Five people are dead after a domestic terrorist attacked the Capitol on January 6th. President Trump was weak in his so-called attempts to stop these attacks, and we will feel the consequences of them long into the Biden Administration. After the recent protests at the Capitol, it has been made clear that there is a fundamental split in the American people’s ideology on democracy. One side believes that president trump is a threat to America’s well-being, therefore our democracy- while the other side believes that Trump is a protector of democracy. It is under attack after what they claim to be a fraudulent election.
It’s scary to think that some people believe in one idea, the idea of Trump, so profoundly that they take his word over everyone else’s. When I was watching the Capitol attack, one clip stood out to me; a protestor was taking down the American flag, throwing it to the ground, and then raising a “Trump 2020” flag over the Capitol steps. Similar to how a dictator puts up their flag over the flag of their country. Are these not the same people that shamed BlackLivesMatter for kneeling during the national anthem, the same people that claim America is the best country in the world, that we are the supposed protectors of democracy? What has changed so profoundly that they no longer believe the United States is a republic for the people?
Over the past four years, Trump has been building up his supporters’ loyalty to maintain his seat in office for another four years but failed to realize what could happen if he didn’t win. Former President Trump uses extremely vilifying language to unite his supporters by claiming only he can lead America correctly. Trump’s way of speaking has been cynical. Going as far as to humiliate anyone who dares go against him, even his slogan “Make America Great Again” symbolizes that he is the only one who can lead the country correctly. Because of his extremely polarizing language, we are now living in two separate Americas. One of them is an autocracy under Trump, with his followers wholeheartedly believing that he is the rightful president. The other accepts the election outcome and wants to move on with our established process. Even after the hard work and dedication it took to count all the votes and certify them, Trump still called upon his voters to protest the results, brainwashing them into thinking that someone had rigged the election to get him out of office.
The very backbone of democracy is that we have people who accept fair election outcomes. While most people do not condone the violence that happened at the Capitol, there are still 15-20% of people who support it. That’s millions of people who do not accept the election results and are therefore denying the principle of democracy. Trump made it seem as if you didn’t vote for him that you were un-American. That vilifying language has created a more politically polarized society than we have ever seen before. Because these people think that their ideology is genuinely American and that everyone who disagrees is anti-American, it makes sense that they would take these actions. They see themselves as defending their country because their leader told them that the election was fraudulent, consequently following him like a lost puppy.
But how did this divide happen? For that, we can look at the long-unsolved urban-rural divide within America and how Trump capitalized on the isolated feelings of rural America under the Obama administration. Biden has appointed Tom Vilisak as Agriculture Secretary, who also served in the same job for the Obama administration. This is an issue because many small farmers in rural America started supporting Trump after they felt isolated and unsupported by the Obama administration. Obama and Tom Vilsack have been accused of not standing up to corporate farms and cutting spending on small American farmers. The Obama administration cut certain areas in crop subsidies, so when Trump made the campaign promise to grow agricultural exports and support forms in rural America, it was appealing. These farmers felt isolated and turned to Trump because he promised them economic stability. Biden is appointing the same person that made them feel isolated in the first place. If these Obama-era policies to cut farm subsidies continue, people will continue this feeling of isolation. We could see another Trump-like candidate in the next election looking to capitalize off rural America’s isolation.
With Trump’s second impeachment happening, the Biden Administration and Congress need to be careful with handling the situation. The attacks on the Capitol were deranged people who thought that the election was fraudulent and wanted Trump in office for another four years; by impeaching Trump even after his time in office is done, they could take it as a symbolic sign that Congress denies the legitimacy of his presidency for the first four years. That is a large step in a polarizing direction that many will not like. Regardless of what the Biden administration does during the impeachment process or before the inevitable protests during the inauguration, Trump needs to step in, strongly condemn the violence, and urge his supporters not to do this again.
The biggest issue that needs to be addressed is that more Americans are losing faith in our election process; it started when Trump cried out that Russia hacked the elections in 2016. It’s growing now where people think the US is behind its fraudulent elections. While the facts point towards how the US has fair and free elections, it can still lead us down a slippery slope; losing faith in elections directly correlates to losing faith in American Democracy, something these past few weeks have been a shining example of. In the future, I hope that the Biden Administration can restore faith in the American system, and that begins with ending this extreme polarization of our two parties. It is now up to Joe Biden to reach out the Whitehouse’s hand to republicans and, over the next four years, work to rebuild trust between the parties. That is the only way that we can restore faith in our democracy.
Sources:
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-us-capitol-riot-europe-reacts/
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-danger-is-american-democracy-in/
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article55604110.html
https://modernfarmer.com/2016/02/obama-administration-usda-budget-cuts/ https://www.npr.org/2021/01/15/956842958/what-we-know-so-far-a-timeline-of-security-at-the-capitol-on-january-6
Written by Hannah Winnick