On America, shadow of Jan 6

Typically, it is pocket-book issues like the economy and the cost of healthcare that are at the top of US voters’ minds during elections. The state of democracy in the country is not usually a concern. This time is different. This year, the stability of US’s institutions, their capacity to withstand another attempt to overthrow its system of governance, has come to the fore as well. Many Americans are worried about what will happen if Trump loses again but refuses to concede defeat. This is also the issue casting the largest shadow from the vice-presidential debate this week, which was the last big, scheduled event before the Nov 5 elections. It should be remembered that the VP only has two official duties under the US constitution – to preside over the Senate when necessary and inquire daily about the president’s health. And, as anyone with even a basic grasp of US civics should know, presiding over the Senate only occurs in the ceremonial role of counting electoral ballots in the presidential election, and casting any tie-breaking votes in the Senate. This is also the rational context for assessing what Kamala Harris has or has not done over the past three-and-a-half years.Debates between the VP candidates are typically more policy-detailed and cordial than the presidential ones, and the latest was no different. Also no different was the focus on the top of the ticket. According to your correspondent’s count, together, Walz and Vance mentioned Trump by name 108 times, compared to only 72 direct mentions of Harris. Suffice it to say, Trump dominated the conversation. Walz frequently criticised Trump’s rhetoric, while Vance frequently redirected questions to talk about immigration, defending Trump’s policies and blaming Harris for the problem.Last time around, Trump’s running mate wasn’t Vance. As Walz underlined, “Pence made that decision to certify that election, that’s why Mike Pence isn’t on this stage.” Walz’s comment refreshed memories of Jan 6, 2021, when a large group of protesters breached the US Capitol and disrupted the process for counting Electoral College votes that would formalise Biden’s election. Pence, who had only a ceremonial role in presiding over the count was publicly pressured by then President Trump, to refuse to certify the votes.As Pence refused to participate in the Trump scheme, a mob outside the Capitol erected a noose and chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” Although order was eventually restored and Biden’s victory was made official in the early hours of the next morning, the threat of insurrection within US, a model for democracy, shocked the country and the world. And it is salient once again.This is why the most telling moment of the night came when the moderators presented the final debate question to Vance about whether he would “seek to challenge this year’s election results” even if every state governor had certified the results. The Ohio senator would not directly answer the question. Then, Walz made the question to Vance even more direct, and plain: “Did he [Trump] lose the 2020 election?” Again, however, Vance deflected: “I’m focused on the future.” Walz underlined this deflection’s significance: “That is a damning non-answer.” Trump has been impeached and criminally charged for inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol on that day, but he continues to invoke violent rhetoric. That day he had told his supporters, “If you don’t fight like hell, you aren’t going to have a country anymore.” Today, he continues to muddy the discourse on the peaceful transition of power, as well as to double down on anti-immigrant rhetoric, despite, as Walz underlined, failing to keep his promise last time around, to build a “big, beautiful wall and have Mexico pay for it”. This is also Harris’s weaker flank. Vance blamed Harris for “letting in millions of illegal aliens”. And although Walz quickly retorted, “pass the bill”, reminding viewers about the bi-partisan border security bill negotiated in Congress that Trump asked Republican lawmakers to renege on, immigration may actually be an even better issue for Trump now than in 2016 or 2020.The Sep 10 presidential debate had of course seen Trump bring fake news of immigrants “eating the pets” to the mainstage. Since then, Vance has repeatedly defended this fake narrative, specifically in relation to Springfield, Ohio. But this week, Trump has taken the violent rhetoric to another, more terrifying level.When talking about policing and crime at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump said: “You know, if you had one day...like one real rough, nasty day, one rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately. End immediately. You know, it’ll end immediately.”Several observers have noted that Trump’s comments invoke images of Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, which was the beginning of the Holocaust, the systematic murder of millions of Jews. On Nov 9 and 10, 1938, the Nazi party instigated a series of violent attacks against Jewish people and their property throughout Germany and Austria.For others, those remarks in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state, were also an eerie reminder of what Trump said on Jan 6, and how his followers reacted shortly afterwards. This election day may be like no other US has ever seen.The writer is an independent journalist and professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Cincinnati