| Democracy in America is under threat. You hear that regularly from politicians — almost all of them Democrats. President Biden said as much today, on the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters: "We are living at an inflection point in history, both at home and abroad," Biden said in a speech marking the occasion. "We are engaged anew in a struggle between democracy and autocracy, between the aspirations of many, and the greed of a few." But, why, specifically do so many Americans feel the state of democracy is so dire? A few legitimate reasons: 1. Democracy's bedrock — free and fair elections — came under threat in 2020 like never before in modern history. "If you use democracy as a shorthand for: 'We elect our leaders, and the person who gets the most votes wins,' what happened in 2020 and some of what is happening since threatened that principle," said Trey Grayson, a Republican who is former Kentucky secretary of state. Politicians (Democrats included) raised questions about election results in 2000, 2004 and 2016. But not until 2020 did a sitting president try to overturn results. 2. The Big Lie is spreading. Former president Donald Trump ultimately failed to stay in power, but he succeeded in warping the beliefs of a majority of a major political party. Today, somewhere between 60-70 percent of Republicans believe his false claim that the election was stolen. Attendees at the Trump rally and Capitol riot that day are running for governor, Congress, local school boards. Trump and his allies are propping up candidates who deny the results of the last election to run the next election. Poll workers report death threats for certifying the results. Anyone who wants to win a Republican primary has to deny the results of the election. "It's all coordinated — and it's laying the groundwork to overturn the will of American voters," said Joanna Lydgate, president of the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center. Former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican actively involved in pro-democracy efforts, told me this: "In the year since the January 6 insurrection, Trump and his allies have not stopped peddling the lies about the 2020 election — they've just found new ways to keep these dangerous lies alive." Is there reason for optimism?  President Biden speaks from the US Capitol on Jan. 6 about the threat to democracy. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | Optimistic Republicans and Democrats I talk to will point out that despite all this stress in 2020, the system worked. A handful of Republicans in the right place at the right time stood up to Trump and wouldn't change the popular vote of the people they represent. They include: Arizona's governor, Georgia's secretary of state and Michigan lawmakers who met with the president. Even former vice president Mike Pence is on this list. He refused to flip the results even after protesters threatened his life on Jan. 6. Trump-appointed judges slapped down false voter fraud claims in court. A year after the election, audit after audit — even Republican-led ones — have come up empty, too. What we don't yet know, especially with the transformation of the Republican Party into one that denies Trump's loss: Are there enough Republicans who believe in democracy and will fight to protect it? Today, a year after the attack, more Republicans describe what happened on Jan. 6 as defending freedom or patriotism rather than as an insurrection, according to a new CBS/YouGov poll. So what did Republican leaders do today?  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has been largely silent about the attack. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | They made clear that they'll support Trump's election lie, at least implicitly, by not calling it out and not addressing some of the frayed ends of democracy that we just talked about. Here's what a few top Republicans said shortly after the attack — compared to what they said a year later. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), then: "The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters." McCarthy, today: Nothing. He issued no statement and did not attend memorials for it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.): "There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day." McConnell, today: No mention of Trump. He attacked Democrats instead. "January 6th, 2021 was a dark day for Congress and our country … it has been stunning to see some Washington Democrats try to exploit this anniversary to advance partisan policy goals that long predated this event." Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), then: "All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough." Graham, today: He attacked Democrats, too. "What brazen politicization of January 6 by President Biden." "No, I'm not a moderate" If you read one thing (besides this newsletter) today on Jan. 6, let it be this Post story illustrating how the Republican Party is now a party of election deniers. In it, a Republican Arizona state senator told my colleagues he isn't going to run for office again because he's not willing to say the election was stolen. He feels like he doesn't have a home in the Republican Party anymore as a result. "If you ask any of my Democratic colleagues, they'll tell you how conservative I am," Paul Boyer said. "And the fact that on one issue I didn't agree with the party makes my belief on limited government, on school choice, on life, on public safety, all out the window — it's like, no, I'm not a moderate." | 
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