U.S. role as democracy's champion battered by assault on Capitol

[snoop1130]

U.S. role as democracy's champion battered by assault on Capitol

By Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay

 

FILE PHOTO: An explosion caused by a police munition is seen while supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will find it harder to advocate for democracy and rule of law abroad after the assault on the U.S. Capitol unless it grapples with President Donald Trump's role in the violence, current and former U.S. diplomats said.

 

After a rally where the president exhorted them to fight to overturn the Nov. 3 U.S. election that he lost, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing legislators to evacuate as they smashed windows and looted.

 

Scenes of lawmakers cowering and police officers with guns drawn seeking to protect them undercut the image Washington has long projected as a champion of democracy despite its past interference in the politics of nations such as Guatemala, Iran and South Vietnam.

 

In a memo to staff on Thursday, a senior State Department official said, "As voices around the world attempt to use yesterday's events to discredit our efforts to defend democracy and human rights abroad, we must firmly reject that view."

 

"Political leaders from across the spectrum in our country unequivocally denounced the violence yesterday," Michael Kozak, the acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, wrote in the memo, which was read to Reuters.

 

"The thugs who overran Congress" did not keep it from certifying that Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump, Kozak said, adding that the Republican president "affirmed that our nation will have an orderly transition to a new administration on Jan. 20."

 

Serving and former U.S. diplomats, however, said the note put the best face on events and failed to address what they saw as Trump's incitement of the violence, his initial failure to condemn it, and his repeated false assertions of victory.

 

"This was an undemocratic assault against one of the citadels ... of our democracy promoted by people who sent them up there, like the president of the United States, his lawyer and his son making incendiary statements," a senior U.S. diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

"It's not just the assault of the mob. It's what preceded it, what caused it," he added. "We have to be honest about this ... not just repeat the standard talking points."

 

A former senior U.S. diplomat said Washington's ability to convince others of the virtues of democracy rested, in part, on embodying them itself. "It was easier to do that a week ago than it is today," the former diplomat said.

 

Asked to comment on the memo, and on the views of the current and former diplomats, a State Department spokesperson said: "We do not comment on purportedly leaked internal communications."

 

After falsely claiming Thursday morning that the election was stolen, Trump on Thursday evening acknowledged that Biden will be the next president and called the attack "heinous." A day earlier, in a video taped in the White House Rose Garden and posted on Twitter as protesters stormed the Capitol, Trump told them to "go home," adding, "...we love you, you're very special."

 

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said foreign leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping would exploit the assault on the Capitol to assert the superiority of their autocratic systems.

 

"Putin and Xi Jinping push the supposed stability of their dictatorships over the messiness of democracy," he said. "What happened yesterday is going to be Exhibit A in their case for a long time."

 

In fact, China's state media, in editorials on Friday, said the storming of the U.S. Capital reflected a failure of leadership, with the Global Times calling it a sign of "internal collapse" in the U.S. political system.

 

Roth, along with the serving and former U.S. diplomats, argued that a key test for the United States would be how it handles Trump's actions and whether he is held accountable or punished.

 

"Our message to the world has never been that we're perfect. It's that we have a system that is capable of correcting its imperfections," said Democratic Representative Tom Malinowski.

 

A former top U.S. human rights diplomat, Malinowski said he supported impeaching Trump "precisely because we need to show the American people, first and foremost, but also the rest of the world that nobody in this country is above the law."

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-08

 

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[mikebike]

I am sceptical that world opinion of USA democracy could get any lower...

[keith101]

Just a whole bunch of Trump loser idiots trying to wreck democracy at his bequest and should be charged with sedition as should Trump himself and locked up for a long time . 

[John Drake]

If "Democracy's Champion" is "undermined" by some guy wearing buffalo horns while standing in the capitol building, then "democracy" is pretty much a 90 lb. weakling.

[Bluespunk]

33 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

The United States will find it harder to advocate for democracy and rule of law abroad after the assault on the U.S. Capitol

That ship sailed a long time ago due to trumps behaviour over the last few years. 

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

 

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said foreign leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping would exploit the assault on the Capitol to assert the superiority of their autocratic systems

 

Komrade Putin will be breaking out the triple filtered Stolichnaya and throwing the glass in the back of the fire after the events of the last few days .. might even go for a shirtless horse ride again .. 

[Tug]

Let this debacle be a lesson to all democracy’s not to allow false information and lies to be freely published under the guise of truth there must be consequences for knowingly pushing this bs we are reaping the consequences of this.on a side note trump has been a great success for our enemies he’s got more Americans killed than the axis powers during ww2 he has destabilized nato the worlds economies he has humiliated and divided our great nation hopefully we will come back stronger with the will to legislate thease pitfalls out of existence get rid of this pariah by any means ASAP charge try and jail him 

[animalmagic]

13 hours ago, mikebike said:

I am sceptical that world opinion of USA democracy could get any lower...

You're forgetting that the person with the nuclear codes has been deemed too dangerous to have a Twitter account!

[spidermike007]

His base has been dwindling since the election. Alot of conservative friends and family I have been speaking with, agree Biden won, and the fraud thing is a bit much, and a sure sign of a sore loser. I think the DC fiasco backfired for sure, and he lost alot of his "middle of the road, sensible, hard working, decent people" base. In addition to nearly the entire GOP establishment, which he had wrapped around his finger. It was an enormous miscalculation, and an act of sheer desperation by an unhinged madman. Now, with the permanent ban on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, he is almost a 305lb. zero. Almost. I predict his influence will continue to wane, once he is ingloriously ushered out of the white house in humiliation. 

 

As far as the women who was killed, she breached the window of the capital building. If anything, the police should have treated the protestors in a harsher manner. There has to be limits on behavior. Otherwise, are we truly a civilized nation? Compared to other protests, where people who came close to government buildings were treated quite harshly, this reeks of favoritism toward the white Trump crowd. How can the capital building, with congress in session, not be considered a far greater security threat, than a nearly empty government building, or a retail store? Something smells fishy here. No doubt the capital police failed miserably. But, was it a deliberate failure? And if so, should they be charged with a crime? 

 

It is an astonishing thing, to witness a man who was already psychologically unstable, completely come unhinged. He is rambling and incoherent in his speech now, utterly desperate, and increasingly dangerous. There should be some national security laws in place, that allow Trump to be locked up in jail, until the 20th. He is a dangerous man, and a threat to the nation. And as far as charging his rioters with sedition, I have no issue with that. But, only a small percentage of the ones who broke into the capital building were arrested. 

Nearly anything with Trump's name on it, and his association with it, fails. And that will be even more so, after he leaves the White House. His name will remain radioactive, the the rest of his life, and the mini empire will continue to dwindle. He lost 17 major businesses. He lost 19 merchandising deals, since being elected. He lost the trade war with China, and the negotiations with Kim. What part of being a loser don't his supporters understand? 

[klauskunkel]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"Our message to the world has never been that we're perfect. It's that we have a system that is capable of correcting its imperfections,"

We have also a system that is prone to incitement if you don't put programs in place that will promote critical thinking and restrict the dumbing down of the population. 

[Scott Tracy]

This would have made a good book and movie. It certainly reinforces my views on American politics, and Americans in general. A pity that...

[Chomper Higgot]

He’s not done yet.

[newatthis]

5 hours ago, animalmagic said:

You're forgetting that the person with the nuclear codes has been deemed too dangerous to have a Twitter account!

Surely his codes, by themselves, would not be sufficient to launch weapons?

[animalmagic]

19 minutes ago, newatthis said:

Surely his codes, by themselves, would not be sufficient to launch weapons?

That is my fervent hope

[rudi49jr]

A country without a ‘one man, one vote’ system can never have, and in my view has never had, the role as democracy’s champion. It’s absolutely ridiculous that a party can get millions of votes less than the opposing party and still win an election. It’s absolutely ridiculous how large groups of people can be and have been excluded from voting. The whole gerrymandering issue is an affront to the very concept of fair elections. The USA have absolutely no right to call themselves the greatest democracy in the world. 

[spidermike007]

6 hours ago, animalmagic said:

You're forgetting that the person with the nuclear codes has been deemed too dangerous to have a Twitter account!

 

Nope. The joint chiefs just assured Pelosi there is a zero percent chance he will be allowed to use them. It is referred to as an intervention. An insane man needs to be controlled. If not before, than now. If they did not see how unhinged he was previously, they sure do after his DC fiasco stunt. He is finished. Gone, baby gone. 

 

Neither him, nor any member of his spectacularly toxic family will ever have any place in American politics again. He assured that, with this blunder of mythical proportions. 

[Boon Mee]

5 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

He’s not done yet.

Got that right... ???? 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Got that right... ???? 

11 days to go.

 

 

[Tug]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Got that right... ???? 

Wow there’s a first time for everything I agree with boonmee 100% we still have donald John trumps trial and conviction for sedition and dereliction of duty looks like old donalds gonna get his wall after all in Leavenworth along with his kids hopefully 

[rudi49jr]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Got that right... ???? 

Maybe your can start practicing baking pies, with files and stuff like that hidden inside, for your big idol so he can try breaking out of the jail cell that he will soon find himself in after January 20th.

[tigertiger]

Security was non-existent. Incompetence or by design, I don't know. Of course the recent shufflings at the Pentagon suggest design. That would make this a coup attempt.  May he end his days in 6' square cell.

 

It's not as if this was a surprise to anybody.  The justice department will be VERY busy after this week.

[Jingthing]

On 1/8/2021 at 6:10 PM, mikebike said:

I am sceptical that world opinion of USA democracy could get any lower...

I'm not. You're right that it was already very low. But the insurrection at the capitol definitely drove it lower. 

[Nout]

Champions of Democracy! Who is kidding who?  The USA has prevented democracy and peoples movements, trade unions, cooperatives etc in dozens of countries slaughtering thousands in the process. Hardly a nation in South and Central America hasn't been ruined to benefit American big business interests. The CIA gave torture lessons to anti democracy militias!...

[Nout]

47 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I'm not. You're right that it was already very low. But the insurrection at the capitol definitely drove it lower. 

Far from it. It showed democracy is thriving. Democracy includes dissent and turbulence as well as the establishment of order. The incident was a short demo which hopefully served to remind the elite of peoples discontent and displeasure.

[Nout]

On 1/8/2021 at 6:42 PM, Bluespunk said:

That ship sailed a long time ago due to trumps behaviour over the last few years. 

Nixon...Chile...Kennedy Cuba..whoever...the Philippines....Iran...Granada...etc etc etc dozens of countries where the USA thwarted the will of the people and engineered or imposed a dictator on them. The world woke up to America in the 60s. The little demo the other night is meaningless to ordinary people.

[Bluespunk]

29 minutes ago, Nout said:

Nixon...Chile...Kennedy Cuba..whoever...the Philippines....Iran...Granada...etc etc etc dozens of countries where the USA thwarted the will of the people and engineered or imposed a dictator on them. The world woke up to America in the 60s. The little demo the other night is meaningless to ordinary people.

While I agree those you mention did much to be despised, trump arguably did more damage to the USA’s reputation  than they did - he managed to alienate the USA’s allies as well as bring joy to those less enamoured with the country. 
 

That is his legacy and it is as contemptible a one as the man himself. 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Nout said:

Far from it. It showed democracy is thriving. Democracy includes dissent and turbulence as well as the establishment of order. The incident was a short demo which hopefully served to remind the elite of peoples discontent and displeasure.

No.

It was not a demonstration. 

Stop lying.

It was a terrorist attack on the US capitol trying to reverse the peaceful transition of power.

[onebir]

10 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Neither him, nor any member of his spectacularly toxic family will ever have any place in American politics again.

What actually needs to happen to exclude him/family from politics?

[mikebike]

2 hours ago, Nout said:

Far from it. It showed democracy is thriving. Democracy includes dissent and turbulence as well as the establishment of order. The incident was a short demo which hopefully served to remind the elite of peoples discontent and displeasure.

How does a movement intent on maintaining the status quo - an immeasurably good situation for elites - remind the elites of anything other than the fact they have conned pleebs into fighting to keep them in power? In fact the lack of preparedness and response indicate they felt no threat from the mob intent on keeping the swamp in power.

 

Contrast that to the response to what they really fear. The events of the summer where people with REAL grievances spontaneously disrupted the status quo. 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, onebir said:

What actually needs to happen to exclude him/family from politics?

If Mr. Trump is impeached and convicted he will be banned from future political office. But his family can't be stopped.