On January 6, our nation experienced a trauma that will reverberate through our history. Former President Donald Trump incited a mob of conspiracy theorists and white supremacists to lay siege to the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. This sedition had deadly consequences for the police and the insurrectionists; five people were killed, and the lives of members of Congress and their staff were put at risk.
We will never reach national healing if the Trump enablers feel no contrition for their subversive actions.
Trump has been impeached by the U. S. House of Representatives for his actions, but now some Republican Senators are hiding behind partisan rhetoric to attempt to thwart the process. They are standing in the way of justice and national reconciliation.
To all of those who want to avoid this step of conviction in the Senate and just “move on,” let me tell you what my Catholic faith teaches about reconciliation.
Reconciliation and absolution require contrition, confession, and penance. Until those responsible for this insurrection accept that their actions were sinful, confess their crimes, and are held accountable, we cannot move forward with integrity. In fact, the seeds of insurrection will grow and democracy itself may die on the vine.
It is clear that Trump has no remorse for his actions and accepts no responsibility for the insurrection or its deadly consequences. But our nation can engage in reconciliation whether or not Mr. Trump chooses to take part. We need national reconciliation after months of coordinated lies and propaganda by Trump and his Republican Party cronies. And, for those Republicans who were silent in the face of the Trump Administration’s lies, we need their engagement in a national process to change the course.
The cracks in our nation’s foundational values have been blown wide open by Trump and his enablers. They spread lies rejecting an election that they lost. By targeting communities of color with lies about voter fraud, they manifested their overt racism and stirred the same divisions that created Jim Crow laws and voter suppression.
Not one of these elected enablers has shown contrition for their actions. None have confessed that they lied to their constituents about election fraud. There have been no acts of penance. And yet they want to “move on.”
We have a model for national healing. It begins with accountability for the former President in the form of an impeachment conviction in the Senate. Next, it requires all those who attempted to poison the well of democracy to clearly state the truth: Joe Biden is our duly elected President. And finally, as penance for their crimes against our electoral system, these Republican legislators must join with their Democratic colleagues to pass legislation that strengthens our democracy.
In 2020, millions of Americans were told repeatedly to mistrust the sanctity of the ballot. This lie is deadly for any democracy. According to polling on voter trust in elections, it has seeped into the psyche of the entire Republican Party. In fact, it may have kept some Republican voters in Georgia from voting in the January Senate runoff elections.
The For the People Act, which Senate Republicans have blocked for more than a year, will create national standards for elections and eliminate the confusion that the propagandists preyed on in 2020. This is a first step to rebuild faith in our system, and Republicans must join in this effort.
Moreover, we cannot forget the racist elements of this anti-democratic propaganda. Since key provisions of the Voting Rights Act were eliminated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, Republican legislators have refused to protect the integrity of historically disenfranchised voters. Rather, they have sown mistrust of voters of color and restricted their access to the ballot.
This came to a head in 2020, when Trump and his enablers claimed that votes in such heavily Black cities as Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, and Milwaukee, should all be tossed out. This is white supremacy in action, and it is a grievous sin. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which Senate Republicans have also blocked for more than a year, would finally put an end to the tactics of racist voter disenfranchisement.
We will never reach national healing if the Trump enablers feel no contrition for their subversive actions. I had hoped that the January insurrection would snap the Republican Party back to reality and help them see that their lies have dire consequences.
When Congressional staffers sent a letter urging Senators to convict Trump, explaining that his actions had put their lives in very real danger, I prayed that Republican legislators would listen to the young people with whom they work every day. But tragically, most have hardened their hearts and built up their defenses.
Now our only hope is that more Republicans will be swayed by the evidence presented at the Senate impeachment trial and by the words of fellow Republicans and Democrats who want to protect democracy.
I know from experience, stepping away from one’s own defensiveness and finding contrition is hard work. However, once you accept that what you have done is wrong, it is much easier to ask for forgiveness and take action to make things right. This is what our deeply divided nation needs.
I urge Senate Republicans to speak up for the truth, as Trump’s impeachment trial plays out. It is only in the process of truth telling that you will find the healing that we all need.