By Carlton Joseph

On January 6 last . a violent mob, incited by President Trump, stormed and occupied the U.S. Capitol in an act of insurrection and attempted to stop the certification of Joe Biden as President of the United States.  Members of the right-wing mob attacked and overwhelmed the Capitol Police, smashed windows, broke down doors and scaled walls to enter the Capitol and ransacked and looted the Senate and Congressional offices. 

The day began with Trump exhorting his followers, on the ellipse, to walk down to the Capitol to cheer his brave senators and congressmen and women. Informing them that “you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”  Rudy Giuliani told the crowd: “Let’s have trial by combat, Stand up and fight!” Trump’s son Don Jr. intoned: “We’re coming for you and we’re going to have a good time doing it.”

Although Trump had promised that there would be a big protest in DC on January 6^th and that it “would be Wild,” I did not anticipate the chaos of that day.  I imagined that the Capitol Police would be in full force and the normal coordination of security forces – DC Police, National Guard and Park Police – would be present, like they were for the “Black Lives Matter” protests and other civil protests. Instead, the National guard was not fully activated until hours after the violent mob descended on the Capitol.

To put current events in perspective, let’s look at the Compromise of 1877.  This was an informal agreement between southern Democrats and allies of the Republican Rutherford Hayes to settle the result of the 1876 presidential election.  The Democrats agreed not to block Hayes’ victory on the condition that Republicans withdraw all federal troops from the South.  This compromise consolidated Democratic control in the region, and marked the end of the Reconstruction era.  The major difference, from today, is that the racists conservatives were the Democrats and the progressives were the Republicans.

The current extreme right wing conservative Republican party started with President Ronald Reagan. Racists Democrats and Evangelical Christians joined the party after Reagan campaigned in Mississippi and suggested that both Creationism and Darwinism should be taught in schools, and reaffirmed his support for state’s rights, the doctrine that supports segregation.  These southern white supremacists are now in full control of the Republican party and history shows that they have never accepted that African American have any rights they need to observe.

Many in the business community and many Republicans lawmakers have become increasingly resistant to the federal government enforcing the Civil Rights laws of the 1960s. Toward that end the Republicans have been able to pack the Supreme Court with extreme conservative justices, ensuring that the country will return to the Jim Crow era.  Interestingly, they have been able to stack the court and control governorships even though they are the minority voice in the country, and have not won the majority vote in a presidential election since 2002 – compliments of the Electoral College.

America is at a crossroad and must acknowledge that White Supremacy was foundational to the establishment of this nation and is the central conflict.  Supremacists are in the Supreme Court, the Senate, the Congress, the military, the police and within the government.   The President and elected officials initiated the events that led to this riot. And, after these officials returned to the Chamber, they were still voicing their objection to the election.  What happened was not the culmination of the last four years, but in fact the culmination of the last five centuries. All the talk of “this is not who we are” is just

The day after the insurrection, Georgia elected two Senators.  One black and the other Jewish, underscoring the rising political power of racial and religious minorities, and reflecting the changing demographic of the country. And the eventual shift from majority white to minority- majority. 

America has used its power to overthrow democratically elected leaders all over the world to ensure that the right wing, conservative white people in those countries take power. Right-wing gangs in Chile, Honduras, Venezuela and many other countries, created the chaos that resulted in their elected leader being overthrown.  The lesson we should learn is that Right-wing groups, when they begin to lose electorally, when they begin to realize that their opponents are able to win elections, they resort to violence in order to stop that process.

The chickens have come home to roost.  America must understand that she cannot continue to overthrow legitimate elected Democracies all over the world and replace the elected leaders with American puppet dictators.  Eventually, leaders like Trump will realize that they can do the same thing at home, and establish an Authoritarian or Fascist state.  America was ill prepared for this event because Racism defines everything in this country. 

The only reason that Trump was unsuccessful in seizing power is that he is anti-intellectual and refuses to read and understand the country.  He does not understand how the system works and is too narcissistic and ignorant to seize power.  His unnatural servitude to President Putin begs the question: Is Trump Putin’s puppet?  Did Putin use Trump, like we use other right wight dictators all over the world, to dominate and control America?

This is America where the greed for power, money and the desire to be around people with money is exceptional.  Where the people who have power will genuflect to people they think have more money than them, where the desire to be a Senator or Congressperson is so great that they will put their personal ambitions above the national interests they were elected to serve. 

Today, the Democratic Party is inclusive and reflects the diversity of the country while the Republican party is a white party  which certainly does not reflect the diversity of the country.  Trump and the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the election results are fanning the flames of racism and hate and must be held accountable. Will white grievance strike back?  Will the coup of 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina recur?  Or will America resolve its internal contradictions and commit to an inclusive multi-racial, multi-ethnic Democracy? Only time will tell.

(Trinidad-born Carlton Joseph who lives in Washington DC,  is a close observer of  political developments in the United States.)