Romney Warns That "Democracy is Fragile" on 1/6 Anniversary

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:45 pm

Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) warned that “democracy is fragile” one year after the attack on the United States Capitol and called on Republicans to heed the lessons of that day, saying democracy cannot survive without “leaders of integrity” who can rise above the fold.

“We ignore the lessons of January 6 at our own peril. Democracy is fragile; it cannot survive without leaders of integrity and character who care more about the strength of our Republic than about winning the next election,” Romney said in a statement.

“I said last year that the best way we can show respect for voters who are upset is by telling them the truth,” he added. “The responsibility that elected officials have in this regard is fundamental to reversing the malaise gripping our current politics and ensuring that our democracy endures.”

Romney thanked those who worked to protect the Capitol during the attack, allowing members of Congress to fulfill their “responsibility to count the votes and that the transfer of power continued unimpeded.”

“Today, we call to mind the memory of those who were tragically lost on the 6th and in the following days, and we reflect with gratitude on the heroic efforts of those who protected the U.S. Capitol and all of us inside the building,” Romney said.

Many have condemned the attack as well as former President Donald Trump for the lies that influenced it, though none more forcefully than President Joe Biden, who rebuked Trump for spinning “a web of lies” that culminated in the attack, which took place when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the building in a failed bid to disrupt the electoral certification of an election they believed had been stolen.

“The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He has done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interest as more important than his country’s interest, America’s interest, and because his bruised ego means more to him than our democracy and our Constitution,” Biden said. “He can’t accept he lost.”

Romney has condemned the attack at every turn, at one point referring to it as “a violent effort to interfere with and prevent the constitutional order of installing a new president, and as such, it was an insurrection against the Constitution, it resulted in severe property damage, severe injuries, and death.”