By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Why does it still feel so recent? It has been five full years since President Trump goaded his supporters to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to overthrow the certification of the 2020 election results – a cornerstone of our democracy. He lost the election, yet refused to accept his loss, and continues to the present day to claim that the election was rigged against him.
He called it a “Save America,” rally, at The Ellipse, about a mile and a half away from the Capitol that sad morning. Voters did not reelect him, and he could not tolerate it. FBI reports estimate 2,000 heeded his call to disrupt the process of certifying the election results. Those people, 93 percent white by most reporting, did their level best. Many had traditional weapons, others used makeshift weapons, overturning police barriers, storming the Capitol, making entry, causing damage to property – broken glass, doors, windows, furniture, artifacts, etc. – costing taxpayers $2.7 to $3 million dollars, with the Architect of The Capitol claiming that number rose to $2.7 billion when security enhancements, police expenses, and medical bills were factored in. Five people died and 140 U.S. Capitol and Metropolitan Police Officers were injured on that day. Four police officers who tried to ‘hold the line’ and failed, committed suicide in the months following the insurrection.
The goal was to maintain power by usurping the voice of the American people. In Trump’s speech that morning he said it was “up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy (the way he labeled his loss) and after this we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, we’re going to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave Senators and Congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength. You have to be strong. We have to fight like hell,” as reported by Reuters and many others. His lies were used as fuel to incite the angry crowd. Just one of those lies was that he would be there with them as they went to the Capitol. He never was with them. These were extreme Trump supporters, and he lied to them repeatedly.
The election certification process was interrupted by the insurrectionists but eventually was successfully completed. Rioters erected gallows and chanted ‘Hang Mike Pence,’ who to his credit did not cave to Trump’s extraordinary pressure. He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and he was loyal to that oath, unlike Trump. Trump’s plan failed. Hours after the assault on the Capitol began, he tepidly intervened in a brief Rose Garden speech, “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us…but you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt…this was a fraudulent election…so, go home. We love you. You’re very special. Go home and go home in peace.”
According to Seton Hall Law School, 1,575 were charged in the insurrection and 1,270 were convicted. Four years later, shortly after Trump took the oath of office for the second time, he pardoned all but 14, often calling the rioters “patriots” and “hostages.” The rule of law plays second fiddle to his personal ambitions – Trump 2.0’s predominant insult to American democracy.
Trump constantly attacks the press if coverage is not supportive of him – labeling it “fake news.” Seasoned journalists are called “horrible” by him for asking questions he doesn’t want to be asked. This behavior takes a toll. In 2000, Pew Research claimed that 74 percent of Americans trust the news media. In 2025, Statista.com reported that the number is just 30 percent. Freedom of the press is another cornerstone of our democracy that he disrespects. On November 19, 2025, CNN said, “…as with his claims this week about inflation and January 6, he has presented himself as a paragon of truth while deceptively undermining the reputations of people who have actually been truthful.”
Trump’s assaults on our democracy are boundless and difficult to summarize. He has been successful in centralizing power from the two other branches. In his first ten days back in office, he fired 17 Inspector General’s – these are independent government watchdogs – he’s not open to others telling him what he can and can’t do. Supreme power is always his goal. It’s no wonder we have so many No Kings rallies popping up nationwide.
Pippa Norris is a highly cited political scientist. In studying the 2024 presidential election she reported that for those voters who cared about democracy more than any other issue, 81 percent voted for Vice President Kamala Harris. We will continue to suffer – we have a democratically elected president who loathes democracy.
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