Three years ago on Jan. 6, Donald Trump and his cabal attempted a coup to end America’s multiracial pluralistic democracy and install himself as dictator. Central to that coup attempt was a lethal attack on the Capitol by thousands of Trump’s political cultists. This attack, and the larger coup plot, came perilously close to succeeding. America remained a democracy (albeit a much weakened and more flawed one) on Jan. 6 because of luck, the determination of the Capitol police and other law enforcement to risk their lives (and lose them) to stop Trump’s attack force. The quick thinking of the Democrats and those few Republicans in Congress to follow through on their constitutionally mandated responsibilities by counting the Electoral College votes saved American democracy that day.
But Trump and his Republican supporters were not deterred by their failed coup on Jan. 6. It was a trial run for another coup. Three years later and after numerous investigations, many questions remain about the events of that horrible day:
