One Year After America’s Third World Moment

One year after the January 6 insurrection approaches, we are naturally inclined to assess its impact.

Unfortunately surprisingly little has changed in the American political landscape. The republican party remains firmly in the hands of Donald Trump and his allies. Most republican officials are unwilling to confront Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the fact that he lost the 2020 election. A disturbingly large segment of the electorate believes the ridiculous claims that the election was stolen. Democrats need seem to want to project dignity and not engage the extremists directly.

The committee investigating the January 6 uprising is underway. Trump allies are being subpoenaed and it appears likely that some will be held accountable for the riot. There have been arrests and some of the more high profile rioters are getting jail time. They have yet to target the leaders behind the scenes who may have been the planners of the attempted coup.

Meanwhile the fragility of America’s democratic institutions has been exposed for the world to see. Early in Trump’s term in office one African executive told me that for the first time the US has a third world president. What seemed like hyperbole then is proving true with time and the 2020 election and its aftermath are a classic example. In less mature, less stable countries it is expected that whoever loses an election will cry foul regardless of whether the result is fair and accurate. For the first time since the civil war that scenario is playing out in the United States.

The road back to mature democracy (or at least what passed for one pre-2016) is a bumpy one. There are several corrective steps that American society and its leaders should take. We can start with serious consequences for those who attempted to overturn the results of a legitimate election. It’s good that the process has started. There should however be particular attention to identifying the planners and supporters of the insurrection. We need to name names. It’s been said that a few in Congress supported the rioters. They need to be exposed and made to at least pay a political price for their undemocratic, unamerican behavior.