Jan. 6th was indeed a historical day in the history of the United States. It will be discussed for many decades as a seminal moment at the end of the 1st term of the Presidency of Donald Trump. But let’s get some perspective over here. The Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War were all around 1,000 times more important in every parameter.
It’s one thing for opponents of Donald Trump to argue that Donald Trump is not to be trusted as a great defender of democracy. That is perhaps a legitimate argument. Perhaps not. But what transpired on Jan. 6th was not an attempt to destroy democracy. His intention was to go out with a bang in order to protest what he and many others was a stolen election. Was that indeed a stain on the 1st term of Donald Trump’s Presidency? Yes.
But actually, it showed the strength of the checks and balances in the United States more than it showed the weaknesses of Donald Trump and the American people. There have always been issues regarding cheating in national elections – on both sides. In 2020, there was probably more widespread cheating than any other time in recent memory due to massive numbers of votes that were not done in person. But it was not clear, and certainly harder to prove that whatever cheating was going on made the difference in the election. Donald Trump and many of his supporters clearly felt that the cheating was the difference and rioted in Washington. The riots were expected by everyone, days in advance and should have been controlled better, but for whatever bad reason, the police and National Guard were outnumbered.
It was indeed a terrible day and there were even some deaths in the riots. But let’s get at least a little bit of perspective. In the Civil War, on a typical day, there were many hundreds if not thousands of Americans killed. By the end of the war. hundreds of thousands of Americans were killed. In World War II, close to half a million Americans were killed and more than 60 million civilians and soldiers worldwide were killed. In Vietnam, more than 50,000 American soldiers were killed. To group Jan. 6th with any of these monumental tragedies is simply pathetic.
Jan. 6th should be compared to something like the Kent State Massacre back in 1970 where four students were killed and nine others injured during a brutal crackdown on anti-war protests. Important – yes. But nothing to compare with major world events like World War II or the Civil War.