At 2:50 p.m., the alert message arrived on all phones: Washington mayor Muriel Bowser instituted a curfew in the American capital from 6 p.m. Objective, save what could be saved while supporters of Donald Trump surrounded the Capitol by tens of thousands. Shortly before, we were chatting quietly with a Republican from Florida, Coleen Tress, who was looking forward to the day: “It’s not violent, it’s peaceful, it’s ok”, she tells us. At the same time, Coleen Tress discovers on his smartphone that things are not going as well as expected: protesters have entered the Capitol by the hundreds, which must certify the results of the US presidential election, the building in chaos has been sealed off, elected officials confined, the democratic process interrupted.
How could it be otherwise, when Donald Trump had called on his supporters to demonstrate en masse this Wednesday, January 6 and to march on the Capitol? The local authorities had tried to minimize the risks, arresting and then denying access to the leader of the Proud Boys, an extreme right-wing organization delighted to do battle. Black Lives Matter activists had cautiously called not to counter-protest, to avoid deadly violence.
However, in the morning, on the train that linked New York to Washington, we understand that the day will not be like the others. In the Amtrak, Trumpist activists, without masks, instead of the usual bankers and officials who commute. At the station, we take the subway, and Trump supporters congratulate each other: “It’s a good day to be an American”, launches a man to his new political comrade. Everyone converges on the Ellipse, between the obelisk [le Washington Monument] and the White House where Donald Trump plans to hold a meeting at 11 a.m., probably the last, baptized “Save America Rally”, the demonstration to save America.
“God, Arms and Trump”
The whole neighborhood is cordoned off. No car is moving. Supporters of the president gather. A Donald Trump rally is first and foremost a visual spectacle, with hundreds of flags, red caps with the Make America Great Again slogan, paramilitary outfits. T-shirts with explicit slogans (“God, Arms and Trump”), the usual anti-abortion activists and oddly enough activists against the Chinese Communist Party. And a Confederate flag planted in front of the museum dedicated to African Americans and slavery.
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