The scars of January 6th
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2022
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A year out from the attempted insurrection of the Capitol, we consider the state of American democracy — what’s changed, what hasn’t changed and what will never be the same.
Read more:
One year ago today, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, set on overturning the results of the 2020 election. Since then, the basic facts of the insurrection have been in contention and democracy itself has remained under siege.
On today’s episode of Post Reports, politics reporters Dan Balz, Roz Helderman and Amy Gardner join guest host Cleve Wootson to discuss how the spirit of the insurrection has seeped into America’s bloodstream.
To hear more about what it was like inside and around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, check out our award-winning episode, “Four hours of insurrection.” The episode includes interviews with Capitol Police officers, politicians and Post reporters who were at the Capitol that day.
And hear investigative reporter Aaron Davis describe what law enforcement entities knew before the insurrection took place and why they failed to protect the Capitol that day. This story was part of The Post’s landmark Jan. 6 investigation, “The Attack.”
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And so at this moment, we must decide what kind of nation are we going to be? |
| 0:09.3 | Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? |
| 0:14.6 | Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the |
| 0:20.6 | legally expressed rule of the people? |
| 0:23.4 | Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth or the shadow of |
| 0:30.0 | lies? |
| 0:32.0 | We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. |
| 0:36.0 | The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it. |
| 0:45.2 | A year ago today, I was in Atlanta covering the Georgia Senate runoff. |
| 0:49.1 | Being proud of myself as I wrapped up coverage of what I thought was the biggest story of |
| 0:53.7 | the moment, definitely the day. |
| 0:56.4 | Then I turned on the TV and watched in horror as a pro-Trump mob of people scaled the walls |
| 1:02.3 | of the capital or tore through the front door, dead set on overturning the election. |
| 1:08.0 | It was both surreal and deeply personal at the same time. |
| 1:12.7 | I thought of my wife at home alone, not far from the violence I was seeing on TV. |
| 1:17.8 | I thought of my colleagues who I knew would be sprinting into the madness. |
| 1:22.4 | I covered the White House for the post and this wasn't something I ever thought I would |
| 1:26.5 | see. |
| 1:28.3 | That day changed our democracy. |
| 1:30.8 | It changed where the lines are. |
| 1:33.2 | And I find myself wondering a year later, will those lines hold or keep praying? |
| 1:44.0 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post. |
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