’re also stripping powers from local election officials who stood up to the false claims of election fraud. At the same time, the partisan gerrymandering of Congress, state legislatures and local government bodies continues unabated as a way to thwart the will of voters.
In many ways, the insurrection against American democracy didn’t begin or end on Jan. 6. It is, in effect, a broad, ongoing white nationalist assault on the nation’s multicultural democracy, an insurgency that has been years in the making and was propelled into the mainstream by Trump’s campaign and election.
It’s a movement that the Southern Poverty Law Center sounded the alarm over long before the assault on the Capitol. And in the aftermath of the insurrection, the SPLC continues its fight by launching a $100 million voter mobilization effort and supporting federal legislation to combat voter suppression.
“I think the important thing to understand is the insurrection didn’t end on Jan. 6,” said Eric K. Ward, a nationally recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence and inclusive democracy. “Across the country in small communities and towns, the insurrection is still a daily reality for many Americans. The targets are health workers, educators, local government officials, civil right activists who are facing intimidation, sometimes physical violence, acts of domestic terrorism from those who were supportive of the insurrection and possibly those who took part in the insurrection.”
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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