TRUMP INCITES RIOT ON DAY OF ELECTORAL CEREMONY

 

…The president telling his supporters to head for the Capitol Building

 

President incites the “American Carnage” that he had vowed to stop

 

You may recall that four years ago, in his inaugural speech, Donald Trump vowed to stop what he called the “American Carnage”.  As it has always been with “The Donald,” instead of doing what he has vowed, he did the opposite.  Just as Trump has been the “Liar-in-Chief”, this time instead of stopping the “carnage”, he incited thousands of his supporters to trash the halls of our democracy.  And it was all caused by Trump still pushing his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Trump’s legacy as a president will not only be that he has been the worst ever US President, his presidency is ending with the devastating massive destruction of the capital buildings.  In addition, the deaths of four of his supporters, and  all of the disgraceful destruction being seen around the world from the thousands of videos taken during the melee.

The local security was totally overwhelmed, and they should not have been.  It was known for weeks that there would be thousands of Trump supporters coming from all over the nation to protest, while the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was being confirmed.  But after Trump addressed the crowd, continuing to say that the election was stolen, that was all that it took to start turning the crowd of supporters into a destructive mob. 

It was a highly disgraceful and embarrassing day for the nation, for the federal government, and for those that smashed their way into the capital.  This is the first time that the “people’s institution was taken over by a destructive mob”. 

... Lawmakers were holed-up and blocking their doors with furniture

The extraordinary anarchy that interrupted the tallying of electoral college votes in a joint session of Congress brought America’s democracy to the brink.

After Trump had rallied thousands of people outside the White House by demanding the results be overturned and declaring his duly elected successor “an illegitimate president,” pro-Trump rioters breached police barricades, scaled walls and smashed windows to enter the Capitol.

The marauders freely roamed the building’s stately halls, some carrying Confederate flags. They occupied the Senate and House chambers and rummaged through desks. They vandalized the offices of congressional leaders. They assaulted police and other public servants. They trampled on the gleaming white platform constructed for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. One even tried, but failed, to replace the American flag flying above the balcony with a Trump campaign flag.

Lawmakers and staffers hid in locked bunkers. Vice President Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were spirited away by security to undisclosed locations.  For hours through the afternoon, police failed to contain and disperse the mob.  One rioter was shot during the melee and later died.

The riot seemed to be a natural culmination of what Trump and his compliant Republicans have wrought on the nation that they were swore to protect.

Since his first presidential campaign, Trump has instigated his supporters to express their political views through physical demonstration and violence.  He has declined time and again to repudiate the actions of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other extremists.

Prompted in a presidential debate last fall to condemn white supremacists and right-wing militia-style groups, Trump instead gave extremists an open invitation to act. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump had said back in October.

During his four years in office, Trump has been enabled and supported by his Cabinet and staff, his family members and a battery of Republican elected officials.  They included the scores of House and Senate members who had indulged the president by vowing to object to Wednesday’s scheduled certification of Biden’s victory.

With Wednesday’s occupation underway, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, tweeted that the rioters were “American Patriots” and urged them to be “peaceful.”

...Guns are leveled by security at a rioter looking through a broken window

 

Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani had hours earlier suggested that the election be decided by a “trial by combat”.  He actually tweeted to the capital occupiers, “you are on the right side of the law and history.”

And the president himself fomented the uprising by encouraging attendees of his morning rally to march to the Capitol “to try and give [lawmakers] the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” Trump told his crowd that he planned to walk with them, though he headed straight to the White House after his speech and did not leave the secure compound for the remainder of the day.

Trump was fuming about Vice President Pence’s decision to perform his constitutional duty to certify the election result rather than go rogue at the president’s demand.  Pence then forcefully called for an end to the violence and chaos.

Only as darkness began to fall in Washington, more than three hours after rioters stormed the Capitol, did Trump finally release a video instructing his supporters to “go home.”  “We have to have peace. We have to have law and order,” he said.  

But a few seconds later, the president praised the lawbreakers. “We love you,” he said. “You’re very special.”

Biden characterized the day’s events unsparingly, calling them “insurrection” and “an assault on the most sacred of American undertakings: The doing of the people’s business.”

“This is not dissent,” Biden said. “It is disorder. It is chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end. Now.”

Former president Barack Obama said Wednesday’s insurrection was to be expected, considering how Trump and his allies have responded to the president’s election loss.

“For two months now, a political party and its accompanying media ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth, that this was not a particularly close election and that President-Elect Biden will be inaugurated on January 20,” Obama said in a statement. “Their fantasy narrative has spiraled further and further from reality, and it builds upon years of sown resentments. Now we’re seeing the consequences, whipped up into a violent crescendo.”

There will be more on this event over the coming days and weeks.

Copyright G. Ater 2021