The Washington Post editorial board urged voters to keep January 6 and former President Trump’s role in the Capitol riots “top of mind” during the midterms, and up through 2024.
The Post wrote that everyday Americans “can and should” hold Trump and his “enablers” accountable for the attempt at overturning the results of the 2020 election, and suggested that it should surpass inflation and crime as voters’ most pressing concern.
Urging Congress to rewrite the Electoral Count Act, and for voters to turn out in the upcoming elections, The Post claimed the upcoming midterms are about “democracy itself.” The board added more than half of this year’s Republican nominees for the House, Senate and statewide office have denied or questioned the results of the 2020 election.
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“An unnervingly large proportion of GOP voters might believe in the ‘big lie.’ But most Americans do not inhabit their alternate reality,” the board wrote. “As the midterm elections approach, these voters would do well to keep the most fundamental principles top of mind. And they should continue to keep them a priority in 2024, when Mr. Trump might be on the ballot again.”
Democrats were both praised and criticized for their handling of events following the Capitol riots. The Post wrote that the Party did an “admirable job” at assuring the January 6 committee’s work would not be relegated to “partisan propaganda,” but also slammed Democrats for the “dangerous” and “cynical game” of “abetting extremist” Trump-backed GOP primary candidates.
The hearings were described as a “sober review” of the events leading up to and following Jan. 6. Despite Democrats’ efforts, the paper expressed disappointment at how the public had reacted to the events at the Capitol.
“Indeed, before the committee even started investigating, it was clear that Jan. 6 was not the unifying 9/11-style moment it should have been,” The Post said.
The Post made similar comments about Jan. 6 in a number of different opinion pieces over the last two years.
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In May, the board wrote, “Jan. 6 should have been a turning point in our politics. Voters must recognize that where politicians stand on democracy is more important than tax rates, inflation, gas prices or any other policy issue. Lawmakers who see the threat that growing illiberal forces pose to the nation must secure its democratic institutions.”
On the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot, the board said Trump and the Republican Party had damaged U.S. democracy and made the electoral system more susceptible to subversion in future elections. They called on the American public to register and vote, or otherwise risk losing their right to vote in free and fair elections forever.
“Those who are not registered to vote must do so, or they might have no say in the future. Those who already vote must think more carefully about what they are supporting. The defining question is no longer about left vs. right or liberal vs. conservative but about whether the country’s democratic experiment will succeed or fail,” they said.
The Jan. 6 committee on Thursday voted unanimously to subpoena Trump.
