The Day Democracy (Almost) Died

Saanika Raina

// A Constitutional Coup Foiled //

The January 6th riots were not a spontaneous act but the culmination of a multi-pronged coordinated insurrection aimed at preventing a peaceful transfer of government. The insurrection included dubious maneuvers to create an alternate slate of electors from states that Trump lost, a questionable legal strategy to create a legal basis for a coup, and an organized militia and crowd campaign to potentially threaten legislators by breaching the Capitol.

The January 6th Commission is currently investigating evidence that Republican electors sent fraudulent certificates to the Electoral College and Congress. Despite Biden having won the swing states of Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia, the Republican electors gathered to cast unofficial votes, signing and certifying them as though Trump won. They then sent those certified votes to Congress. As these electors were not confirmed to cast votes by the respective states’ electoral bodies, this was illegal, but took place in seven states. As evidenced by a testimony presented to the January 6th Commision, Trump’s team coordinated this strategy in order to commit election fraud. Vice President Mike Pence was also aware of this attempt to commit constitutional fraud because he altered the traditional speech that is given by the Vice President during the certification process, adding language to clarify that the votes of the fraudulent electors were illegitimate. 

This attempt to create an alternate slate of electors was not the only scheme Trump had in mind. Directly following the election, Trump mounted frivolous and unsubstantiated legal challenges to the election results in several states. The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania alleging voter fraud and in Michigan citing poll watcher complaints. In Arizona, they complained that voting machines rejected legal votes, presumably in Trump’s favor. In Georgia, they alleged problems with ballot processing, and in Wisconsin, they claimed that 22,000 ballots were illegally cast. Of the sixty two cases filed by the Trump campaign, only one was successful. Bipartisan judges threw the other sixty one out due to a lack of credible evidence. The state of Texas filed a lawsuit, backed by President Trump, which claimed the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were unlawful because the pandemic had necessitated a change in voting procedures. The US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, because they argued that Texas did not have the legal standing to file that case. Additionally, evidence points to the fact that Trump and his campaign did not believe that their claims of voter fraud were valid, and the idea of filing lawsuits alleging voter fraud had been planned even before the election, when Republicans were lagging in the election polls. Still, pursuing a legal method of challenging election results, Trump continued to sow doubt in the minds of his followers regarding the fairness of the election.   

When legal maneuvers to overturn the election failed, Trump all but publicly invited already primed white supremacist groups to do his bidding and to attack Mike Pence and members of Congress for following constitutional procedure. Among the insurrectionists were members of the Proud Boys, consisting of white nationalists and neo-nazis, the Oath Keepers – one of the largest far-right, anti-government extremist groups – and the Three Percenters who are also involved in the anti-government militia movement. According to SPL Center, members of these self-styled militia groups had been coordinating online and expressing outrage towards the election results in the months leading up to the insurrection. Trump then further riled up his supporters, asking them to march to the Capital and “fight like hell.” His supporters marched towards the Capitol with chants of “Hang Mike Pence,” attacked the police, stormed the Capitol, and defiled it. Despite the desperate attempts of many in his inside circle, Trump refused to authorize the National Guard to protect members of Congress and their staff. Trump’s incitement of the January 6th riots opened the gateway for organized militia groups to plan hostilities at the Capitol. 

Among this group of extremists were members of the far-right group Oath Keepers. Federal prosecutors have evidence that the Oath Keepers militia group was prepared to move a stash of firearms and equipment from a Virginia hotel to Washington DC. They had teams who had  trucks full of weapons, ammunition and essential supplies to last 30 days and were waiting for the green light on January 6th to transport them to the Capitol. A team from Florida that had “at least three luggage carts” of weapons and ammunition and a team from North Carolina with rifles in a car lurked in a hotel parking lot close to the Capitol. Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, purchased over $15,000 of weapons and ammunition the days before the insurrection, and traveled to Washington DC from Texas, a few days prior to January 6.

 The insurrection was not a spontaneous outburst by citizens who were disappointed that their candidate did not win the Presidency, but a well planned attack on democracy by members of the white power movement who sought to threaten legislators. There is evidence that one of Trump’s donors provided 80% of the half a million dollar funding for the rally. The January 6th Commission is still investigating potential links between the insurgents and Trump’s inner circle, as the rally organizers had communicated with President Trump, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and other White House officials as they planned the rally. 

A year later, it is important that the United States continues to reflect on the events of January 6th. Trump and many of his sycophantic Republican colleagues spread misinformation, pursued a frivolous legal strategy and peddled outright lies to incite his followers into an attack on the Capitol. This coordinated attack on a fundamental pillar of American democracy needs to be recognized for the criminal act that it is, and all participants should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for their role in that dark day of American history.