January 6. What If?

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Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the January 6 Select Committee and representative of the 2nd congressional district in Mississippi.

“My concerns remain first and foremost with those who continue to seek power at the expense of American democracy. What if those election officials had given in to Donald Trump’s pressure? What if the  Justice Department had gone along with Trump’s scheme to declare the 2020 election fraudulent? What if the Vice President had thrown out electoral votes? What if the rioters bent on stopping the peaceful transfer of power hadn’t been repelled?”

“To cast a vote in the United States of America is an act of both hope and faith. When you drop that ballot in the ballot box, you do so with confidence that every person named on that ballot will hold up their end of the bargain. The person who wins must swear an oath and live up to it. The people who come up short must accept the ultimate results and abide by the will of the voters and the rule of law. This faith in our institutions and laws is what upholds our democracy. If that faith is broken - if those that seek power accept only the election results that they win - then American democracy, only a few centuries old, comes tumbling down.”

“That’s the danger.” SOURCE: December 22, 2022. Bennie G. Thompson, Committee Chairman’s Foreword, to the Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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