it is saturday, january the 6th. i m ali velshi. it s been three years since a mob attacked the united states capitol at the port of donald trump s desperate him to cling to power after losing the 2020 presidential election. that attack lasted only a few hours, but the long shadow of that fire insurrection continues to loom large over american democracy. especially now, as the 2024 race heats up. but both the twice impeached, multiply indicted former president, and the current, duly elected president, understand this. that s why january six is a central component of each other presidential campaigns, albeit in vastly different ways. president biden gave the first major speech of his reelection bid yesterday, and he used to as an opportunity to reflect on how the insurrection exposed trump s complete disregard for america s constitutional and democratic values, and emphasized that the former president remains a danger to democracy. it s the first national elections since jan
insurrection placed a dagger at the throat of american democracy. since that moment. we all know who donald trump is. the question we have to answer is, who are we? that s what s at stake. [applause] who are we? but you re ahead, as you talk to your family and friends, cast your ballots, the power is in your hands. after all we ve been through on our history, from independents to civil war to two world war was to a pandemic to insurrection, i refused to believe, that in 2024, we americans will choose to walk away from what made us the greatest nation in the history of the world. in contrast, donald trump has gone to great lengths to try to rewrite the history of the insurrection. he said that january six was quote, a pew to full day. he calls the people who were in charged or convicted for storming the capitol martyrs and hostages. trump enters a 2024 race both at the undisputed front runner for the republican nomination
esteemed a store into could speak to this historic moment of on certainty for american democracy. two and three minutes a professor of american history and american studies at yale university. just got out of the field of blood, violence and congress on the road to the civil war. also with us is steven lipinski, professor emeritus at harvard university and director of the center for latin american studies at harvard. he s the co-author of the book, tyranny of the minority, why american democracy reached the breaking point. welcome to both of you. joe, and you and i were on tv three years ago when this all happened. talking about how it unfolded. i had a really interesting conversation with your colleague tim, snyder, last night. in which he was drawing a parallel to germany in the 1930s, and we were talking about how big and important country germany was, and tim made the point. he said the 20th century would have been germany s century, but for the fact that they did bad things and th