Smart Talk

Smart Talk


Are checks and balances in place to stop another insurrection?

January 05, 2022

Thursday, January 6th – is the one year anniversary of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol where supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to stop of the certification of votes cast in November 2020 for Joe Biden as President.


Twelve months later, hundreds who breached the capitol, including some who violently attacked Capitol police officers, have been arrested and face criminal charges.


In the 12 months since that day, there’s an ongoing Congressional investigation, several books have documented what happened at the Capitol and behind the scenes and we’ve learned more about one of the darkest days in American history.


There are checks and balances in the Constitution and elsewhere to protect against corruption or unlawful or unethical acts in government. Recently, Dr. Fletcher McClellan, a professor of political science at Elizabethtown College compared the nation’s biggest political scandal – Watergate – to the insurrection at the capitol. He joins us on Wednesday’s Smart Talk.