Roundup

Letters From an American, January 8, 2021

by Heather Cox Richardson

Last Wednesday's events are still coming into perspective through developing news reporting, but a disturbing picture is emerging of possible cooperation between rioters and law enforcement at high levels.

How to Ensure This Never Happens Again

by Beverly Gage and Emily Bazelon

A menu of democratic reform initiatives ranging from strictly defining the electoral vote process to abolishing the electoral college: reforms needed to stop the temptation to undemocratic rule and authoritarianism.

The Striking Parallels Between the Assaults on Charlottesville and the Capitol

by Nicole Hemmer

The right's defense of their violent "Unite the Right" attack on Charlottesville was a precursor to their strategy in the wake of the Capitol riot: blame the left to convert riots into patriotic Americans. 

What Trump Shares With the ‘Lost Cause’ of the Confederacy

by Karen L. Cox

The Lost Cause mythology built around Donald Trump's claims to have won the 2020 election will outlive him and potentially fuel a dangerous reactionary political movement for years to come. 

Josh Hawley's Cancelled Book Contract Is Not "Orwellian"

by Claire Potter

The author has broadly defended free speech as a value. Josh Hawley's complaints about his cancelled book contract don't fit the bill.

Do We Really Need Another Biography of Robert E. Lee?

by Kevin M. Levin

Recent discussion of the forthcoming biography of Robert E. Lee by Allen Guelzo shouldn't foreclose the possibility that the book will offer insight because many historians object to Guelzo's participation in Donald Trump's conference on teaching history. 

Trump’s Removal Is Taking Too Long

by Tom Nichols

Donald Trump has shown no contrition over inciting an insurrection against Congress to preserve his own power and can be presumed willing to do anything, including order the use of nuclear weapons. A single day he retains the powers of the presidency is a day too many, writes Tom Nichols. 

A Starting Point: Teaching the January 6 Insurrection

by Kevin Boyle and James Grossman

"The braided relationship between history and civics will make January 6, 2021, a central concern in classrooms and other educational venues across the country. How can we help our students and others to connect the particulars that played out on our screens to those larger processes?"

The American Abyss

by Timothy Snyder

"The responsibility for Trump’s push to overturn an election must be shared by a very large number of Republican members of Congress."

The Gun-Rights Movement Fed America’s Insurrectionist Fever Dreams

by Firmin DeBrabander

"The gun-rights movement cleared the path for insurrection. It blew a hole in the rule of law—and Donald Trump’s would-be soldiers clamored through it. And then scaled the walls of Congress." 

The Pandemic Disproved Urban Progressives’ Theory About Gentrification

by Jacob Ambinder

Anti-gentrification activists portray themselves as champions of the poor, but they generally represent a coalition of property owners who benefit from keeping the supply of a resource – housing – scarce. How can the political and economic incentives of land and housing be realigned?

Disenfranchisement: An American Tradition

by Julilly Kohler-Hausmann

Invoking the specter of voter fraud to undermine democratic participation is a tactic as old as the United States itself.

What Should We Call the Sixth of January?

by Jill Lepore

Choosing a label for the events of January 6 is a fraught proposition; "riot" and "insurrection have historically been applied to Black demands for change, though most mass criminality has been led by whites resisting change. It's perfectly fitting, then, to call the mob action a race riot.

Denial Is the Heartbeat of America

by Ibram X. Kendi

Claims that the Capitol riots were "not who we are" are rooted in denial of the long history of racist and antidemocratic politics in the United States. 

The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design

by Kellie Carter Jackson

"Police brutality against Black Americans and police inaction toward white Americans is not some surprising anomaly; it is the status quo."

Trump's MAGA Insurrectionists Were Perverse US Civil War Re-Enactors

by Sidney Blumenthal

"As William Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” But the warped history that the Trump mob thinks it is enacting, reenacting or conjuring is a costume drama of militant ignorance."

Will They Ever Be Over? The 20th Anniversary of the War on Terror Arrives

by Nick Turse

Trump's incoherent foreign policy presents Joe Biden an opportunity to take genuine steps to end the entanglements of the war on terror. 

The Capitol Riot Reveals the Dangers From the Enemy Within

by Eric Foner

Let’s not assume that until the Capitol riot the United States was a well-functioning democracy.

Keep the Capitol Secure but Open

by John A. Lawrence

Hopefully, changes in campus security will not result in having to impose barriers to separate visitors from their elected officials. 

1871 Provides a Road Map for Addressing the Pro-Trump Attempted Insurrection

by Megan Kate Nelson

"The actions that the federal government took in 1871 signaled its willingness to defend the constitutional rights of the nation’s citizens, Black and White, and to protect them against violence."