It was another eventful twelve months in the world, and particularly in the United States. The year started with a bang. Two more Democrats were added to the Senate thanks to Georgia’s run-off election, tying the Senate 50/50. On January 6, Trump supporters who believed that the election was “stolen” from him met on the Ellipse, and then marched on to the Capitol, where they broke through riot barriers, assaulted Capitol police, smashed windows, destroyed property, defecated in the halls, and infiltrated the floors of the House and Senate. Members of Congress and the Vice President fled to shelter in safe rooms, as the mob threatened elected officials. President Trump took three hours before asking his followers to stand down. The mob retreated, but five people died, including a protestor shot by D.C. police. Later that evening, a shaken Congress reconvened. Shocked at what they saw, some Republicans who were going to object to the certification had a change of heart, including Indiana’s Senator Braun. Despite a few stalwart Republican efforts to overturn the election by objecting to the Electoral College results, Joe Biden was officially declared the winner and took office on January 20, 2021. Kamala Harris was the first woman of color sworn in as Vice President.
The aftermath of the insurrection brought calls for Trump’s impeachment, resignation, or the 25th Amendment removing him from power for inciting violence. Cabinet members and administration officials quit in disgust. Trump’s social media accounts were suspended, along with other notables who had spread deceitful messages and called for supporters to storm the Capitol. Then, for the first time in American history, articles of impeachment were filed for the second time against a sitting president. With just days to go in his administration, Trump faced the possibility of being thrown out of office. The Senate decided the trial would be held after the inauguration, and later Senate Republicans voted to acquit Trump for the second time. Claims that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election have been thoroughly investigated and proved false, but despite the facts, Trump and some of his supporters continued to push the lie that the election was somehow stolen.
President Biden got to work to bring financial relief to the nation, working with Democrats to pass a relief bill that put $1,400 in stimulus funds in people’s pockets and revamped the Earned Tax Credit so parents with children got monthly stipends. In addition, his administration temporarily increased SNAP benefits by 25% for poor families and seniors. Later in the year, the $2 trillion “Build Back Better” infrastructure bill passed, with no Republicans voting for it. Overall, legislation passed in 2021 helped lift millions of children out of poverty and got over 200 million Americans vaccinated. However, the second phase of BBB was doomed by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin (D) who came out against the social spending portions of the bill.
COVID-19 stayed very much in the headlines, with the U.S. losing over 800,000 people to the virus by the end of December. Vaccinations increased dramatically in January and February throughout the country, focusing on the most vulnerable populations first and then on to everyone else. The rollout was initially successful, for the most part, though some states opened too early and there was a resurgence in illness and hospitalizations in spring. A new variant, Delta, emerged as a new threat in the summer months. Vaccination mandates, while unpopular, got vaccination rates trending upward, but they plateaued in July. The CDC recommended a booster shot six months after the initial vaccination. The Delta variant spread rapidly in the U.S. starting in August, and more young people were diagnosed with severe cases. Fake cures and false information about the virus got the attention of millions thanks to social media. In November, it was announced that yet another variant had been identified, Omicron. Despite attempts to keep it contained, Omicron has spread rapidly throughout the world, forcing a return to restrictions in public places in many parts of the world. Over 5.3 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March 2020, and over 18,000 Hoosiers are gone as a result of the virus.
American troops left Afghanistan in August, and the Taliban quickly took control of the country. Frantic evacuations took place throughout August as the Taliban seized the capital of Kabul. Refugees poured into Pakistan and Iran, and there was universal condemnation of how the withdrawal was handled. On Aug. 26, a faction of ISIS sent in a suicide bomber at the Kabul airport and killed 13 American soldiers, killed numerous Afghani citizens including children, and wounded hundreds. As the Taliban took over the country, millions of girls were barred from schools, women were barred from their jobs, and people suspected of working with Americans were rounded up. By December, fully half of the population was in danger of starvation as a result of economic sanctions and supply chain issues.
Mass shootings erupted in March in Atlanta, Georgia as eight people were killed in massage parlors by a lone gunman. A week later, another gunman opened fire in a King Sooper supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, killing 10 people. On November 30, a school shooting in Oxford, Michigan left four students dead and several injured while the shooter was taken into custody. Britain had its first mass shooting in a decade in August, when a lone gunman killed five in Plymouth.
Protests erupted all over Russia to support dissident Navalny, who was poisoned in 2020 and transported to Germany, then returned to Russia and was promptly arrested. The protests were met with police force and thousands were detained. Navalny went on a hunger strike and was hospitalized. In Belarus, residents raced to the borders with Poland and Lithuania in a rush to seek asylum from the dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenko. The action reached a crisis level as those countries closed their borders and thousands were left in the cold. In December, the U.S. became concerned as Russian troops began to mass at the border with Ukraine.
Haiti experienced a 7.2 earthquake in August, then was battered by a hurricane. Over 2,000 people died in the quake. Combined with the assassination of the Haitian president, thousands began to flee, coming to the U.S. border seeking asylum. A volcano erupted in Indonesia, killing at least 34 people and burying villages under ash. An earthquake shook the country in mid-December.
Next issue: The Midwest, Indiana and Indianapolis news from 2021
