How Trump Got Away with January 6th

Four years later, Trump was able to escape legal and political accountability.

In the days after Donald Trump inspired a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, it felt like his days in politics were numbered. Republican leaders trashed him. He was banned from every social media platform. Television networks stopped covering his remarks live for fear that he would incite another rally.

Most believed the Trump era of American politics had come to its disastrous and predictable end.

And yet, four years later, the very same members of Congress who feared for their lives because of a Trump-inspired mob just certified Trump’s election as the next President of the United States.

It’s truly an insane and upsetting turn of events. How can a leader of the free world use violence in an attempt to overturn an election, win the subsequent election, and then benefit from the peaceful transition of power he tried to upend? It undermines everything Americans like to believe about our country. The coverage of the election and the anniversary dramatically understate the dangerous absurdity of that fateful day.

I didn’t plan to write anything about January 6th. I have written so much about it over the last four years — and to what end? But then I woke up on January 6th. I read the stories. I saw the conversation online. I read Joe Biden’s op-ed in the Washington Post. All this media reminisced about the horrors of that day, but very few of the pieces provided an examination of the most relevant question:

How did Trump get away with it?

It’s not simply that something terrible happened that compromised our democracy. The problem is that the person singularly responsible paid no price, and skirted all political and legal accountability. Trump is unquestionably better off than he was four years ago. Instead of spending his remaining days on some chintzy version of Elba, Trump is astride the world stage with more power and influence than before.

How is that possible? And who is responsible? Here are my thoughts on those questions.

1. Republican Leaders

Any effort to allocate blame begins with the leaders of the Republican Party. Trump put their lives at grave risk on 1/6. At first, then-Speaker and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the attacks and laid blame at the feet of Trump.

Kevin McCarthy said on the floor of the House about Trump:

The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.

McConnell spoke more harshly, saying Trump was “morally responsible.” Following Trump’s impeachment, McConnell openly considered voting to convict Trump for his misdeeds. Had he done so, Trump would have been barred from running for federal office for the rest of his life.