January 6 - Never Forget
January 6 matters because it wasn’t simply a riot, a protest that got out of hand, or “one bad day.” It was an attack on the core civic act that makes a democracy a democracy: the peaceful transfer of power. The United States doesn’t survive on slogans. It survives on shared rules—elections decide winners, the loser accepts reality, and institutions carry out the handoff. January 6 was an attempt to break that chain.
It belongs in the same national memory category as September 11 and December 7—not because the events are identical in scale or nature, but because they represent national trauma and a direct strike at the country’s security and stability. The defining difference is what makes January 6 uniquely chilling: this attack was from within, fueled by Americans, and driven by the sitting President of the United States. That fact alone should make it impossible to minimize. A nation can recover from external attacks. It becomes far more fragile when the assault comes from its own leadership.
This wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t a misunderstanding. It was a sustained dereliction of duty—before, during, and after the event—by Donald Trump and the administration that enabled him. A President’s first responsibility is to the Constitution and the continuity of government. On January 6, that duty was abandoned in favor of ego and power. The President’s job was to defend the process, calm the country, and ensure Congress could complete its constitutional work. Instead, Trump treated the process like a target and the mob like leverage.
Jack Smith’s recent testimony has only reaffirmed what has been obvious to anyone willing to face reality: January 6 does not happen without Donald Trump’s “leadership.” It was the predictable outcome of months of pressure, misinformation, and deliberate delegitimization of the election. Trump didn’t just fail to stop the fire—he helped spark it, and then watched it burn while the nation pleaded for presidential action. That is the clearest, most dangerous form of dereliction: not incompetence, but intent.
And it didn’t occur in a vacuum. January 6 sits at the center of a broader pattern: a reckless, self-absorbed agenda that demanded loyalty to one man over loyalty to the country. It trained millions to believe that the only legitimate outcome is victory for their side, and that any loss is proof of conspiracy. It normalized contempt for institutions, contempt for law, and contempt for truth itself. That culture doesn’t disappear when the cameras turn off—it lingers, hardens, and becomes a template for future escalation.
The tragedy is not only what happened that day, but what it revealed: how quickly a democracy can be pulled toward chaos when leaders refuse accountability and followers are encouraged to treat reality as optional. If America is going to regain any resemblance of dignity, greatness, and true world leadership, it has to start with moral clarity about where the blame lies. It has to be said plainly: January 6 was not “both sides.” It was not “politics.” It was a failure of leadership at the highest level.
Remembering January 6 isn’t about living in the past. It’s about protecting the future. Because the longer a country spirals—excusing lawlessness, rewarding manipulation, and treating accountability as partisan—the less likely it becomes that we ever climb back to stable ground.
