Investigating the root cause of the January 6 Insurrection.
There are pictures of violence and lawlessness, both of which are disguised as people whose irrationality, ignorance, and anger have stemmed from a man who espoused the belief that President Biden fraudulently won the 2020 presidential election. There can be no doubt that President Trump, in his infinite ignorance, did not heed to the warnings and demands from his conservative colleagues or take the path of responsibility. Because of him, our already imperfect democracy has become more imperfect, more damaged, and more susceptible to the will of an ideology that seeks to make America more isolated, more reactionary, and more undemocratic.
That ideology is far-right populism whose origins and amplification in the political sphere has been a reaction to the overall development of globalization. As the world moved away from the calamities of the 1940s, international institutions of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, European Union, and the rest have connected the world under an international community in which cultures, nations, and people have lowered national barriers for the common economic good of the world.
Globalization is not without its faults and sacrifices, and its greatest fault would be the impetus of President Trump's overall political rhetoric: the offshoring of American blue-collar jobs. The manufacturing capabilities that made the United States the primary power of the post-WWII world have been slowly diminishing after its nearly three decade dominance as European and Asian nations began to redevelop. The people most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs from the 1970s to the present day are mostly white working-class Americans.
These are the Americans who looked at President Trump as their savior who through his spiteful words has utilized the loss of jobs as a political strategy to win the 2016 election by blaming the “Democrat establishment”, “swamp”, “elitists”, “globalists”, and foreign nations for the “decline of America.” In his scheme, President Trump imbued his white working-class base with nostalgia of a 1950s America where patriotism was the norm, the nuclear family was praised, and the United States was righteously elected as the “greatest nation on Earth.” Most of these supporters might not realize that that time has been rooted in racism, sexism, white supremacy, and xenophobia.
The real danger of this entire ordeal is that this nostalgia is still clinging on in the minds of these Americans and is the grand message of the Republican Party. In their quest to revitalize the “good ole America”, the “Trumpist” majority of the Republican Party has been blocking voting rights legislation that will ensure minorities and trans people more efficient and easier access to voting, spreading misinformation on social media platforms about COVID-19 and vaccines, fueled Asian hate crimes through anti-China rhetoric during the pandemic, and, as of a year ago, promoted the invasion and damage of the Capitol building.
Behind this insurrection is a deep story that tells of a multidimensional disease that can only be alleviated by removing its root cause. The United States must do everything in its power to prevent and counter the spread of misinformation, address hate crimes, and ensure the empowerment of our democracy through voting rights legislation and the electoral removal of destructive politicians. But, at the heart of it, the United States must realize that most of those who support President Trump have been people who lost their jobs and whose desperation and fear was exploited for political purposes. These are people who need economic help just like the rest of us. We can only bring them out of their ignorance if we, through our actions, convince them that we care.
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