“The Capitol Invasion”: a blockbuster by Donald Trump. Once again, in American political life, the script of reality has overtaken the script of fiction. After a year 2020 already full of twists and turns, a milestone was undoubtedly crossed yesterday with Trumpist demonstrators entering the seat of Congress, at the call of the President of the United States still in office.
A safety device clearly under-dimensioned
He had just held a meeting in Washington, when the certification by the two chambers of Congress of the electoral college vote began, after which Joe Biden would be officially recognized as the winner of the presidential election. “We will never concede defeat”, he hammered before calling the crowd to move towards the Capitol. A part of those present then headed for the seat of parliament where awaited a clearly undersized security device which was limited to the members of the Capitol police, which depends on the federal government. Clashes took place between them and demonstrators. Other Trumpists smashed windows with iron bars before entering the premises. The national guard was deployed in the capital while the mayor of the city decreed a curfew from 6 p.m.
Mission to protect the Constitution
From the first intrusions, the session of Congress was immediately adjourned. Vice President Mike Pence was evacuated, as protesters made their way into the Senate compound, one even posing in place of the Speaker of the Upper House. One person was even reportedly injured inside the building. After having heated his troops to white, Donald Trump asked them, via Twitter, to remain “peaceful.” “We are witnessing an attempted coup instigated by the White House criminal. It is doomed to failure, ”tweeted Democratic Representative William Pascrell. Shortly before this intrusion, most of the Republican senators, starting with their leader Mitch Mc Connell, had stood out from Donald Trump and had recognized the victory of Joe Biden. The vice-president, Mike Pence, had also refused to do what Trump asked him and which he does not have the power, according to the Constitution: refuse certification in certain states, the famous “swing states” which gave the victory in Biden. The president-elect spoke at around 4 p.m. local time to stigmatize “a small number of extremists”. “It’s almost sedition and it must stop now,” he said. Joe Biden asked Donald Trump to speak on TV in order to fulfill his mission of protecting the Constitution and asking the seditious to leave the premises. The nationalist president had no choice but to give in to this call, at the risk of appearing to be even more irresponsible than he had been until then, plunging the country to the brink of the abyss.
Whatever happens, January 6, 2021 will go down in the annals of American history. The political polarization at work for several decades – largely fueled by the drift of the Republican Party, of which Trumpism is only the latest avatar – has led to an attack on the symbol of parliamentary democracy, the instigator of which was the 45e President of the United States.
Find all of our articles on the United States.
