Jimmy Carter N.Y. Times Op-Ed Warns Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Threatens 'Our Precious Democracy'

GEORGIA — On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the attempted seizure of the U.S. Capitol, Jimmy Carter warned that left unchecked, the culture of misinformation, hyperpartisan polarization and political violence that led to that incident could tear the nation asunder.

“Our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss,” the former president wrote in an op-ed article published late Wednesday by The New York Times. “Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy. Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late.”

In the sweeping rebuke of the events of that day, Carter’s article lamented that an ever-growing environment of hyperpartisanship has led to mistrust of the nation’s election system at the behest of the lie that Donald Trump was cheated out of a presidential election victory over Joe Biden. Worse, he cautioned, is the legacy of disingenuous policies born from that lie.

“Politicians in my home state of Georgia, as well as in others, such as Texas and Florida, have leveraged the distrust they have created to enact laws that empower partisan legislatures to intervene in election processes,” Carter, Georgia's 76th governor, penned from his home in Plains. “They seek to win by any means, and many Americans are being persuaded to think and act likewise, threatening to collapse the foundations of our security and democracy with breathtaking speed. I now fear that what we have fought so hard to achieve globally — the right to free, fair elections, unhindered by strongman politicians who seek nothing more than to grow their own power — has become dangerously fragile at home.”

Thousands of angry Trump supporters were amped up by his fiery words — and the words of others backing the lie that Biden won because of widespread fraud — at a rally in the Ellipses on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021. Those supporters then left the political gathering and converged on the Capitol.

Related: What Happened To The 16 Georgians Charged In Jan. 6 Capitol Riot?

While some were content simply to voice their displeasure with the outcome of the November 2020 election, many others had criminal intent, shouting calls to hang Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence, and looking to derail the final certification of the Electoral College vote.

Among those angry rioters who fought and overwhelmed U.S. Capitol Police to force their way into the halls of Congress were 16 Georgians who now face a litany of federal charges. They and many others accused of violating state and federal laws that day find themselves in varying stages of adjudication of their charges.

Thursday morning, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris looked back with severe scrutiny on the events of that day.

“On January 6th, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful,” Harris said. “The lawlessness, the violence, the chaos. What was at stake then, and now, is the right to have our future decided the way the Constitution prescribes it: by we, the people — all the people.”

Biden spoke from Statuary Hall, where the U.S. House of Representatives meets and where several Congress members barricaded themselves as rioters stormed the building. He challenged the nation to cling to high moral standards.

“And so at this moment, we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be,” Biden said. “Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies? We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it.”

In his opinion piece, Carter pointed out that all four living former presidents — himself, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — condemned the actions that day and acknowledged what numerous election recounts and court decisions had already determined: that Biden had won a free and fair election.

He expressed his disappointment that the insurrection was not the crescendo of a wave of extreme partisanship and called upon elected leaders across the country to work to reverse the devolving direction of political discourse.

“There followed a brief hope that the insurrection would shock the nation into addressing the toxic polarization that threatens our democracy,” Carter wrote. “For American democracy to endure, we must demand that our leaders and candidates uphold the ideals of freedom and adhere to high standards of conduct.”