[Editorial] The day American democracy crashed and burned

Posted on : 2021-01-08 15:45 KST Modified on : 2021-01-08 15:45 KST
Supporters of US President Donald Trump occupy the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6. (EPA/Yonhap News)
Supporters of US President Donald Trump occupy the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6. (EPA/Yonhap News)

Jan. 6 will go down in history as the day that American democracy crashed and burned. Supporters of US President Donald Trump violently occupied the US Capitol, where a joint session of Congress was about to certify the election of Joe Biden as the next US president. This unprecedented event starkly reveals the crisis of American democracy.

Trump is directly responsible for the day’s violence. “This is a time for strength,” said Trump, whipping up tens of thousands of supporters who’d assembled in front of the capital. “Let the weak ones get out.”

Then hundreds of his frenzied supporters broke into the Capitol, scrambling over the walls or breaking the windows. One rioter occupied the seat of the president of the Senate, while another sat down in the office of the speaker of the House of Representatives.

While the Capitol was being stormed, a woman who’d been breaking down a door was fatally shot by a police officer. She was one of four protesters who died that day, while several police and protesters were injured.

Congress descended into chaos just as lawmakers were taking the final legal steps to finalize Biden’s election. The scenes were broadcast live and unfiltered not only in the US but around the world.

“It’s not a protest; it’s insurrection,” Biden said, calling on Trump to immediately call off his supporters. But in a video that Trump posted to Twitter, he continued to present an irresponsible attitude. “We had an election that was stolen from us,” he said. “But go home.”

Even when senators and representatives reconvened following the violent episode at the Capitol, which lasted for about four hours, a considerable number of lawmakers with the Republican Party lodged their objections to the certification of the vote.

The violence at the Capitol shows that the US, the self-styled leader of the democratic world, is ailing with a serious disease. Among the voting public, 21% think the election was rigged, and there are fears that similar incidents could happen at any time.

This episode shows how bad things can get when politicians fail to tackle the worsening gap between the rich and the poor or to bring hope to those who are economically or socially marginalized. Such a desperate environment is fertile ground for radical elements who adhere blindly to a Trumpian politics of division and exclusion.

Former presidents and many other American politicians are demanding that Trump be held responsible for the violence at the Capitol. World leaders have also expressed their shock and concern.

The world is asking whether the US can overcome a politics of hatred that is growing ever more extreme. We hope that Biden, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, will be the kind of leader who can restore order amid all this chaos.

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

button that move to original korean article (클릭시 원문으로 이동하는 버튼)

Related stories