The ‘Alternative’ Truth about Jan. 6

This is what a harmonious transition of power looks like: In a cruel twist of fate, the losing candidate, Kamala Harris, oversaw the certification of the election in her capacity as outgoing vice president. In a matter of seconds, the matter was settled, and the reelection of Donald Trump after a — too short — hiatus of four years was confirmed. No deaths, no injuries. No mindless mob breaking down the doors to the Capitol to impede the process, no vandalism. No death threats against elected officials, no Machiavellian strategies by the loser to change the result.

A peaceful transition of power reflects the grace of the Democrats. You will find no trace of this in the modern Republican clan. Trump, its uncontested leader; key party figures; and a majority of party supporters continue to spread the lie that Joe Biden’s 2020 election was plagued by fraud; a stolen election, Trump repeats ad nauseam. This is why the certification of the recent presidential election results, held on the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, is especially significant. It is, in a way, one of the last opportunities to do justice to the memory of the facts that Trumpists relentlessly attack when the facts run contrary to their voracious ambitions.

However, outgoing President Joe Biden purposefully published an open letter in The Washington Post, urging Americans not to forget or rewrite Jan. 6, 2021, a moment of disgrace unique in the history of American democracy.

Four years ago, Trump beat the drum, arousing passions until his supporters, among them armed members of far-right militia groups, stormed the Capitol. Approximately 140 police officers were wounded in the crush. Nine people died, including four officers who took their own lives in the months following the insurrection. Terrorized lawmakers were forced to barricade themselves in as best they could, or hurriedly evacuate the building. Calls to hang Vice President Mike Pence, who was in charge of certifying the election, rang out throughout that chaotic day as Trump relished it all on television. If Secret Service agents had not intervened, Trump would have joined the belligerent mob at the Capitol building.

A Congressional investigative committee, supported by 1,000 witnesses and 140,000 pages of documents, concluded that the Capitol assault was “the culmination of an attempted coup” that also included frivolous lawsuits and pressure campaigns hatched by Trump’s inner circle to find alternate electors. The committee concluded that Trump was the “central cause” of the attack.

And what does the man in question think of all this? Trump is making every effort today to reframe the Jan. 6 insurrection as a “day of love.” During his campaign, he promised to pardon some of the rioters, a repulsive possibility for Aquilino Gonell, the former Capitol Police sergeant who was severely wounded during the incident. In his most recent press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump refused to address the issue of pardons. The White House “stable genius” had orcibly taking Greenland and the Panama Canal on his mind.

Biden recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney. Both a critic and adversary of Trump during the primaries, Cheney also served as vice chair of the House Jan. 6 select committee that sought to hold Trump accountable for his actions. Defeated in Wyoming in 2022, this figure of resistance to Trumpism is now the target of Republicans and Trump himself. They want the FBI to open an investigation into her conduct. It is payback time and not just for her.

It is hard to predict what history will retain of the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s involvement in this attempted coup d’etat unworthy of a democratic regime. The president will have four years to spread the worst lies to a converted public with no fear of legal ramifications. The story, though, is not material he will be able to rewrite at will and have absolute control of the narrative. The “alternative” truth must not triumph over the facts, at the risk of further undermining the structure of democracy.