The January 6th Committee: Trying To Protect Our Democracy
10/14/22
To the editor:
While Christopher Caldwell (10.13.22 The Jan.6th Committee Has Been Almost Wholly Ineffective) portrays the hard work of the Jan. 6th Committee as a partisan political effort, it is worth remembering that, with rare exception, testimony has been obtained from self-proclaimed Republicans, many of whom were Trump appointees. Insofar as the committee has been committed to establishing facts; i.e., a semblance of objective reality, it is unclear what Caldwell means by the lack of 'oppositional checks' on the committee.
At the same time, Caldwell rightly emphasizes the role of Trump's psychology as a major disturbing variable. But mental health professionals who openly voiced their concerns early on were either ignored or openly criticized for being 'unethical' in their public statements. Moreover, we need to confront the group psychology at play in two respects. First, Trump's malignant effect on many Republican politicians who have willfully adopted deception as a political strategy. Second, a large part of the electorate incapable of identifying misinformation as such living with the delusion (i.e., fixed false belief) that the election was stolen. It is important to keep in mind that many people who attacked the Capital genuinely believed their actions were patriotic. The irony is that they accurately saw themselves as victims but for the wrong reason: of a stolen election rather than manipulation.
Respectfully
Larry S Sandberg