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This is an adapted excerpt from the Jan. 6 episode of "Deadline: White House."
Monday was a bittersweet day. Vice President Kamala Harris officially certified the results of the 2024 election, declaring President-elect Donald Trump the winner of the Electoral College. Candidly, I’m bitter.
I’m bitter that a higher political price wasn’t paid for what Trump did four years ago on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. It’s clear that something is broken in our political and legal system and we need to acknowledge that.
But the other thing we must keep front of mind is that Trump won with less than 50% of the popular vote in November. Despite what the president-elect may want you to believe, this is an evenly divided country. We should also keep in mind that a chunk of those folks who voted for Trump seemed to ignore everything except the fact that they don’t like the status quo.
I’m bitter that a higher political price wasn’t paid for what Trump did four years ago on Jan. 6, 2021.
The anti-incumbency sentiment was real. It’s real all over the world. We’re seeing a hangover from Covid and the inflation and the pain it brought. People around the world feel like things are out of control and because of that, they don’t want the status quo. They didn’t want to vote for somebody who was even close to an incumbent. However, that doesn’t mean they bought into everything Trump represents.
I talk to people every day who say they’re just tuning out. They say they’re discouraged and depressed. But we cannot tune out. This is the time to tune in.
Nearly half of the country doesn’t want this. They do not want a guy who, frankly, is neither capable nor competent tasked with running the largest and finest military in the world. They don’t want people who stormed the U.S. Capitol to be pardoned for their crimes.
So yes, clearly there’s work to do here, and together, we’re going to do it. But the people in this country have to decide that they don’t quit fighting just because Trump will be back in the White House.
That kind of fight is what Harris represented on Monday, and she did it with a smile on her face. I couldn’t have been prouder of her. Now it’s time for us to follow her lead.
Allison Detzel contributed.