Jan. 6 was wake-up call, Democrats say

Jefferson County Election Commission member Ted Davis examines ballots for the November 2020 general election in Jefferson County in this Nov. 13, 2020, file photo. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Dale Ellis)
Jefferson County Election Commission member Ted Davis examines ballots for the November 2020 general election in Jefferson County in this Nov. 13, 2020, file photo. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Dale Ellis)


On the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nation's Capitol, many Democrats and Republicans continue to be deeply divided over key elements of what happened that day, as well as over issues that surrounded the historic event.

National polls show strong party-line opinions over whether then-President Donald Trump holds responsibility for the violence, whether the election was stolen and whether Joe Biden was legitimately elected president. A majority of Republicans tend to say they believe that Trump holds little responsibility, the election was rigged and Biden was not legitimately elected, while Democrats say they believe the opposite.

Local Jefferson County Democratic officials say they think Republicans know what the truth is but continue to make unsubstantiated claims to cater to their base.

Asked about what happened a year ago and where the country is today, Michael McCray said the state of the country is "troubling."

"I'm very concerned," said McCray, a member of the executive committee for the Democratic Party of Arkansas and treasurer of Jefferson County's Democratic Party. "The problem is that a lot of times, we don't take things seriously until they are serious. We think things are a joke until they aren't. That something can never happen until it does."

McCray blamed Fox News, Facebook algorithms that push a one-sided view of the world and "someone willing to spew propaganda that is then repeated in an echo chamber."

"With those sites," he said, "you can just about live in an alternative reality."

Asked if he thought Trump was responsible for what happened on Jan. 6, when hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent attempt to stop the counting of electoral votes and stop the declaration of Biden as the next president, McCray said he did.

"There was a powder keg, and the spark that lit the fuse," he said. "Fox, Facebook and other groups, they packed the gunpowder in the barrel, but I think the former president lit the match."

McCray said it was unclear how the two parties can effectively communicate anymore.

"If you add the fact that we don't teach CRT (critical race theory), and we're not teaching history and we've stopped teaching civics, there's no foundation for analysis and discussion," McCray said. "If we can't agree on facts and we can't talk about history, what does that say about our future?"

McCray said he thinks some Republicans believe what they are saying and some don't.

"I'm sure a lot of Republicans know the truth but don't have the courage to speak the truth," he said. "For others, they are brainwashed because they have been so inundated with a false narrative. To me, that is a very dangerous combination."

Asked if there was a way forward for the country, McCray said he hoped there would be.

"I think we will hold it together," he said. "I can't see the path right now, but sometimes you have to walk a path that you can't necessarily see."

Another Democrat, Ted Davis, head of the party's organization in Jefferson County, said the idea that the election was stolen from Trump is "a major falsehood."

"The majority of the people answering those surveys know better but saying such things benefits their position," Davis said. "It's all about politics and is self-fulfilling. I'm sure a majority of them are complying with the expectations of others. They know it's a lie. They know what the results of the election were."

Davis said the country is seeing a pushback from the establishment against women and people of color who, more and more, are rising to positions of authority.

"There's been an effort to suppress that," Davis said. "And the Trump administration had a lot to do with convincing people that minorities are to be feared. So when people take surveys, it's easy to say Trump won the election, and it's easy to say the election was rigged. It's easy to say those things because it justifies your position."

Davis called the violence on Jan. 6 "a successful coup d'etat."

"It woke many of us up to what really can happen in our country," he said. "I never thought at this point we'd be talking about people storming the Capitol in an insurrection. It got the point across that we are susceptible and forced us to rethink who we are. In that sense, the insurrection was successful."

The rift in the country has gotten so severe that one doesn't have to look far to find conversations about civil war and states seceding from the union.

Late last year, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, entertained such a question, saying he hoped Texas would not have to take such drastic action but that the possibility existed.

Davis said such comments should be chalked up to politicians speaking to their base.

"Ted Cruz is an extremely intelligent guy," Davis said. "When he was running for president, I didn't hear him saying outlandish things like this. But now he's playing to his audience because those Republicans will continue to support his position."

Asked what he thought the country would look like in a few decades, Davis said he thinks it will be able to navigate this tumultuous chapter.

"The quick answer would be that it's two or three nations under God," Davis said. "But, of course, my hope is that it's one nation under God. People who talk about secession and civil war do so to bolster their public esteem. But we all know the price that states paid to secede and in fighting the war, and some people, I guess, are still fighting it. We know the hardships and the price we paid as a country. We're not going back. As a nation, we will continue to move forward. We will survive."


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