Just over a year ago, the world watched in horror as thousands of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, spurred by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election. Though activists and watchdog groups had warned law enforcement about the attack for weeks, police failed to adequately prepare for the violent mob. Insurgents broke into the Capitol, and occupied the building for several hours, resulting in over a hundred injuries and five deaths.
Last week, the UVA Center for Politics hosted a virtual conference reflecting on the January 6 insurrection, featuring an array of notable politicians, journalists, scholars, authors, and political scientists.
“If our democracy is to survive, then this is something that we can never forget,” said Larry Sabato, political scientist and director of the UVA Center for Politics.
After Trump canceled a press conference scheduled for the 2021 anniversary of the event, CNN Chief Domestic Correspondent Jim Acosta reflected on Trump’s relationship with the media.
“Trump is a loser. He is somebody that knows deep down that he lost the 2020 election,” said Acosta, who served as CNN’s chief White House correspondent during Trump’s presidency. “He knows all too well that Joe Biden had the bully pulpit today, and he was going to get all of the television coverage…the major networks were not going to take his lies on air.”
Polls have shown that as many as 68 percent of Republicans still believe that Trump won the election. However, some Trump supporters have been open to hearing Acosta’s perspective when he has talked to them one-on-one, he said. “If the truth can be told in a penetrating way, I do believe we can get through that Trump fog.”
During the second panel, Sabato questioned whether the canceled press conference showed that Trump may now be listening to the people around him.
“Psychologically, he is incapable of changing course,” said Mary Trump, psychologist, author, and niece of the former president. “There is a definite worsening of his state of mind, and that just suggests that nobody down the road is going to be able to rein him in.”
The former president’s niece pointed out that most elected Republicans still support Trump, and would do all they could to make him president if he runs in 2024. In addition to Trump himself, there are currently at least two dozen people who participated in the insurrection, as well as at least 50 QAnon supporters, running for federal office, added Miles Taylor of the Renew America Movement, which tracks radical candidates.
New York Times columnist and Charlottesville resident Jamelle Bouie emphasized the structural issues of our electoral system, most notably the electoral college. Since 1992, Republicans have only won the popular vote once during a presidential election.
“The ability to win power without winning the majority of votes has created a reliance on that method of winning among Republicans,” said Bouie. At the same time, “The Republican party has come to believe that [it’s] demographically doomed, and that change in the demographics of the United States is going to make it impossible to win.”
That mixture is “encouraging this toxic interaction with the personality of Donald Trump,” said Bouie.
Senator Tim Kaine and Congresswoman Liz Cheney expressed hope for the ongoing House investigation into the insurrection.
“I’m confident that we will, despite the efforts [of] people to delay and obstruct, get to the truth,” said Cheney, vice-chair of the January 6 committee. “We’ll have the facts and the truth to lay out for the American people.”