A year after a pro-Trump pack invaded the Capitol in the worst attack on the seat of Congress since it was burned down by British forces in 1814, polls show that about 1 in 3 Americans believe violence against the government can be justified. This is the case for 40% of Republicans, 41% of Independents and 23% of Democrats.
These figures show the extreme danger facing our neighbor torn by bitter antagonisms: the country is armed to the teeth with nearly 400 million firearms in the hands of civilians, including more than 22 million military assault rifles. A significant portion of the population is claiming their constitutional rights to bear arms to protect themselves from government: The United States was created by an armed insurgency against Britain that lasted for several years.
On January 6, at a rally near the White House, Trump urged his supporters to “fight like hell” to prevent election theft, prompting them to march on Capitol Hill with him. The coward escaped to take refuge in his office and follow the attack on television.
The Capitol uprising: the GOP prepares the sequel
Barbara F. Walter, political science professor and CIA consultant, believes the United States is on the brink of civil war. In his new book coming out this month, How Civil Wars Start, she writes that the United States has entered a very dangerous phase.
The Republican Party, like authoritarian movements around the world, sees itself as the only one that can legitimately rule. Over the past year, Republican lawmakers in 41 states have passed laws so that state legislatures can deny election results unfavorable to pro-Trump candidates.
The Republican Party is also trying by all means to block the investigations into the insurgency of January 6. And, so far, it works. Trump has succeeded in blocking all legal proceedings against him. Summons to appear before Congress, refused by Trump’s henchmen, have become a joke. The defendants intend to increase legal challenges until Congress changes hands in November 2022 and the January 6 commission is dissolved.
Will the Democrats be able to save the country?
The American constitution is not adapted to the political vicissitudes of the XXIe century. A major rewrite would be necessary to avoid violent political upheavals and a possible rupture in the coming years. Such a refoundation of the republic is currently impossible to achieve.
I am astonished and saddened by what appears to me to be, so far, a certain flippancy on the part of Democrats in the face of the dire dangers facing the United States.
They tragically lack an energetic and determined leader, a Churchill Bulldog. A man who with a loud voice could get the message across that they won’t let Trump and the GOP destroy American democracy.