US democracy at stake in November, says officer injured on Jan. 6

Peggy Stansbery, Executive Editor

Jack Glagola, News Editor

Democracy is on the ballot this November after the Jan. 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack threatened “democracy as we know it,” said Michael Fanone, one of the police officers seriously injured that day while defending the Capitol and a native Virginian.

Fanone visited Richmond on Feb. 27 and 28 as a council member for Courage for America on its “Not On Our Watch” tour to raise awareness about the current political climate, the threat of political violence and the growing political power of Generation Z as the 2024 presidential election approaches, Albert Fuji, a spokesperson for Courage for America, stated in an email to The Commonwealth Times.

Fanone said he will visit many places across the U.S. to do so but specifically visited Richmond due to the presence of several members of Congress, such as Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-VA, and Rep. Bob Good, R-VA, who have not committed to certifying the results of the 2020 election.

“The 2020 election was not stolen,” Fanone said. “The winner of that election was the current President Joseph Biden despite the fact that many lawmakers, including the former president, continue to lie about those results. I’m concerned that, like we saw on Jan. 6, those lies will inspire more Americans to commit acts of violence.”

The threat of democracy inspires Fanone to continue advocating despite all the threats and backlash he receives, he said. Fanone said he sees the 2024 presidential election as a choice between a candidate who respects democracy — President Joe Biden — and one who denigrates it — former President Donald Trump.

“One candidate who has, over the course of a lifetime in public service, shown that he is a staunch supporter of the Constitution, that he adheres to its principles, that he respects the peaceful transfer of power,” Fanone said. “And you have another candidate advocating for violence.”

Trump spread words and lies that inspired Americans to commit acts of violence on his behalf and continues to do so — and he embraces and celebrates those we did, Fanone said.

The U.S. is an imperfect country but its current democracy affords people the ability to change things, according to Fanone.

“You may have issues that you are passionate about as a young person that you feel like politicians aren’t acknowledging or hearing, but in a democracy, you have the ability, like I have for the past three years, to advocate for those positions and to create change,” Fanone said. “You don’t have that in an autocracy.”

Fanone said he uses his story to educate people about Jan. 6 in the hopes they take it upon themselves to understand why it happened and how the lies of elected leaders inspired many U.S. citizens to attack the Capitol and law enforcement.

“I thought it was important for Americans to hear a police officer’s first-hand account to better understand the significance,” Fanone said.

Fanone said he turned his body-worn camera footage over to the media after receiving distraught calls from colleagues because Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-GA, testified in a congressional hearing that he found Jan. 6 akin to a typical tourist day at the Capitol.

Fanone received strong disapproval from city leaders in Washington D.C. when he shared his footage before Congress, he said. Fanone has since then learned city leaders refused to turn over other officers’ body-worn camera footage, which could’ve caused a different outcome at the second impeachment trial of Trump.

“I don’t doubt politicians lack of empathy, but I think it would be very difficult for them to vote against impeaching the president when you see police officers being beaten and gouged and hearing first hand accounts, so I think that was a big disservice that our department and our city did for stopping the future threat,” Fanone said.

Fanone said he experienced something similar to a “medieval battle scene” on Jan. 6, and nothing like anything he experienced in his 20-year career.

While defending the Capitol, Fanone was dragged down the Capitol steps, beaten with pipes, stunned with a taser, sprayed with chemical irritants and threatened with his own gun, Albert Fuji, a spokesperson for Courage for America, stated in an email.

When Trump supporter Daniel Rodriguez applied a taser device to the back of Fanone’s neck multiple times, Fanone said he started to fear he might not make it out alive. Fanone suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.

Fanone said his advocacy work has felt exhausting, especially when he goes up against national politicians with large platforms and resources who advocate for political bias. Fanone said he feels disappointed with the politicians who may have a different view of Jan. 6 but are not open to sitting down with him to listen to his experience.

“All of this is a continuation of the battle that we fought on Jan. 6 — it never stopped,” Fanone said. “There has been no reckoning in this country. We haven’t reconciled how we got there; the way our political discourse has devolved into a free for all of violence and insightful statements.”

Amanda Wintersieck, a political science professor and public opinion expert at VCU, said extremism originates in political polarization and the resulting lack of trust among people in disagreement.

“We don’t talk to each other anymore,” Wintersieck said. “And the purpose of civil discourse is to win the argument instead of to actually seek the public good, to move the needle forward in a meaningful way. And so, when all of this happens, you’re already at this inflection point.”

The inflection point was “lit on fire” when Trump refused to concede the 2020 election to Biden, Wintersieck said.

“Just lying to his public, lying to his supporters, and when the only person you trust in politics is telling you something is true — through the process of selective perception, it’s motivated reasoning — it’s really easy to convince yourself that that lie is, in fact, the truth,” Wintersieck said.

Wintersieck said the rules and theories of political science break down with Trump.

“It doesn’t work because he doesn’t behave like a rational actor should behave, right?” Wintersieck said. “We knew we were in trouble when he started denying the election.”

Wintersieck said the state of the U.S. republic is at stake because of Jan. 6, 2021, and the lies surrounding the 2020 election.

“Because of the connectivity that we all have, because of polarization, because of low trust, because of lack of civil discourse, this is the greatest threat in American democracy that American democracy has ever seen,” Wintersieck said. “Certainly from the inside, and certainly since the Civil War.”

Incumbents who lost in the past bowed out of politics, Wintersieck said, citing former Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Trump’s continuing presence in politics is disturbing, she said.

“How do we move forward from this? We get back on track for the model of a commitment to a peaceful transfer of power, a commitment to free and fair and regular elections and having our previous leaders get their damn noses out of American politics when they have no longer been elected,” Wintersieck said. “I would say the same thing for Biden. If Biden loses, he needs to go away. He needs to retire.”

The U.S. hasn’t learned that divisions hurt the country, Wintersieck said.

“We can’t beat each other over the heads with facts, that’s not going to solve this political problem,” Wintersieck said. “Instead we have to start treating each other as human beings.”

Trump appeared at a “Get Out The Vote” rally in Richmond on March 2. In his speech he described those detained after Jan. 6 as hostages and decried the Biden administration’s policies and attempts to convict him of inciting the breach of the Capitol.

Scott Knuth, an attendee at the rally, said Trump supporters will come out in huge numbers in November. He also said the events of Jan. 6 were a “full setup.”

“I told my friends not to go inside, but you know what, they’re patriots!” Knuth said. “But they shouldn’t have gone inside.”

Knuth recalled what the founding fathers did — fight for their rights and freedoms, he said.

“That’s your right to go out there if you want to fly a flag and you want to stand on the Capitol — but we didn’t break any windows. Us Trumpers didn’t do that,” Knuth said.

Kenny L’Heureux, another attendee at the rally, was at the Capitol that day but did not enter it, he said.

“We were close enough to see the tear gas, and collected some rubber bullets and pins from the tear gas canisters,” L’Heureux said. “It was very exhilarating — we thought it was more patriotic than it was archaic.”

L’Heureux and his son were visited by the FBI after Jan. 6, 2021, ostensibly to gain information, he said.

“I didn’t really think that was fair,” L’Heureux said. “There’s many stories going around saying how terrible it was and it really was a patriotic event.”

VCU 2023 health science graduate Erin Deighton doesn’t feel good about Jan. 6, she said. Deighton feels she has to vote more strategically in the upcoming presidential election because of it and that democracy doesn’t give people as much of a choice as she wants it to.

“Obviously there’s people that should be blamed that aren’t being held accountable,” Deighton said. “I think that’s definitely something the U.S. needs to work on.”