• Two years ago, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, believing Democrats had stolen it.
• This attack was the result of decades of rhetoric from the Republican Party, which had become increasingly hostile to the liberal consensus of the New Deal and civil rights laws.
• Republicans have since manipulated the electoral system and gerrymandered districts to gain control of the House of Representatives, where they are now threatening to take the government into default in order to dismantle the liberal consensus.
• On this day, President Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to fifteen people who defended democracy on January 6, 2021, reminding the audience of FDR’s 1941 “Four Freedoms” speech.
Published January 6, 2023. Visit Letters from An American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.
