Jan. 6 has become a day so tragic that it – like 9/11 and the Dec. 7 – will remain both known and infamous simply by date alone.
But unlike those other days, what early modicum of national and political unity was sparked by the sight of a violent and deluded mob overrunning our nation’s Capitol, ransacking it, injuring more than 140 police officers, threatening the lives of lawmakers and the vice president did not last.
Instead, the rancor of that day has grown to fuel still more bitter divisions – widened by the continuing lies of the former president who invited the violence then reveled in it.
Now we wait as those responsible for the violence – both on the ground and in high places – are brought to justice. The FBI has classified the mob’s attack as an act of domestic terrorism, and the Justice Department calls the effort for accountability “the biggest criminal investigation in U.S. history.”
Of the estimated 2,000-strong mob in that would-be coup, the FBI so far has indicted 727 people. Among those charged, nearly 50 are from Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.