Autocrats frequently serve up lies—after all lying can be a useful tactic. Once in the seat of power they can get away with it because they control the levers of government—most importantly the media, national police and military. And importantly they use those levers to either entice or threaten a large segment of the population. Fealty is what they want.
America doesn’t work that way and among other foreign enemies we do not like an assortment of autocrats starting with Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and certainly the Ayatollahs of Iran.
But the January 6th Committee’s initial report demonstrates a democratic soft spot. Primarily, that Presidential power fused with a hardcore base is a very effective weapon. The base allows itself to be used as a high value political chip in multi-candidate primaries.
The reality of politics today is at best disheartening. Peggy Noonan, writing in the Wall Street Journal, used city politics to describe the base on the Left: “Progressive politicians have been around long enough running cities that some distinguishing characteristics can be noted. One is they don’t listen to anybody. To stop them you have to fire them. They’re not like normal politicians who have some give, who tack this way and that. Progressive politicians have no doubt, no self-correcting mechanism.” My take: they tend to be all theory and no practice.
On the Right climate change is just unwelcome noise and gun deaths are secondary to an 18th Century constitutional provision about forming a militia to fight foreign enemies. And both sides pay little attention to balancing budgets.
But let me come back to the January 6th Committee report. I will agree with Republicans that the Committee should be more bi-partisan. But since the Minority Leader in the House is subservient to Trump, not the Constitution, it is hard to anticipate a truly investigative approach with Kevin McCarthy’s designees. And certainly, the runup to the January 6th assault on the Capitol demands investigation. This, to me, is not a partisan imperative, it is a truth imperative.
As I have noted before, I have friends across the political spectrum. On the Left there is a view that the Republican Party should be way off in a ditch given that many continue to support Trump. Voters in the Center of the political spectrum move back and forth between Parties based on outcomes, not ideology. Roaring inflation, well let’s vote for the other Party. As long as we have a two-Party system that is the way it will work. Plus, there are characteristics of President Biden’s leadership that a majority of the public does not like—note the polls.
The initial January 6 Committee report was chilling. I didn’t learn a lot, but the work of its investigative staff and interview excerpts of Trump’s family and Attorney General opened a wider lens. What I found particularly problematic was Trump’s assumptions. I found myself more than once wondering what world he had been occupying for four years and what he had learned.
America’s strength is in its Constitution. The Constitution is clear: concentrated power that could lead to autocracy must be avoided. Yet Trump took on the Founder’s distribution of powers with a rag-tag army of several hundred and supporters who got caught up in mob psychology. I guess, since on the 6th he was the Commander-in-Chief, he assumed this outfit could defeat the Capitol police since he did not plan to activate either the National Guard or the active military. Then what?
And he must have assumed notwithstanding his Vice-President Mike Pence’s pledge to do his Constitutional duty that he could bully him into cancelling the election results.
I could go on, but these two Grand Canyon leaps of faith reveal a President emotionally and operationally unhinged. Biden is criticized for showing cognitive decline; Trump showed cognitive collapse.
The next two years will continue to be hyper-partisan. Hopefully 2024 will produce a President who is a real leader and has majority support. But the one thing I am sure of, the 2024 election will move beyond Biden and Trump.
Finally, a shout out to the courageous Republican Representative Liz Cheney. She put her personal safety and career on the line. I close with her words about Republican colleagues in the Congress whose subservience is to Trump and not the Constitution: “Tonight, I say this to our Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
Jim Moses CDR, USN (Ret.) says
By coincidence – or not – the movie “Judgment at Nuremberg” was shown this morning. Here are excerpts from the Presiding Justice’s (Spencer Tracy) preface to the pronouncement of sentences:
“But this trial has shown that under a national crisis, ordinary, even able and extraordinary men, can delude themselves into the commission of crimes so vast and heinous that they beggar the imagination. No one who has sat through the trial can ever forget them … There are those in our own country too who today speak of the ‘protection of country,’ of ‘survival’. A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is ‘survival as what’? A country isn’t a rock. It’s not an extension of one’s self. It’s what it stands for. It’s what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world, let it now be noted that here, in our decision, this is what we stand for: Justice, truth, and the value of a single human being.”
Stephen Schaare says
You cannot possibly be serious. Nuremberg and Jan. 6th?
Michael Davis says
How can anyone watch the Proud Boys and listen to Trump use them and a violent mob on Jan 6th and not see the parallels to what it exposed at Nurenberg?
Bob Parker says
The use of ths quote does not necessarily draw a parallel between the Jan 6th investigation and the trial at Nuremberg, but rather points out that there are times when a country, its people and elected leaders, must look beyond the expedient and beyond self-interest, and make judgements based on how they see, and desire others to see, their country. There are certainly parallels between the rise of fascism in 1930’s Germany and the growing push for undemocratic, illiberal views by a distinct minority in our country. No matter how loudly they shout about stolen elections, their voices do not make this lie true. The Jan 6th Commission is presenting evidence in the form of sworn testimony that clearly shows that those who propagated the lies of voter fraud knew that there was no such evidence, further indicating that any who continued to espouse this lie either willfully ignored the facts for their own advantage, or had insufficient mental capacity to understand the facts. In either situation, these individuals have shown themselves to be unqualified to serve in elected office. As has been said many times (erroneously attributed to Edmund Burke), “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. The good men & women on the Jan 6th Commission are speaking up today to prevent evil from happening tomorrow.
Barbara Denton says
You are sadly mistaken. There was voter fraud. Watch 2000 Mules. Inform yourself.
Deirdre LaMotte says
And what is terrifying is there are over 100 candidates for Congress and other offices who ran on this lie…and won. This is what is sad: the advancement of cunning politicians who would espouse anything to get elected. Who raised these creeps? Where is the GOP of conservative Goldwater who told Nixon: no more. Resign or impeachment. The GOP is now the Party of wannabes whose only desire is power, not service. They care nothing for this nation. It is all about THEM. And there is nothing there but needy greed. They are nothing but insecure people obsessed with personal fulfillment. Power, forget the collective good or any enhancement of our society. Me, me, me, me.
How I miss GHWBush. He is my hero and is now, I am certain, rolling in his grave.
M L Moll says
Spot on!
William Dalton says
This essay reminds me of the Truman saying “give me a one handed economist”. When dealing with the subject of the January 6 investigation and an unhinged politician which we all know is Donald Trump the essayist would be better served by not trying so hard to appease all of his readers, attempting to equalize blame for being unhinged.
Barbara Denton says
The only unhinged person in this drama is the author.
Paul Rybon says
Writer starts each of these stories in a sensitive, bipartisan matter but inevitably end with the same diatribes bashing Trump admirers and smearing the Second Amendment and Republican leaders. Same old.
John Dean says
It doesn’t get any clearer. The failure to see the connection between Nuremberg and January 6th is why American democracy is in such danger today. As for the Second Amendment, it’s time to to stop taking that as an absolute right to the point where we are today where so many favor their military boytoys over childrens’ lives
Stephen Schaare says
Mentioning Nuremberg and Jan 6th insults the millions killed by the Nazis.
Deirdre LaMotte says
That is not the point. The point is fascism, which not only seeks to overturn a democratic process,
as what happened on January 6, but also promotes extreme nationalism and racism.
This is what Trump, selected allies and his mob attempted to do: violently and systematically overturn an election.
If this does not scare every person in this nation, nothing will.
Barbara Denton says
The marchers were not violent. The capitol police let them into the capitol. They wanted Mike Pence to do his constitutional duty and he did not. The complaint was before him signed by members of both houses and he failed to do his duty because he is a coward.
Jim Moses says
You might try presenting your argument to the family of Officer Brian Sicknick.
Stephen Schaare says
Brian Sicknick died from two strokes. He was never struck with anything. Two concurring autopsies.
Look it up. Steve
Jim Moses says
I was aware of that. In your view, then, if an Auschwitz survivor dies a month after liberation due to the cumulative effects of the ordeal, that person is not considered a victim of the holocaust?
Bob Parker says
Mr. Schaare, I would argue that by not acknowledging the similarities between the rise of Nazi-ism in 1930’s Germany and the rise of fascist, racist and anarchist movements in today’s America are more egregious insults to the memories of the millions who died at the hands of Hitler and his minions.
Wilson Dean says
I need to make a quick clarification. I accidentally signed off on my comments in this chain under the name John Dean (which is actually my name), but because J.E. Dean’s name is also John Dean, I have been using my middle name (Wilson) instead of John, My apologies to JE Dean and others who might have been confused by my comments. I will continue to use Wilson in the future.
That said, Deirdre LaMotte and Jim Moses make excellent points regarding the relationship between Nuremberg and January 6th. It’s not the body count that is in question, it is the principle that people commit horrific acts in the name of “patriotism” when they are deluded by autocratic generated falsehoods (think “The Big Lie”).
Barbara Denton says
If anything is unhinged it is this article. Once again Mr. Sikes starts immediate bashing of Trump and his supporters. January 6th was not an attempted coup or an insurrection. It was not a threat to our Democracy. Herr Biden and his Department of Injustice are shredding our Constitution, keeping the truth from the public, and completely disregarding legal precedent.
There is no reason for the majority of the people involved in the march to be still sitting in prison. The marchers were not armed. No capitol police died in this march. A protester was killed in cold blood and her killer has not been
punished. She was not armed and had done nothing but walked through a doorway. There is no statute of limitations on murder and Mr. Byrd will be punished.
These hearings are political theater to keep the public from focusing on the horrendous record of this administration and to try and ruin Donald Trump. They want to frame critics of this craziness as traitors to justify taking their possessions and their freedoms. They want to take our guns, money and our rights away. They want you afraid to tell the truth because they will try to take everything away from you if you do. They want to fill their war chests with money donated due to their holding this theater on National TV.
Democrats have sent over 500 fundraising emails referring to January 6th in the last month alone. To have shame Democrats would have to admit that President Trump offered Pelosi 10,000 national guardsmen to protect the Capitol on January 6th but she and Bowser refused them. The January 6 Committee Democrats and the 2 Republicans are morally bankrupt. They think their censorship and intimidation is enough to shut their opponents up, and fool the general public. They are wrong. As long as I have breath I will tell the truth and stand up to those who lie.
DEIRDRE LAMOTTE says
Sadly, our nation has to write off the millions who signed up for this MAGA cult. They made the choice of their own free will and are beyond help. MAGA is a dangerous personality cult that has attracted alienated, disaffected
individuals together in blind allegiance to a deranged man. Just listening to his rallies with the same 1930’s
hysteria and worship that was shown for that fascist, is embarrassing. This is the US now? The spiteful frothing of the mouth lies just feeds these people’s lust for hate.
Trump was so terrified to be a “loser” that he pushed specious allegations six months before the election: “the only way I can lose is if the election is rigged”. Losing the election he was willing to destroy this nation
to keep power. He wanted to destroy our democracy to calm his own fragile ego.