People with U.S. links aghast at Trump mob
Michael Fougere spent Wednesday afternoon watching the capital of his childhood country descend into chaos.
“I'm watching people actually breaking windows in the Capitol now,” said Fougere, Regina's former mayor, who grew up in Michigan until he was 13 years old. “It's incredible what I'm seeing on TV.”
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed through police lines to invade the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, as legislators debated the counting of Electoral College votes cast for Joe Biden.
Senators and representatives were evacuated. At least one person was shot. U.S. media reported that she later died.
“I am profoundly disappointed and despondent over this, I never would have thought this kind of disruption and sedition would happen in the United States, of all places in the world,” said Fougere. “It's just profoundly disturbing to see this happening.”
Dale Eisler, a senior policy fellow at the Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy in Regina, is struck by how much American politics has degenerated since he spent four years serving as Canada's consul general in Denver.
“It's quite something to see what's going on in the United States now compared to the sentiment that existed in 2008, Obama's nomination, when he was an incredible unifying force for the United States,” said Eisler, who ended his consular role in 2011. “Just to see how far that the nation has sunk.”
Eisler said it's clear that Trump “incited the spectacle we're now witnessing,” including through a Wednesday speech where he again baselessly framed his defeat as the result of a rigged election.
“When you do that, and have a mob that's being fuelled by emotions and falsehoods, it's a very explosive situation,” said Eisler. “And violence is often a likely outcome.”
In Eisler's view, healing the festering divisions that broke out into violence on Wednesday will be the single greatest challenge for incoming president Joe Biden, who is set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
“Trump has done so much damage to the political fabric of the country, that this is not going to be something that will be easy for the new president,” said Eisler.
He said the pathologies splitting American politics right now also exist in Canada, though he believes our political system is better positioned to sustain them.
“We're a less polarized nation in that regard,” he said. “But we shouldn't underestimate the potential for this kind of aberrant populism to emerge in Canada.”
Fougere said he's “profoundly grateful” to now live in Canada. The violence he watched Wednesday on TV served as a reminder of the fragility of democracy.
“I'm hoping that things are resolved in the U.S., but I'm also hoping that Canada, when it looks at this, understands how important and how delicate democracy is, that we have to keep working each and every day to make sure that we keep our democracy flourishing,” he said.
For now, he's going to keep watching, and hoping.
“The next few hours are going to be absolutely critical to the country in many ways,” Fougere said. “I'm hoping and praying that American democracy is more durable than what we're seeing here right now.”