Thursday, January 07, 2021



The end of US democracy?

When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an armed invasion of the US Capitol, forcing the evacuation of Congress in the middle of the count.

People are calling this an attempted coup, sedition, insurrection, terrorism. Whether it is or not ultimately depends on how the US responds to it: with prosecutions or pardons, impeachment or immunity ("for if it prosper, none dare call it Treason...") But Trump incited this, and it is clear that he approves of it (and was still approving of it just quarter of an hour ago). If American democracy is to survive, he needs to be impeached for it, immediately. Because if inciting your armed supporters to storm Congress to disrupt the certification of an election isn't a "high crime and misdemeanour", what the fuck is?