On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, pro-Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol building and interrupted the electoral vote count for President-elect Joe Biden. The mob vandalized the building and assaulted police officers, leading to the deaths of five people. Members of the Senate and House were evacuated, and a 6 p.m. curfew was enacted across the city.

In regards to the motives of these protestors, Stanford University’s senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) Larry Diamond advised the following:

“What is occurring is the product of years of disinformation and rising extremism and defection from democratic norms, particularly on the extremist right, which has been fed by the support and indulgence of President Donald Trump and other politicians who have sought to mobilize grassroots political anger and disaffection for their own political ends. Analyses of public opinion, including this one that I was involved in, have been warning for years that there was dangerous and growing support for political violence if their party or political program did not prevail.”

“Social scientists and political commentators have been warning for several years that Trump and other right-wing populist politicians were feeding a dangerous climate that could spill over into violence.”

President Donald Trump’s speech prior to the Capitol takeover is being blamed for the day’s events. He claimed that the election was rigged and proceeded to make the following statements:

“We will never give up; we will never concede.”

“We will stop the steal. We’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol…We’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones…the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”

His Twitter account has also been permanently suspended, with Twitter stating that he repeatedly violated policies that glorified and incited violence.

Now, the question becomes, is this a sign of more to come?

In my objective opinion, it is.

The hostility brewing in America has been years, and for some, decades in the making. Our limited freedom anchored from the coronavirus forced many to pay attention, but this anger predates the 2020 election. For liberal media outlets to continuously place the blame solely on President Trump is rudimentary and dishonest because his rhetoric only pulled back the veil of what was already present but suppressed.

Everyday stresses of the rat race, job insecurity, inflation, immigration reform, and racial injustices have been affecting the psyche of the American people for years. Now add in COVID-19 mandates, New World Order conspiracies, and fears of an A.I. (artificial intelligence) takeover, and you’ll get the behavior you saw on Wednesday. Unfortunately, this will continue until America operates as a true democracy.

Wishful thinking? Maybe. But it’s the truth.

Until Next Time…

(Sources)

Photo Credit: Politico

Levenson, E., Vera, A., & Kallingal, M. (2021, January 08). What we know about the 5 deaths in the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. Retrieved January 09, 2021, from https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/capitol-mob-deaths/index.html

Lima, C. (2021, January 08). Twitter boots Trump. Retrieved January 09, 2021, from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/08/twitter-suspends-trump-account-456730

Morris, D. Z. (2021, January 07). ‘We will never concede’: How Donald Trump incited an attack on America. Retrieved January 09, 2021, from https://fortune.com/2021/01/07/trump-speech-capitol-attack-riots-pence-we-will-never-concede-maga-rally/

Shinkman, P. D. (2021, January 06). D.C. Mayor Orders Curfew as Trump Supporters Storm U.S. Capitol. Retrieved January 09, 2021, from https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2021-01-06/dc-mayor-orders-curfew-as-trump-supporters-storm-us-capitol

Witte, M. D., & Driscoll, S. (2021, January 06). Stanford scholars react to Capitol Hill takeover. Retrieved January 09, 2021, from https://news.stanford.edu/2021/01/06/stanford-scholars-react-capitol-hill-takeover/