Atlanta professors on impacts of disinformation, midterms and political rhetoric on democracy in 2022

December 19th, 2022

Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. Top House and Senate leaders will present law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with Congressional Gold Medals on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, awarding them Congress's highest honor nearly two years after they fought with former President Donald Trump’s supporters in a brutal and bloody attack. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

On this edition of “Closer Look,” Atlanta professors assess the stability and threats toward American democracy over the past year, including the ongoing impacts of the Jan. 6 insurrection nearly two years after the attack.

Illya Davis, a philosophy professor at Morehouse College, joined Dr. Maurice Hobson, an associate professor of Africana Studies and historian at Georgia State University, for a conversation centered on a key question: Was 2022 a good year for American democracy?

While reflecting on the outcome of this year’s primaries and midterms, Hobson stressed a focus on larger underlying issues over the short-term defeat of candidates who supported election conspiracies and the capitol attack.

“If we believe that was a win for democracy, I can sell you oceanfront property in Tennessee. We have voter suppression that’s taking place right here in the state of Georgia,” Hobson said. “Did Secretary of State [Brad] Raffensperger stand up to former president Trump? Yes, and he did his job. That’s commendable. But that particular administration in the state has also pushed a level of voter suppression.”