Danger signs were there long before Trump militias’ Washington attack
AFTER four long, dispiriting years of the Donald Trump presidency, most reasonable people will have likely assumed that nothing about American politics could shock them anymore. Leave it to the odious property tycoon and reality TV star to turn that assumption on its head in the most stunning and appalling fashion imaginable.
In January 2017, Donald Trump stood on the steps of the Capitol Building and swore – in front of a decidedly modest crowd of his die-hard supporters – to uphold and defend the USA’s near sacred constitution.
Now, just four years on, in a last desperate bid to cling illegally to power, he has incited a riot and applauded as thousands of rioters stormed those same steps in an unprecedented assault on democracy.
His call for calm and acceptance that a smooth transition of power must now take place came a full day later. By then, five people were dead and American society had been rocked to its very foundations by the actions of a desperate President.
Before Trump, Richard Nixon held the role of the United State’s greatest presidential villain.
By attempting to instigate a coup, Trump has made even ‘ Tricky’ Dick’s departure look like the very model of what should happen in a normal, civilised, functioning democracy.
Yet, as shocking as last week’s events in Washington were, there is a sense that they were entirely predictable and preventable. The warning signs have, after all, been there for all to see for a very long time.
Trump has always courted the far right and extremists form the bedrock of his support. From the earliest days of his presidency, Trump has defended right wing racist groups and actively sought to foment race and class division.
The racial tensions and protests brought the nation to a standstill last summer but it was in Michigan last April that the extent of the danger posed by Trump’s more extreme supporters was starkly revealed.
On that occasion – in scenes disturbingly similar to those in Washington last week – scores of armed militia members, many wielding automatic weapons, stormed the Michigan State Capital as its members debated new Covid restrictions.
Just last October the FBI foiled a ‘domestic terror plot’, which was at an advanced stage, by Trump supporting militia to kidnap Michigan’s Governor.
The danger posed by Trump’s extremist followers was clear but, perhaps, amid Trump’s increasing ludicrous legal attempts to overturn the election result, a degree of complacency had set in.
Thankfully, Trump’s gamble has failed and, ironically, it has served only to galvanise his opposition and ensure the end of his divisive presidency.
Democracy has prevailed and Trump’s many enablers in the Republican Party have – in the face of an all out attack on the constitution they hold so dear – finally seen sense and turned their backs on him. For that at least we can all be thankful.