More violence may emerge in US before Inauguration Day
▶ Trump govt disempowered, cannot incite further trouble: experts
After the shocking and historic incident that happened at the Capitol Hill in Washington DC last week, Democrats and establishment elites in the US are trying their best to launch a comprehensive offensive against US President Donald Trump and his followers to clean them out from the system, but such measures won’t serve to heal the wounded and polarized country, but could further increase divergences, said Chinese analysts.
The US will be more unpredictable in the future due to endless internal struggles, and in the final 10 days of the Trump administration, they will be disempowered by the Democrats and establishment elites, so its “final madness or final frenzy” is mostly a “war of words” rather than actual actions that could really endanger other countries in their final moments in the government, experts noted.
Almost every mainstream Western social media network has banned Trump’s
accounts, Twitter has even suspended the sitting president’s personal account permanently, in the name of controlling information spread that could incite violence, but the rampage at the Capitol on Wednesday seems unlikely to be the final act of violence ahead of president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration day on January 20, as signs circulating on US social media platforms are indicating fanatical supporters of Trump are planning to brew more trouble.
“Trump or war. Today. That simple” and “If you don’t know how to shoot: You need to learn. Now,” and “we will storm government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents, and demand a recount.” These are among the radical comments on social media networks that have been trying to encourage Trump supporters to be violent and get on the offensive, according to CNN.
American experts warned via media that the calls for violence have only intensified ahead of Inauguration Day and they “fully expect that this violence could actually get worse before it gets better.”
Chinese analysts said US establishment elites and social media giants are trying their utmost to portray Trump and his supporters as “the common enemy of democracy,” to simplify the complicated and long-standing systemic crisis into a black-and-white question between establishment elites and Trump, but unfortunately, this will only cause more divergences, and conflicts will continue.
The Democrats, and some Republicans, are now trying to push impeachment against Trump for the second time in his term as they believe he should be held responsible for Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol, according to The New York Times.
Ni Feng, director of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that impeaching Trump is not just designed to impeach a president, but to displease or choose confrontation against 74 million people in the US who voted for Trump. “Impeaching Trump would only provoke a new round of violence and tear US society apart.”
The act of silencing Trump online could anger many Trump supporters as they feel their political stance or opinions are being muted too, and they might believe this is a type of tyranny that the establishment elites have imposed on them, so they could become more violent, Ni noted.
Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday that “After Trump realized his opportunity to overturn the election result had totally failed and promised that the power transition would be smooth and orderly, his supporters have become divided again. A group of them have accepted the fact and seek to distance themselves from the extremists, and another group is becoming more extreme and radical.”
Through the clearing operation conducted by US police and other armed law-enforcement forces at the Capitol on Wednesday, we can see US establishment elites have enough power to crack down on far-right conservative forces very quickly in violent conflicts. As long as they are fully prepared, as long as Trump supporters and other extremists don’t want to be killed or arrested, they will be unable to repeat the Capitol riots, Jin said.
But impeachment would be more like a humiliation to Trump and his supporters, rather than a serious motion, because only 10 days are left before Inauguration Day, time is not enough for Congress to impeach Trump, Chinese observers said.
Disempowering Trump
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with the nation’s top military officer on Friday about the precautions in place to prevent Trump from ordering a nuclear strike or conducting other military hostilities as Democrats seek his removal from office, Politico reported.
The stunning revelation came in a letter from the speaker to House Democrats outlining the next steps following a violent breach of the Capitol on Wednesday. Pelosi said she spoke to Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley about guardrails in place that could prevent “an unstable president” from wielding the military or the country’s nuclear arsenal.
In the next 10 days, the Trump administration will not be able to incite any new trouble worldwide, and although politicians like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might still speak nonsense to provoke other countries, the administration has no authority to cause actual problems and crises, since Trump and his administration have been muted and isolated, Chinese analysts said.
Impeaching Trump would only provoke a new round of violence and tear US society apart.