One year since the invasion of the Capitol

For more than two centuries, the vote in Congress to elect a new president in the United States was merely a procedural confirmation of the outcome of the election. However, according to observers, everything that happened on January 6, 2020 in the Capitol, in the heart of Washington, seemed to shake the foundations of modern American democracy.

So when senators met to ratify the election of Joe Biden as the new president of the United States, former President Donald Trump told his supporters that everything was “a big lie” and that Joe Biden “stole” the victory from the same. Trump addressed a mix of fanatics, conspiracy theorists, the far right, and neo-fascists, such as members of the Proud Boys.

Unprecedented move in American history

In an effort to “stop the theft of votes” they all invaded the Capitol – an unprecedented move in American history. Four Trump supporters and a police officer were killed and 140 were injured. But the condemnation of the tragic events by both Democrats and Republicans was unprecedented. “There was a sense that the situation was over. That Trump was away,” said Susan Spolding, director of the Defending Democratic Institutions Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

As Spolding observes, Donald Trump continued to exert influence in the Republican Party in the months following the Capitol invasion. Many believed for a long time in the “big lie” of the Biden election. Interestingly, a survey by the University of Montmouth in 2021, according to which half of the Republican voters consider the episodes in the Capitol “legal”.

The culprits have been convicted – But what do the media do?

The FBI, meanwhile, has indicted 727 people using evidence from surveillance cameras, YouTube videos and cell phone videotapes. Charges against them include obstruction of institutional proceedings, use of a dangerous weapon and assault. Some were sentenced to more than five years in prison for assaulting police officers and others were ordered to pay – negligible – fines for damaging foreign property.

At the same time, the debate over the role of social media and traditional media in the US, in terms of the way they promote and discuss various issues, is still intense to this day. Especially for social media Regina Lawrence, if. “It is clear that the way social media is structured exacerbates specific behaviors and favors the search for specific types of information,” said Dean, of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.

However, when it comes to public speaking, Lawrence believes that first and foremost the politicians themselves should have condemned the events of January 6, 2020 even more loudly. If that happened, then the media would follow.

John Marshall Edited by: Dimitra Kyranoudi

Source: Deutsche Welle