What happened Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol should be a moment of rupture for our political system. Something needs to change. America needs a serious democracy reform agenda, one that gives a new and elevated role to the pro-democracy Republicans who have been fighting with their increasingly extreme anti-system party for the last few weeks. Democracy reform has to be the top priority, with at least some Republicans hopping on board and Democrats finding ways to help them get there.
The only way these pro-democracy Republicans can elevate their place in our system of government is to reduce the disproportionate power of the anti-system Trump Republicans.
The fissure in the Republican Party that has emerged over the course of President Donald Trump’s tenure, and rapidly intensified in the last several weeks as he has alleged election fraud, means the foundation of democracy — free and fair elections followed by a peaceful transfer of power — has itself become a political issue.
A significant percentage of Republican members of Congress decided to undermine the legitimacy of our elections for narrow political gain when they sided with Trump in refusing to recognize Joe Biden as the winner of the Nov. 3 contest. That culminated in the anti-democratic disruption of the counting of Electoral College votes certifying Biden’s victory Wednesday, as a mob of Trump supporters stoked by these political leaders invaded the Capitol.