On Thursday, a cautiously optimistic E.J. Dionne posited that Wednesday’s violent storming of the U.S. Capitol building by pro-Trump extremists may have been the shot in the arm that American democracy needed.
"It’s awful, but maybe going forward this was the inoculation,” the Washington Post columnist said during an interview on Boston Public Radio. “Maybe this was the vaccine we needed."
Describing himself jokingly as a "glass one-tenth full sort of person,” Dionne said it’s critical that yesterday’s insurrection stopped short of preventing Congress from certifying President-elect Biden’s Electoral College victory. Though he recognized that American extremists aren’t going anywhere, he said he’s viewing it as a sign of weakness, rather than strength, that President Donald Trump had to resort to stoking his supporters to take action against the fair and lawful election.
Read More: Biden Win Confirmed After Pro-Trump Mob Storms US Capitol
Dionne also said he’s hopeful that the immensely negative reaction from both Democrats and Republicans will bode poorly for the future of Trump-era politics, predicting yesterday's events will have a "long-term impact on the ability of Trumpism to survive as a movement and the ability of Trump to interfere in our politics.”
"And I use that term intentionally,” he said. “Interfere in our politics, after he is gone.”
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During the conversation, Dionne also offered some thoughts on Biden’s pick of former Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland for attorney general. Garland has been Dionne's friend since their college years at Harvard. In December, he wrote an op-ed for The Post titled " The Case For Merrick Garland As Attorney General."
"I was reluctant to write it because obviously I am biased, as someone who knew him," Dionne said. "But the reason I decided to write it is ... everybody who’s known Merrick Garland for a long time knows how much the word ‘integrity’ really defines him.”
"I wrote that column because I felt that after the experience of A.G. (Bill) Barr, you needed someone who would be utterly trustworthy, trusted across the political spectrum, known for his integrity … and who could put the Justice Department back together … [and] establish that the Justice Department is not the president’s Justice Department, it’s the Justice Department for the whole country.”
E.J. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. His latest book is " Code Red: How Progressives And Moderates Can Unite To Save Our Country."
