Analysis. Two weeks before the end of a term that he stubbornly refuses to complete, President Donald Trump obtained by force a crowd of rioters he led, Wednesday, January 6, which he has failed for two months to obtain legally: the suspension of the certification procedure for the victory of Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent in the presidential election of November 3.
It is indeed an attempted insurgency, instigated by the President of the United States in person and broadcast live by the media, that the American nation and the whole world have been able to witness as hundreds of protesters, heated to white heat earlier by Donald Trump, stormed the building inside which the two chambers of Congress were meeting to certify the election results. The chief executive had encouraged them to march on the Capitol, assuring that he would march with them – which he did not do – to claim a victory which he continues to claim, against all evidence, that it was stolen from them. Mr Trump was well aware of what he was doing: in late September, he asked the far-right Proud Boys group, very similar to those who stormed Congress on Wednesday, to “Stand back and stand by”.
As Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress were evacuated by quickly overwhelmed police, Trumpists, some of whom were armed, invaded Parliament. Going to the end of his destructive and narcissistic madness, Donald Trump witnessed these images of chaos from the White House, sent two tweets asking the demonstrators to be peaceful but refraining from ordering them to withdraw. Then, judging that the show had gone on long enough, he ended up asking them to go home after two hours. In a video message, he told them that he “Liked” and repeated that this election was “Fraudulent”. At the same time, the National Guard and elite forces, finally arrived, were preparing to evacuate Trumpist supporters, before a curfew imposed at 6 p.m. local by the mayor of Washington.
“It’s insurrection, bordering on sedition”
Speaking shortly before Donald Trump’s message, President-elect Joe Biden, who is due to take office on January 20, did not hesitate to describe the gravity of the political situation at the heart of the world’s leading power. “Our democracy is under unprecedented attack, he said in a statement broadcast on television. It is an attack against the rule of law, against the representatives of the people (…). It’s not protest, it’s insurrection, bordering on sedition. “ Calling on Mr. Trump to “To rise to the occasion” and order, on television, the demonstrators to withdraw, Mr. Biden stressed that “The words of a president have a meaning: at best they can inspire, at worst they can incite”.
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