A Frightening Statistic about the Jan 6 Assault on the U.S. Capitol Shows that the Modern Republican Party is the Party of Trump
Early this morning, I was reading an AP News article about last Wednesday’s assault on the Capitol by pro-Trump extremists, and a statistic in the very last sentence of that article struck me as astounding. The article quoted a PBS Newshour/Marist poll reporting that while 88% of Americans polled oppose the actions of the mob at the Capitol Wednesday, 18% of Republicans— almost 1 in 5 — support the mob’s actions.
1 in 5 Republicans polled support a riotous, violent mob forcefully breaching the U.S. Capitol, resulting in 5 people dead, property vandalized and stolen, and a shameful display of sedition against American democracy not seen since the Civil War.
1 in 5 Republicans.
This astonishing statistic reveals an appalling defect in character among a large swath of the American citizenry. A defect that prevents its person from being able to distinguish between reasonable actions based on valid opinion, and criminal activity perpetrated out of belief in false conspiracies and proven lies. A defect that leaves its person so consumed with partisan vitriol that they are no longer able to discern truth, and incapable of behaving with decency, common courtesy, and respect for others. A defect that compels the person to applaud an extremist mob filled with hatred and bent on violence for attacking the United States Capitol.
This is the modern Republican Party. The party of Trump. A party speckled with fringe conspiracy junkies, all but completely detached from reality, instead consumed by their adulation of one man — a puppet master, a con man, a reality TV buffoon, a sociopath — who feeds them, with impunity, lie after lie. A man who, while occupying the Oval Office, deliberately incites the citizenry to violence against the citadel of American democracy. And his followers — 1 in 5 Republicans— are ready to comply.
Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, or none of the above, this statistic should alarm you. It is the kind of statistic that has allowed demagogues throughout history to muster enough of the populous to serve their own autocractical ambitions, and has left devastated societies in its wake.
When will the more reasoned voices of the Republican Party finally realize that tying themselves to Donald Trump is not a winning long-term strategy? Did not losing the White House and the Senate in the same election not teach them anything? If not, the riotous attack on the Capitol should have.
While we continue to have a two-party system, we need a Republican Party unafraid to speak the truth, ready to denounce fringe conspiracy theories, and willing to return the Party to one that operates with dignity, decency, respect, and humility. Until that time, we will continue to see the kind of violence that occurred on Jan 6.
The Republican Party does not have to be the party of Trump. But sadly, until more Republicans believe this, it will likely remain so.
