Evidence Trump tried to overturn the election 5 years ago is "overwhelming." There haven't been any consequences [View all]

We learned nothing from Jan. 6
Evidence Trump tried to overturn the election 5 years ago is “overwhelming.” There haven't been any consequences

By Russell Payne
Staff Reporter
Published January 6, 2026 6:30AM (EST)


(Salon) After a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, it appeared the attack would result in a rare moment of reckoning in American politics — at least for a moment. Even hardline GOP politicians had distanced themselves from Trump, then President Joe Biden was in charge and Congress and the Department of Justice were investigating both the attack and the plot to overturn the 2020 election behind it.

Five years later, any accountability, political or legal, that Trump and his allies faced has been erased.

One of Trump’s first acts after assuming office in his second term was to pardon the nearly 1,600 people who had either already been convicted or were awaiting trial for crimes related to Jan. 6. Many of these people had prior criminal records including sexual assault and domestic violence, many were part of far-right organizations like the Proud Boys and many have been charged with additional, unrelated crimes following their release. None of them, however, will have to serve their sentences for storming the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election results and allow Trump to cling to power.

Likewise, Trump has avoided both legal and political accountability. Trump has effectively excised any Republicans willing to stand up to his false claims that the election was stolen from the party. He easily won the GOP nomination for president in 2024, though he faced multiple prosecutions over the plot to overturn the 2020 election, the first coming in the form of his second impeachment, for which he was acquitted. He was later indicted in Georgia, in a state-level racketeering case and again in Washington D.C. on charges of defrauding the U.S. and obstructing an official proceeding. Both cases stalled out in court and were not tried before the 2024 election.

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In the U.S., the Supreme Court paved the way for Trump’s political return, helping to stall his legal cases and ensuring he would remain on ballots in the 2024 election. And, in the U.S., pundits and officials alike mused on whether prosecuting Trump for his efforts to deny the democratic results of an election would qualify the country as a “banana republic.” ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/06/we-learned-nothing-from-jan-6/