Is this really how to make America great again?
The sixth of January had the whole world turning to America wide-eyed in disbelief. The US Capitol building was overrun for the first time since 1814 and five people are dead. Law enforcement was ill-prepared for the sheer swarms of Trump supporter terrorists. A mindless mob and a siege of red hats looking for bigoted bedlam. The senate floor was cleared of elected officials and then crowded by chaos.
The acts of terror on the Capitol building were incited by Trump’s fervent false cries of a so-called stolen election. America is suffering. It is shaking with fury and fright from a feral man in the White House. The president had primed his followers like a loaded grenade and set it on the Capitol building. Spreading seditious rhetoric to satisfy a need to have one last braying whine and release an unprecedented act of domestic terrorism.
The city is taking no chances by extending its state of emergency and deploying the National Guard for at least 30 days.
Petulant egotism and tantrums have come to this. This is Trump at his most authoritarian, make no mistake. We have seen the crowds and the anger intensify, turning into spite and venom. Now they are intoxicated by the idea of somehow being able to reverse the results of an election that has already been long lost.
These people have been given many names in the news over the last few days: rioters, Trump supporters, MAGA hat wearers. But we should call them what they really are. This was never a peaceful protest, or a swarm of Trump supporters chanting and chasing an impossible endeavour. This was an act of terror.
America, after four long, hard years are you great again yet? To those who have defended the actions of Trump’s cult like the followers on that day: haven’t you had enough of pandering to a president who is only comfortable when he is encouraging a swirling mob of hate and terror? Who can only provide muddied mixed messages when criticising white supremacists? Who fails to condemn acts that have shocked all of us? To cast a long shadow of doubt over democracy? Is this a good look? Is this what you wanted?
Is it all great again yet?