PORTLAND, Ore. — It's like nothing we've ever seen before: a violent mob taking over the Capitol trying to topple our democratic process. Pacific University political science professor Jim Moore puts this day in historical context.
“We haven’t seen anything similar to this since the British came by in the war of 1812 and basically burned Washington, D.C. to the ground. I mean that’s how big this is,” said Moore.
The normal part of our history includes the peaceful transfer of power.
Portland State University history professor Mark Rodriguez believes despite the threat to American democracy our system is still working.
“I think what’s happened in the last several months is the president has put a stress test on the system, and it was anticipated by the founders that there would be people who would not want to leave office," said Rodriguez. "That just shows the genius of the founders of this enlightened Republic that we have they thought that there might be something like this in the future and they wanted to create mechanisms to keep that from happening."
So, what's next? Professor Moore said he will be watching to see if those lawmakers who objected to the vote count will back down. And whether President Donald Trump faces any real consequences for inciting extremists.
Beyond that, Moore is concerned about Americans coming together.
“So long term we’re in a world of trouble, here right now we can’t go back to business knowing that this could happen and it was called for by the President of the United States,” said Moore.
Rodriguez says healing starts with fair play in our elections.
“When you lose, you lose and you gotta be a good sport about it and I think that's the thing that a lot of people would like to see, is that both sides learn to be good sports about these things.”