Former special counsel Jack Smith testified before Congress on Thursday about his investigation of Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
But while the topic was the past, the hearing was really about the future.
Yes, Democrats on the committee walked through that tragic day’s events. An angry mob, driven by lies and conspiracy theories, broke into the Capitol to stop the certification of a free and fair election. They were the linchpin of a pressure campaign led by the then-president designed to keep him in power after he lost.
Before Smith said a word, we already knew the big picture.
But while Democrats on the committee focused on the past, Republicans looked to change the subject. Instead of sincerely grappling with the violence or the attempt to overturn the election, Republicans focused on process. They questioned procedures, attacked the special counsel and debated legal technicalities. They did not try to argue, as some have, that Jan. 6 was a hoax or a false flag operation or just a friendly group of tourists. Instead, they did everything they could to make it feel less consequential. That distinction matters.
When a violent attack on democracy is treated as just another political disagreement, something dangerous is happening. At times, the hearing felt less like an effort to hold people accountable and more like an attempt to wear the public down until it grew tired of attempting to hold people accountable.
While this was going on, some key people closer to the action are trying to warn us.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said this week that it would be a mistake to assume attempts to interfere with elections are over. “I don’t think it’s paranoia to have that concern,” she said, warning that future elections could be targeted. Coming from the governor of a battleground state, that is not speculation. That is experience talking.
Seen through that lens, yesterday’s hearing takes on sharper meaning.
We can argue about rules and process. But what Democrats tried to do, and what Republicans largely resisted, was to remind the country of a basic truth. Jan. 6 was a violent attempt to overturn an election, encouraged by the man who lost it.
Smith made a simple but critical point in his testimony. When serious crimes are not punished, it sends a message. It tells future actors that they can try again. Accountability is not about payback. It is about preventing the next attempt. Right now, the message of accountability has been lost. By focusing on side arguments instead of the crime itself, by treating election interference as a matter of opinion rather than fact and by downplaying real concerns about future elections, we risk normalizing behavior that should never be normal in a healthy democracy. President Donald Trump has spent years telling the country the 2020 election was stolen. Those claims helped pave the way for Jan. 6. Now similar claims are being seeded about future elections. The goal is no longer to prove anything. It is to confuse people enough that they stop knowing what to believe. Democracy rarely ends all at once. It erodes when facts are questioned, accountability is delayed and extreme behavior is treated as routine politics. Jan. 6 was the crime. Thursday’s hearing was the warning. For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders-Townsend, watch “The Weeknight” every Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MS NOW.
Symone D. Sanders Townsend is an author and a co-host of "The Weeknight." 
