Jake Tapper Asks, Amid Latest Jan. 6 Revelations: Has the ‘American Experiment’ Begun to Fail?

CNN’s Jake Tapper wondered whether American institutions will survive — in light of what the Jan. 6 Committee has revealed about former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Tapper hosted State of the Union from Krun, Germany on Sunday — site of the G7 summit. And in his show’s closing monologue, the CNN anchor invoked the “American Experiment” — the term that the New-York Daily Tribune coined to encapsulate the institutions of the United States. Tapper noted that the term’s origin dates back to 1860.

“Just before another attempt to destroy the republic because one group of Americans did not like the results of an election,” Tapper said.

The CNN anchor spoke of how the U.S. has tried living up to the concepts of the “American Experiment” and noted that the Tribune asked whether “our institutions rest on a solid and permanent basis.”

“Do they?” Tapper asked. “We’ve been learning a lot over the past few weeks about just how much Donald Trump and his minions attempted to disrupt the solidness of those institutions. Can states’ electors be thrown out by the House of Representatives based on lies? Two-thirds of House Republicans, including Republican leaders [Kevin] McCarthy, [Steve] Scalise, and [Elise] Stefanik, as well as senators such as [Ted] Cruz and [Josh] Hawley, they voted that way, knowing it was all a lie, knowing they were rending the garment of our republic, but apparently not caring.”

Tapper referenced the committee’s revelations about Trump pressuring state officials, Trump’s attempts to “weaponize” the Justice Department, and the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol after being incited by Trump.

“The American institutions have held, barely,” Tapper said, “but you can be forgiven for wondering, as our European allies are, whether our American Experiment will ultimately prove successful. Remember, it is the American Experiment. It is not the American Proven Theorum. Whether it succeeds, well, that’s up to us.”

Watch above, via CNN.