Five years ago today, America was at a turning point.\u00a0\u00a0A mob\u00a0\u00a0stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.\u00a0\u00a0Their goal:\u00a0\u00a0to stop the legal certification of electoral votes which determined that Joe Biden was President.\u00a0\u00a0Over 15<\/em>00 were ultimately charged with crimes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In American history, it is the only time that a mob tried to alter the outcome of the Presidential election by disrupting Congress.\u00a0\u00a0And, it was only through the courage of the Capitol and Washington Metro Police, and the leadership of both parties in the House and Senate, and the Vice President, that the election certification was completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It could have happened before – but it didn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0The first \u201cchange of party\u201d election from Adams\u2019 Federalist to Jefferson\u2019s Democratic-Republicans, Jefferson won the popular vote. But there was a complicating tie in the Electoral vote between the President and Vice Presidential candidate from same Party (Jefferson and Burr).\u00a0\u00a0That was ultimately clarified by adding an amendment to the Constitution (12th<\/sup>) creating votes for both President and Vice President.\u00a0\u00a0Adams left town before the inauguration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clear winner of the popular vote (Jackson with 40%) did not win a majority of the electoral votes, and the House of Representatives chose JQ Adams (33% of popular vote) in their tie-breaking role.\u00a0\u00a0Jackson left home to plan for 2028 when he decisively defeated Adams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A four-way split of votes between candidates for President left no one with a popular majority (Lincoln had 40% of the vote, ahead of Douglas\u2019s 21%).\u00a0\u00a0Lincoln did have a clear majority of the electoral vote, and was certified as President.\u00a0\u00a0Between certification and inauguration, several states withdrew from the Union, leading to the Civil War.\u00a0\u00a0Lincoln won the War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clear winner of the popular vote (Democrat Samuel Tilden) did not win a majority of the electoral vote, due to contested votes in some of the newly reinstated Southern states. A Congressional committee determined which candidate got the contested votes, and Republican Hayes won by one electoral vote.\u00a0\u00a0Democrats in Congress agreed to a \u201cdeal\u201d ending the Reconstruction era.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clear winner of the popular vote, Democrat John Kennedy, was rumored to have \u201ccheated\u201d in Northern Illinois to win the state.\u00a0\u00a0The loser, Republican Richard Nixon, chose not to pursue the issue.\u00a0\u00a0It was rumored that Nixon might have cheated in Southern Illinois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clear winner of the popular vote, Democrat Al Gore, contested vote counting in Florida that showed a narrow win for the Republican, George Bush. That slim margin (less than 500 votes out of almost six million) gave Bush a majority of the electoral votes. Recounting continued in the state for over a month, and the Republican leadership of the state, including Bush\u2019s own brother the Governor, determined to certify Bush.\u00a0\u00a0Gore took them to Court. The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 partisan split, ordered the recounting stopped, and the Bush certification to stand. That confirmed Bush as the President, and Gore graciously called for unity behind Bush on national television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrat Joe Biden narrowly won the popular vote, and the Electoral College. Republican Trump claimed that the election was “rigged”, and went to Courts sixty different times to contest the outcome. In all but one case he lost out-right, and the one case he won was on a technicality that did not impact the vote totals. But Trump continues to claim he actually won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In all of these contested elections, even the one before the Civil War, no one sought to stop the legal change-over of the Presidency.\u00a0\u00a0Losing candidates were hurt, angry, frustrated. Some went to Court to contest the decision. Andrew Jackson, known for his hot temper, determined to make sure 1828 had a different outcome.\u00a0\u00a0Even Richard Nixon, who twelve years later committed multiple crimes to try to guarantee his re-election, didn\u2019t try to disrupt the legal process in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only one tried to use the \u201cbully pulpit\u201d of the Presidency to bring forth \u201cthe mob\u201d and stop Congress. Only one threatened his own Vice President for following the Constitution.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike Jackson and even Nixon, Donald Trump did everything in his power legally, then went far beyond legal to try to hold onto his Presidency.\u00a0\u00a0He called out the mob (\u201cfor a wild time\u201d) to overthrow the Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We spent an entire Saturday listening to Jack Smith\u2019s deposition to the House Judiciary Committee.\u00a0\u00a0After over the eight hours of questioning, three things became apparent.\u00a0\u00a0Jack Smith, is a seasoned national and international prosecutor with no partisan \u201caxe to grind\u201d. He is completely convinced by the case that Donald Trump is guilty of criminal conspiracy to overthrow the election.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jim Jordan, the Republican Chairman of the Committee and well-known Trump ally, knew the power of Smith\u2019s findings.\u00a0\u00a0First he tried to completely silence Smith\u2019s message. Instead of holding an open hearing, he restricted it to a closed deposition. When the public pressure for information grew too much to bear, Jordan released the video in a full length, raw and un-edited form, making it difficult to watch, and an 800 page document.\u00a0\u00a0And, coincidentally of course, Trump started a war with Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s been five years since the Insurrection.\u00a0\u00a0And now, what we thought we won, is lost.\u00a0\u00a0Five years later, Trump is President (gosh, no riots on January 6th<\/sup>, 2025 after that close election). The Insurrectionists are now out of jail, in power, and our history is whitewashed.\u00a0\u00a0Even in deposition questions to Smith, some Republicans hinted at \u201cFBI undercovers\u201d leading the rioters.\u00a0(Smith noted that he found no evidence of that. There may have been some “confidential FBI informants”).\u00a0We are in a time,\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhere white is black and black is white\u201d. The forces of misinformation and disinformation seem to have the upper hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Election of 1800 <\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Election of 1824<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Election of 1860 <\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Election of 1876 <\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Election of 1960 <\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Election of 2000 <\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Election of 2020<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Bully Pulpit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jack Smith<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Who Won?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n