The Republican Party Is Now the Party of January 6 – Vanity Fair

The January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol failed to overturn Donald Trumps election loss to Joe Biden, but it could ultimately prove successful as a galvanizing point for the radical right. In the year since the attack, the rioters have been embraced as martyrs by many in the GOP; Trump allies have made their cause a loyalty test for lawmakers; and insurrectionists methods have grown more sophisticated, with legislators using the Big Lie to enact voter suppression laws across the country and extremists taking their efforts local.

Its going to be a fight, but this is a fight that must be won, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said on his podcast last spring. Were going to take this back village by village.

In its immediate aftermath, the Capitol attack put the radical right on its heels. According to an Atlantic Council report out Tuesday, domestic extremist movements faced increased scrutiny following the riot, with social media cracking down on dangerous users and content and an ongoing parade of arrests of those who stormed Congress as it sought to certify Bidens victory. But, as the report also found, the right-wing extremist movements didnt go away amid all that pressure. Theyve simply adapted, finding or creating new platforms to spread their message; focusing on the grassroots level; and insinuating themselves into the mainstream of Republican politics. The domestic extremist landscape was battered by January 6, the reports author, Jared Holt, told NBC News. But extremism is dynamic and fluid. It is always trying to adapt to fit the container that its in.

Such adaptations could make the January 6 extremist movement even more insidious; its easy to spot insurrectionists when theyre taking the Capitol by force, but harder, perhaps, when theyre entering with a lawmaker ID badge. Congress is already home to something of an insurrectionist caucus, with figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and Lauren Boebertthree of the 139 House members who tried overturning the electionusing their national platform to spread conspiracy theories, erode faith in the democratic process, and threaten political opponents. The party has largely swallowed Trumps election lies, with 71% of Republicans telling pollsters that the ex-president was the rightful winner of the 2020 election. In the same Ipsos/ABC News poll, 52% of Republicans said the Capitol rioters were actually protecting democracy, a warped version of the events of January 6 that fits with what CNN's Donie O'Sullivan recently heard from Trump supporters.

As the Atlantic Council report makes clear, extremist groups involved in the January 6 attack are not only working at the national level: Theyre getting involved in local politics, starting nonprofits and PACs, and hosting conferences featuring elected officials like Gosar. In some ways, this reflects the ways in which the outburst of violence last year scattered the coalition of far-right movements that came together to attack Congress. But it may also represent the maturation of those movements into a more effective political force.

We figured out that going to the Capitol and working that particular piece doesnt do anything, because these legislators have already made up their mind, Denise Aguilar, who spoke at a right-wing event in Washington D.C. on January 6, told NBC News last month outside a California school board meeting she was attending to protest vaccine mandates. Its all about local legislation, your school districts, your city council board of supervisorsThese people live in our community. They work here, and theyre going to have to face us every single day.

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The Republican Party Is Now the Party of January 6 - Vanity Fair