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Scott Jennings| Opinion Contributor

Poll: 4 in 10 in GOP say Jan 6 was very violent

Nearly a year after the Jan. 6 siege, only about 4 in 10 Republicans describe it as very or extremely violent, according to a new poll from The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (Jan. 4)

AP

History comes down to individual moments where leadership matters. Think of Lincoln forging ahead with the Emancipation Proclamation despite near-universal opposition from his political allies. Churchill rallied his people to fight for Western civilization, when the politically powerful pursued appeasement. Reagan demanded that Gorbachev tear down this wall. Kennedy forcing Wallace to step aside so that Vivian Malone and James Hood could attend school in Alabama.

When it counts, historys best leaders recognize the moments that matter and rise to the occasion, summoning the courage and vision to make the right call. And in those moments, there are no mulligans.

Donald Trump faced one of those critical leadership moments on Jan.6, 2021. His supporters, a mob he had whipped into a frenzy just hours before, rushed the U.S. Capitol and put human lives and our Constitutional order at risk. His voice alone could have called them off, a fact recognized in the moment by everyone from his own children to major opinion leaders in the conservative movement.

Trump shrunk from his responsibility. He betrayed his oath of office, which called on him, to the best of his ability, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The ugly visuals of a Capitol in chaos redefined Trumps legacy. His many accomplishments were pushed several paragraphs down historys pages when rioters used his flag to assault Capitol Police, when Q Shaman invaded the Senate Chamber, and when the soon-to-be-former President published a video telling the insurrectionists we love you.

More: Ex-UK student who bragged about entering Capitol on Jan. 6 sentenced to jail

The first anniversary of Jan.6 has triggered a national reflection on what happened that day, and on whether there is more political violence in our future. Mostly, weve gone to our corners. Other problems such as Covid, the immigration crisis, inflationand the draining of American prestige following the collapse of Afghanistan occupy our thoughts. The new president, elected to do one thing and one thing only, has failed spectacularly at everything other than replacing the last one. It appears the country is ready to move on from both men, even as Trump and Biden threaten us with a re-run of 2020.

But we shouldnt miss this chance to reflect on the 20-year march to Jan.6, a long, slow escalator filled with misguided, lying partisans who refused to accept electoral and institutional legitimacy following fair-and-square outcomes.

Democrats said George W. Bush was selected, not elected. Republicans clung to the erroneous, racist birther claims about Barack Obama for years. Democrats, including losing candidate Hillary Clinton, believe to this day that Russia delivered Trump the presidency in 2016. And Republicans now believe Bidens win to be illegitimate, the battle cry for Trumps probable 2024 campaign.

Along the way, other lesser election deniers like Stacey Abrams have flourished into celebrities, as contesting election outcomes aresometimes celebrated by the media even as they assail Trumps contesting of his.

There are a lot of dirty hands here. I heard a political commentator, when asked about polling in which an increasing number of Americans said political violence could sometimes be justified, say she couldnt fathom that Democrats and liberals would ever commit violent political acts. Somehow, in her view, this was a phenomenon restricted only to Trump supporters.

She mustve missed the nationwide riots that destroyed large swaths of several American cities over the last couple of years, completely fueled by left-wing agitators and egged on by Democratic politicians. Heck, Vice President Kamala Harris raised money to bail violent protestors out of jail in Minnesota.

She must have missed California Democrat Maxine Waters calling on protestors to get confrontational and to literally mob Trump administration officials. Or when Republicans from Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Ted Cruz were chased from restaurants. Or when Mitch McConnell was threatened with we know where you live as he was chased from a restaurant in Louisville, and months later found his home vandalized.

She mustve missed the Bernie Sanders supporter who so hated Donald Trump that they shot up the Republican congressmen practicing for the congressional baseball game, nearly killing Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

The issue is the same: people dissatisfied with institutional outcomes decided that intimidation, riotingand violence were justifiable responses.

Sure, there were some peaceful BLM protestors out there just like there were peaceful Trump supporters in Washington on Jan.6. But there were more than a handful of violent offenders in both groups, raging against a machine that they believed had betrayed them.

In the case of the Jan.6 rioters, they believed Trump, who fed them falsehoods, had their backs. The racial protest rioters were egged on for years by falsehood spewing leaders, too. Remember hands up, dont shoot? That never happened, according to President Obama's own Department of Justice.

Your politics will dictate your reaction to this paragraph. Liberals will recoil at the idea of comparing leftist rioters to the Jan.6 insurrectionists. Conservatives will howl at being lumped in with people looting Targetsand burning buildings.

But these rioters arent all that different. Theyve lost faith in our government and have come to believe that violence will produce better outcomes. Theyve been misled by selfish, failed leaders who found momentary advantage in arousing the passions of their supporters, but at extreme cost to the country's future.

This escalator will continue to go up until we choose to stop it.

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Most Republicans voted for Trump twice and were quite pleased with the results three conservatives on the Supreme Court and scores of lower court judges confirmed, too; tax cuts and regulatory reforms that produced the best economy in recent memory; trade policies that were fair to working-class Americans; finally standing up to China when it seemed no other politician would; a sane border policy. They have few qualms with his policy direction, even as he broke party orthodoxy on matters. And thats not to mention his deliverance of a long-desired pugilism in dealing with the media and leftist Democratic culture warriors.

US Capitol riot: Police officer dragged down steps and beaten

Video from the U.S. Capitol riot shows a police officer being dragged down the steps of the building and beaten.

USA TODAY, Storyful

But it is quite possible for a Republican, in their heart of hearts, to have voted for Trump twice, approved of the results, and be completely horrified at his post-election and Jan.6 dereliction of duty. If you believe that violence on Jan.6 was justified, you aren't a constitutional or law-and-order conservative. You are an anarchist, plain and simple.

The reckoning will come in 2024. Trump is likely to run again, a clear favorite for the GOP nomination. But the vulnerabilities he drags into his next race for the White House makes him the least likely Republican to recapture 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the GOP.

Republican Rep.Peter Meijer of Michigan, who voted to impeach Trump after Jan.6, now says his party has no choice but to rally around the former president. But the GOP bench is deep, full of potential presidents who could deliver the same results and fighting spirit, but who aren't carrying the baggage of having failed so spectacularly in a key, career-defining moment (or who carry the stain of having lost the national popular vote in two straight elections).

Liberals fail to see the failings of those in their ranks who encourage falsehoods and riots about elections and social problems. Conservatives seem resigned to another Trump nomination, and to relitigating the 2020 election four years hence.

And this lack of imagination and vision among our leaders despite a public desperately hungry for something better is why the escalator of political violence may well have many more floors to climb.

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Jan. 6, one year later. Why partisan violence isn't reserved for insurrectionists | Opinion - Courier Journal