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      in US Politics

      Neil Young calls for empathy for Capitol attackers: 'We are not enemies'

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      Neil Young has called for empathy towards those who stormed the US Capitol building in Washington DC, arguing they had been “manipulated” into doing so.In a message posted to his website, Young writes:
      I feel empathy for the people who have been so manipulated and had their beliefs used as political weapons. I may be among them. I wish internet news was two-sided. Both sides represented on the same programs. Social media, at the hands of powerful people – influencers, amplifying lies and untruths, is crippling our belief system, turning us against one another. We are not enemies. We must find a way home.
      The veteran rock star has long been critical of Donald Trump, and until recently was suing for using his songs during political rallies. In his new message, he again criticised the outgoing president, saying he “has betrayed the people, exaggerated and amplified the truth to foment hatred”, but said his feelings are now “beyond” Trump.“Resentment of the Democratic party among the insurrectionists at the Capitol was rampant. We don’t need this hate,” he wrote. “We need discussion and solutions. Respect for one another’s beliefs. Not hatred … With social media, issues are turned to psychological weapons and used to gather hatred in support of one side or the other. This is what Donald J Trump has as his legacy.”He also criticised the “double standard” that saw heavy crackdowns against Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington in 2020, and relatively light policing of last week’s Capitol breach.During the 2020 presidential campaign, Young initially backed Bernie Sanders, but also voiced support for Joe Biden after he won the Democratic nomination, saying Biden would bring “compassion and empathy” back to the White House.Last week, Young sold a 50% stake in his entire songwriting catalogue to the publishing company Hipgnosis for an undisclosed fee thought to be around $150m. More

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      in US Politics

      From Charlottesville to the Capitol: how rightwing impunity fueled the pro-Trump mob

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      As Susan Bro watched the footage of a mob of white Trump supporters breaking into the US Capitol and halting the official count of the 2020 election results, she was “mad as hell”, but she was not surprised.
      Bro’s daughter, Heather Heyer, was murdered in 2017 while protesting against neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia. Donald Trump had responded to Heyer’s death by saying there were “very fine people on both sides”.
      On Wednesday, Trump responded to open insurrection in the halls of Congress, which left at least four people dead, by repeating false claims about having the election stolen from him and telling the mob: “Go home. We love you. You’re very special.”
      “This path has always been predictable,” Bro said from her home in Virginia. “For people to now go, ‘I never knew this would happen,’ why not? How would you not see this happen?”
      “This is sort of an inevitable conclusion,” she added. “It’s been coming, at least openly, for months, but the trajectory was set years ago.”
      The playbook for the Maga invasion of the nation’s Capitol building on Wednesday has been developing for years in plain sight, at far-right rallies in cities like Charlottesville, Berkeley, and Portland, and then, in the past year, at state Capitols across the country, where heavily armed white protesters have forced their way into legislative chambers to accuse politicians of tyranny and treason.
      “No one should be surprised,” said Sarah Anthony, a Black state lawmaker who was on the legislative floor in Michigan’s Capitol on 30 April when hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters, including white militia members with guns, tried to force their way inside. “This has been escalating in every corner of our country for months.”
      From screaming matches in the lobby of the state house in Michigan to looting the office of speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi, the demonstrators have grown bolder and their aims more ambitious.
      But many elements of these incidents repeat each time: the chaotic mix of well-known extremists and unknown Trump supporters who showed up to participate; the strikingly soft and ineffectual response from the police; the expressions of shock from Republican lawmakers that any of their supporters would take action in response to the lies they had been repeating; and of course, the behavior of Trump himself, who first openly incites the violence, and then, when it spirals out of control, praises it instead of condemning it. More

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      in US Politics

      The Guardian view on the storming of the US Capitol: democracy in danger | Editorial

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      What took so long? “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” Maya Angelou counselled. Donald Trump’s keenest supporters believed him. But too many others, even among those who reviled him, nonetheless assumed that there were limits. They can no longer be complacent. The American carnage of Wednesday night – the storming of the Capitol by an armed and violent mob, incited by the president, in an attempt to terrorise Congress and stop the peaceful transfer of power – marked an extraordinary moment in US history. “If the post-American era has a start date, it is almost certainly today,” wrote Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.Yet this was merely the ultimate and undeniable proof of what was always evident: that this man is not only unfit for his office, he is also a danger to democracy while he retains it. He built his political success on lies, contempt for democratic standards, the stoking of divisions – most of all racial – and the glamorising of force. They were evident when he campaigned for the presidency, and more blatant when he talked of “very fine people” among the white supremacists of Charlottesville. When the House impeached him for abusing power for electoral purposes. When he lied that the election would be stolen, and then lied that it had been. When he called supporters to Washington. When he told them that they would “never take back our country with weakness” and urged them on to the Capitol.The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and others deserve no credit for belated pieties about the state of the Republic. All those who helped or “humoured” Mr Trump’s election-stealing attempts are culpable. Already expert in more genteel endeavours, such as voter suppression and gerrymandering, the Republican elites have enabled and encouraged Trumpism: standing at his side, acquitting him when impeached, staying silent, or amplifying his lies. Having invited in an arsonist and supplied him with accelerant, they offer a cup of water to douse the inferno.The urgent issue is how to deal with Mr Trump. No faith can be put in his last-minute promise of an orderly transition when he continues to foment rage. The Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, has called for his immediate removal. Cabinet members are reportedly now discussing the use of the 25th amendment, which allows the replacement of an “unfit” president. But this is not about mere failings or incapacity: a better choice would be to begin impeachment proceedings. Action must be taken against Mr Trump, as it must against those he incited, to prevent him from running again and send a clear message to anyone tempted to follow.For the truly important issue is how to salvage democracy in America. While Wednesday may prove a wake-up call for some Trump voters, many are already explaining away events, or excusing them through false equivalences with the Black Lives Matter movement. Divisions run deep through American society and even its institutions. A full investigation is needed of the failure to protect the Capitol when extremists had openly talked of such a plan – in stark contrast to the intense security and aggressive treatment that greeted peaceful BLM protesters. Tens of millions of Americans now believe that the election was stolen: one report suggests that only a quarter of Republicans trust the result. Rightwing media have fostered lies, and social media allowed people to dwell in alternative political universes. Though Facebook has finally suspended the president’s account, the stable door is shutting long after disinformation galloped off into the distance. None of this will end when Joe Biden is inaugurated on 20 January.Democracy exists not in the provisions written down on paper, but so long as it is practised, which is to say, defended. The remarkable twin victories in the Georgia runoffs on Wednesday, giving the Democrats control of the Senate via the vice-president’s casting vote, were a welcome testimony to what is possible. But their importance is dwarfed by the threat looming over the system itself. The struggle is only just beginning. America has shown its people what it is. They should believe it – and act accordingly. More

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      in Elections

      Trump supporters gather outside statehouses across US as mob assails Capitol

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      Supporters of Donald Trump massed outside statehouses across the US on Wednesday, leading to some evacuations as cheers rang out in reaction to the news that a pro-Trump mob had stormed the US Capitol in Washington.Hundreds of people gathered in state capitals from Georgia to New Mexico on the day US lawmakers were scheduled to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Trump in November’s presidential election.In scenes that echoed those in the US capital, Trump supporters waved signs that read “Stop the Steal” and “Four more years”. Most eschewed masks and some carried guns in places like Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Washington state. Despite some scuffles in states including Ohio and California, with instances of journalists or counter-protesters being pepper-sprayed or punched, many demonstrations remained peaceful.In Georgia, the secretary of state and his staff were evacuated from their offices at the state Capitol after about 100 protesters gathered, some armed with long guns.Gabriel Sterling, a top official with the secretary of state’s office, said it was a precautionary decision made by Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, for his team to leave. Trump has focused much of his ire on Raffensperger in the weeks following his loss of the state by about 12,000 votes.“We saw stuff happening at the Georgia Capitol and said we should not be around here, we should not be a spark,” Sterling told the Associated Press.The chaotic events in Washington DC came as Congress tried to affirm Biden’s electoral college victory. A pro-Trump mob entered the Senate chamber and forced lawmakers to flee. One woman was shot and killed.Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, slammed the storming of the US Capitol, calling it “a disgrace and quite honestly un-American”. Kemp said he was extending an executive order from protests over the summer activating the national guard in case they were needed to protect the state Capitol on Monday, when the legislative session begins.In New Mexico, hundreds of flag-waving Trump supporters arrived in a vehicle caravan and on horseback. Police evacuated staff from a statehouse building that included the governor’s office and the secretary of state’s office as a precaution.Demonstrators sang God Bless America, honked horns and declared Trump the rightful election winner, despite Biden winning the vote in New Mexico by a margin of roughly 11%.Brian Egolf, New Mexico’s Democratic house speaker, described it as a “shameful moment”.“It’s the first time in the history of the United States that the peaceful transfer of power has been slowed by an act of violence,” Egolf said. “I hope that the Congress can recover soon.”Elsewhere, Trump supporters circled the state Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, in cars and trucks adorned with Trump and US flags, blaring their horns.In Colorado, the Denver mayor, Michael Hancock, ordered city agencies to close buildings after hundreds gathered in front of the Capitol building to protest against the election results.And in South Carolina, protesters supporting Trump came to the statehouse but left before the US Capitol was breached.In Washington state, protesters broke through a gate at the mansion of the state’s governor, Jay Inslee, and dozens of people gathered on the lawn before being cleared from the area. The crowd, some of whom were armed, repeated baseless allegations of election fraud.Earlier, dozens of people gathered at the state Capitol, demanding an election recount.In Utah, the staff of Governor Spencer Cox was sent home as several hundred people gathered in Salt Lake City, the lieutenant governor, Deidre Henderson, tweeted. A Salt Lake Tribune photographer said he was pepper-sprayed by a demonstrator who taunted him for wearing a mask and shoved him as he was shooting video of the protest.At least one person was arrested at the Oregon Capitol in Salem on suspicion of harassment and disorderly conduct as police in riot gear tried to get people, many of them armed, to leave. Video showed protesters and counter-protesters clashing and riot police moving in.In Honolulu, about 100 protesters lined the road outside the state Capitol waving American and Trump 2020 flags at passing cars. Sheryl Bieler, a retiree in the blue state, said she had come out to “support our president and support the integrity of the elections”. More

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      in US Politics

      Maga mob's Capitol invasion makes Trump's assault on democracy literal

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      [embedded content]
      The US Capitol, the seat of American democracy, has been stormed by a pro-Donald Trump mob, egged on by the president in a desperate and violent effort to overturn the results of the election.
      Minutes after the news spread that the vice-president had announced he would not do the president’s bidding and reverse Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden at the ballot box, hundreds of pro-Trump rioters broke down the barriers around the Capitol building, and surged forward.
      Footage from inside the building showed that some pro-Trump rioters had reached one of the doors to the Capitol and smashed out the glass. A group managed to make their way to the atrium of the Senate Rotunda, carrying confederate flags. The Capitol police were outnumbered and seemed to melt away. More

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      in US Politics

      Trump protesters warned not to carry guns as Washington DC calls up National Guard

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      DC police chief says ahead of inauguration protests ‘there are people intent on coming to our city armed’The US capital has mobilised the National Guard ahead of planned protests by Donald Trump supporters in the lead-up to the congressional vote affirming Joe Biden’s election victory.Trump’s supporters are planning to rally on Tuesday and Wednesday, seeking to bolster the president’s unproven claims of widespread voter fraud. Continue reading… More

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      in US Politics

      Driving Mr Donald – White House excursion reveals a presidency pushing up daisies

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      It was a jarring few minutes of seeing the world through Donald Trump’s eyes and indulging his fantasies.
      As the White House pool reporter on Saturday, taking a turn to shadow the US president for print media outlets, the Guardian found itself at the back of Trump’s motorcade, rolling out of the executive mansion grounds and on to Pennsylvania Avenue.
      At 10am the dozen black shiny vehicles with flashing blue and red lights were greeted by a sight seldom seen in Washington, a Democratic bastion: hundreds of Trump supporters, cheering and clapping, whistling and whooping, punching the air and hailing their idol as if he had in fact won a glorious victory over Joe Biden.
      What a difference from the previous Saturday when Trump returned from a round of golf to be jeered and booed by denizens of the capital who had just learned that he had been fired by the electorate. Some foreign observers compared that scene to Paris after the liberation or a Middle East autocracy that had overthrown its dictator.
      But a week later, with Trump adding election defeat to the coronavirus disaster and climate crisis as truths that must be denied, supporters – among them far-right groups including the extremist Proud Boys – poured into town to endorse his baseless claims that the election was stolen from him.
      Attendees at the “Million Maga March”, a number as inflated as Trump’s estimation of his inauguration crowd, swarmed the motorcade as it made its stately progress down Pennsylvania Avenue, which in its time has witnessed inaugural parades and funeral marches, suffragists and the Ku Klux Klan.
      Some punched the air; others took pictures with phones. Many sported clothes patterned in red, white and blue, like the stars and stripes. Outside the Willard Hotel, a man proudly wore a t-shirt that declared “I’m deplorable” – a reference to Hillary Clinton’s disparaging remark about Trump supporters that he and they never let go. Biden’s glancing reference to “chumps” never stuck in the same way.
      Among the signs being waved were “Best prez ever” and “Stop the steal”. Among the numerous flags were “Trump 2020: Keep America great”; “Trump 2020: No more bullshit”; “All aboard the Trump train!”; “Women for Trump”; and “Trump 2020: Pro-life, Pro-God, Pro-gun”. More

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      in US Politics

      The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes – video highlights

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      President-elect Joe Biden has thanked the American people for their support after winning the US presidential election against Donald Trump. From razor-thin margins, record voter turnout and protests via false claims of victory and Joe and Kamala Harris’s congratulatory call – here’s the story of how the presidency was won
      US election 2020 – live updates
      Biden styled himself as the antithesis to bare-knuckled Trumpism – and won More