Reflections on January 6 and the Post-Trump Era of Governance
When public officials lie, they compromise our safety and security. This played out to horrific ends on January 6 when the U.S. Capitol was attacked by a marauding mob who were lied to (and egged on) repeatedly by their local and national officials about the non-existent election fraud that occurred in the Presidential election. False narratives also threaten the safety of every community across the United States every day.
Consider another ongoing example: the presumed nexus between immigration and increased crime, pushed relentlessly by the Trump administration and others over the last several years. Many elected officials and candidates for office followed suit and used spurious claims about the danger immigrants posed to us and our families – rapists! murderers! – to justify limiting or eliminating legal protections for immigrants and investing massive amounts of scarce resources to keep immigrants out. These public officials did so even though these lies and baseless policies run counter to what cold, hard facts and research have shown for decades: immigrants, if anything, make this country safer.
As Congress and more than 81 million voters have made clear, we will have a new administration in the White House come January 20. But we would be woefully naive to believe that once the inauguration is over, the lies will suddenly cease and stop distracting us from facts and policies that would actually drive crime down or otherwise increase our national and local security. The Capitol attack that took place on January 6 only confirmed our analysis of the Trump era: lies and demonization are not only morally wrong but dangerous to America and all who live and work here. So let us all – from public and private institutions to community-based organizations and community members – unite to seize this moment and make the post-Trump era of governance one where security and safety grounded in truth, finally, become non-negotiable.
Michael Jacobson
Executive Director, CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance
Professor, Sociology Department CUNY Graduate Center