On January 6, 2021, Washington, D.C., held a validation session in the presidential election won by Democrat Biden, when unrest provoked in Congress by anti-Trump protesters escalated into violent clashes, first outside the building and then outside. building, interior, forcing congressmen to barricade themselves inside the room – which shocked the world, accustomed to seeing an example of American democracy.
It was not until dawn on January 7, when curfews were imposed in the US capital, that Congress ratified Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election, the final step before he was sworn in on January 20 with strict security measures without fear of attacks.
Because of his actions during the Capitol invasion, Trump stood trial in his second congressional impeachment case, but a Republican majority allowed him to be acquitted of charges of “inciting rebellion.” The Republican leadership has also refused to participate in a bipartisan investigation into serious events on Capitol Hill and, in particular, Trump’s inflammatory role.
The United States is a retreating democracy, according to the latest European IDEA Global Democracy Survey, based on data collected between 2015 and the end of 2020. The report analyzes the attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, but that was not a reason for the assessment.
“The failure is mainly due to the weakening of the ability of the US Congress to effectively verify and investigate the actions of the executive branch in power (…). A year later, the trend in Congress and its ability to investigate and hold people to account is still lacking, ”Democratic evaluator Alexander Hudson told Lusa.
The expert believes that the parties are much more divided and do not want to work together, and that procedural rules in Congress lead to the paralysis of the institution.
“This is one of the reasons why Congress has been less effective in recent years (…). We still see a situation where Congress does not investigate and hold people accountable. There are people like Steve Bannon [ex-conselheiro de Trump] refuse to cooperate with the investigation, ”says Hudson.
In what Hudson calls the “big lie,” the theory that the presidential election was rigged, several polls published over the past year show that the claim is firmly entrenched among conservative voters.
In a recent poll on public radio, NPR, 68% of Republicans said they believed illegal or fraudulent activity changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. They believe the 2024 elections will be credible if a Democrat wins.
“We have a strong and solid majority of GOP supporters who believe the election was rigged, which is clearly not true,” said Alexander Hudson.
“It is remarkable and alarming that this continues and will have implications for the future,” he added.
Trump’s popularity rating among Republicans has recovered to more than 85% after falling shortly after the attack on the Capitol, according to a recent YouGov poll.
Trump once planned to make statements on the anniversary of the attack on Capitol Hill, where Joe Biden will speak, but on Tuesday he dropped that intention, saying that he would speak at a rally on January 15.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Biden “will talk about the work that remains to be done to secure and strengthen democracy and institutions, to reject the hatred and lies that we witnessed on January 6, and to unite the country.”
The Republican was the first to announce a press conference from his Florida mansion, and Congress has scheduled a moment for reflection in Washington.
Referring to presidential election day, which the former president accuses of fraud without providing reliable evidence, Trump previously mentioned that “the uprising took place on November 3, 2020.”
Karl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said this week that “Trump’s behavior is undeniably unprecedented in American history.”
“No former president has tried so hard to discredit his successor and the democratic process,” he said.
According to Alexander Hudson, a Supreme Court decision on whether Trump can refuse to provide documents to a Congressional investigation will be significant.
“These institutional problems in the US Congress seem to persist, and this ‘big lie’ seems to have a reason to continue,” the expert emphasized. “A year later, more than two-thirds of Republicans believe the election was stolen.”
“It is worrying that the people who committed illegal acts and attacks on Capitol Hill saw themselves as defenders of democracy,” he said. “This is what Americans have to deal with.”
