On 6 January 2020, thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the American Capitol building, demanding an overturning of the recent American Presidential election results. They vandalized the capitol building and occupied the building for many hours. They also tried to disrupt the joint session of Congress, where Trump’s defeat would have been formally recognized.
Earlier that day, Trump addressed a crowd, where he encouraged his supporters to fight and take back the country. At the rally, many of Trump’s team used war-like imagery calling supporters to the capital. He insisted that his Vice-President, Michael Pence, had the power to stop the results from being declared.
Initially, it was not clear if Trump was going to lead the crowd or stand against them. He started posting on Twitter praises for the vandals. He called them great Patriots and asked them to go home in peace. He also criticized the election results, reinforcing the claims that the election was being stolen from him. Donald Trump’s Twitter account was then suspended, and he was only able to communicate by television.
Under pressure, Trump agreed to use the American National Guard (a reserve branch of the American army) to suppress the insurrection. This left 5 people dead, including one police officer.
Since the insurrection, many have feared that Trump may resist the transfer of power. His official term ends on 19 January.
2. The Trump phenomenon:
Trump has become a unique symbol of the growth of right-wing demagoguery. Even when devoid of substance, people in certain positions can rise and instil passions in large crowds of people. At times of crisis, their followers may follow them with a military-like zeal.
To everyone, except his followers, Trump appears as a ridiculous charlatan. It seems like a mystery as to why anyone would follow such a person at all, let alone with the passions that his followers have shown.
In 1848, Karl Marx was studying Europe. He noticed that France was veering into a crisis. In that crisis, there was a growing war, with workers in Paris calling for revolution. The ruling classes were in conflict, and could not move their Parliament forward. In this conflict, Napolean Bonaparte III, the nephew of the original Napolean Bonaparte, rose in politics. Like Trump, he was a con man, had loose morals, and came from an elite background. He came to power promising to restore France to greatness and to resolve the mess in the democratic system. Eventually, he staged a coup, leading to him being established as a monarch of France, and the loss of democracy and the free press in France for decades.
Marx observed that in times of such crisis, where the elites of a country cannot move forward, an individual can rise, promising to cut through the deadlock of the democratic process, refusing to engage in debate, and leading a return to some older time when things were not so complicated. This can also be accompanied by a suspicion of intellectuals, prioritizing action over thought, and criminalizing marginalized groups.
The individual who rises might not be particularly intelligent, and they might not work to end the crisis. In times of such uncertainty and conflict, even progressive forces might resign.
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