The land of the free and the home of the brave

During the 2016 US Presidential election, I speculated to my youngest son how funny it would be if Donald Trump won. His clownish, buffoon-like ways and his mangled version of the English language would be harmless enough, surrounded as he would be by people of greater intelligence. Yesterday events on Capitol Hill caused me to look in the mirror and to admit, not for the first time, what a fool I had been. I had worked out, pretty well as soon as Trump walked into the White House, that his presidency would be a disaster. Last night, we witnessed an attempted coup d’état, an armed insurrection, a direct attack on democracy.

The scenes, being played out ‘live’ on television, still shock me. Armed domestic terrorists, actual fascists storming the seat of US democracy, trying to overthrow the results of an election. Time and time again, the viewer was reminded that we were not witnessing some dysfunctional banana republic, but the parliament in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

At first I watch events unfold on BBC News, our trusted national broadcaster, but I soon realised that this was not the BBC I remembered. They declined to call out Trump’s many lies, they called the domestic terrorists and fascists ‘protestors’.  Instead, I switched to CNN where serious journalism still exists.

Look at the thug at the top of the page. ‘Camp Auschwitz’ adorns his T shirt. Another said ‘6MWE (Six million Were Not Enough.) (Below.) These were the people aiming to overthrow democracy, out there racists, antisemites. These are the supporters of Donald Trump. Others destroyed the equipment of journalists and broadcasters who did not worship at the altar of Donald Trump. Pure fascism.

And it was Trump who incited the violence. He told his fans to march on Capitol Hill. His family and friends, including his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani went further. Giuliani told Trump’s thuggish supporters, “Let’s have trial by combat.” I’ll leave this stuff to the experts, but surely this is not far off treason.

Don’t believe this could never happen here. Boris Johnson has tried to prorogue parliament and in so doing lied to the Queen. He lies to everyone, always has done. Yet, he is popular in the UK, just as Trump is popular in the US. We were lied to over Brexit, Johnson has lied to us throughout the COVID pandemic. It’s what and who he is. And what America does first, we usually follow.

What a laugh Trump has been. Not. As his supporters trashed the Senate, Trump has trashed the country. The damage to America’s image is massive. No wonder we claim a special relationship with the US: we have more in common with them than we might all imagine.

Donald Trump has tested US democracy to the very limit. We have to be very alert in order to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen here, but don’t imagine for one second it couldn’t.