202O was a crazy year, no doubt about it. At the time when we all were thinking that 2021 will be easier and more peacufull year we had to be proven that we are totally wrong. On Wednesday 6th of January while Congress was about to confirm Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in American election, the angry crowd of Trump-supporting people was gathering outside the building.
First fights started at 13:10 local time, when the crowd was stealing metal barricades from the police. The atmosphere was getting heavier every minute, not only because of all the anger around but also because of tear gas and pepper spray. It was all used as a last restort to keep crowd from breaking police barricades.
Peace was never an option in this scenario. Once the
protestors forced their way through barricades on the Capitol Plaza and moved
on to the main entrance, the chaos started. Senators were forced to abandon the
process of confirming Joe Biden's victory and whole building went into total
lockdown.
The Capitol was taken, protesters have broken police lines
on the west and east sides of the building. Somewhere around 15:00 local time,
gunshots inside the building were reported. There is a video footage showing a
female protester being shot in the face as she tries to break through the
barricaded doors of the Speakers' Lobby.
It was later revealed that women, Ashli E. Babbitt (35), despite medical
help died.
After all those unfortunate events, 18:00 local time, thousand of National Guard troops, FBI agents
and US Secret Service were deployed to help in the Captiol. It took six hours
to clear and secure the area. After 03:00
local time, on Thursday, Congress confirmed new President-elect, Joe Biden will
succeed President Trump on 20 January.
1. What do you think about those events? Could the goverment
prevent it from happening?
2. Do you think that if The Capitol was taken once, they
will try to take it again?
3. What do you think will come next? Will there be a second
American Civil War?
BIO:
https://www.vox.com/2021/1/6/22217445/protesters-storm-us-capitol-trump-congress
Comments
2. I don't know, it's hard to say. But I think the second time around might be tough, because Capitol security might be better prepared to defend.
3. I am not interested in American politics at all, so I am not able to answer this question.
This was an act of treason and sedition by the current president and his fanatical, fascist followers.
This has been a great failure of american democracy, american government, and the american system.
It's inapropriate to call these attackers protesters. This was no protest. They brought a hanging block with them, they chanted that they will kill Mike Pence, they planted three bombs in the Capitol (and mailed two more to RNC and DNC offices). This has been a terror attack, and a coup. It's likely their plan was to use the bombs to set the building on fire and kill all the senators inside. As such, these atackers are terrorists and traitors, not protesters.
The capitol hill police were compromised. There's clear footage showing them opening the barriers and gates to the terrorists, taking selfies with them, and even showing them around the layout of the building. It was capitol hill police that led terrorists to Nancy Pelosi's office. Many were part of the mob as well, in plainclothes. They are all traitors and complicit in the coup. It took until FBI and Metropolitan Police arrived for the terrorists to actually be removed from the capitol, as the capitol hill police were actively collaborating with the attackers.
I doubt they will be able to repeat this, however. While capitol hill police is compromised, there is currently 15,000 national guard troops being deployed to Washington DC to prevent further attacks. This is an overwhelmingly strong force.
A second american civil war is so far very unlikely. Polls show only 45% of republican voters supported the coup, and there is in general fewer republican voters than democrat voters in the country at large. As such, only around 22% of total population supports the coup. This is not enough to sustain anything more than a very, very short lived insurrection that would be immediately crushed (just as the coup was). The trumpist fascists in america do not have the numbers to be an independent threat on their own.
As parting words, I'd like to make it very, very clear that the people who stormed capitol were in fact fascists. They do not fight for freedom. They made it very clear that they are against democracy and want their leader to be in power against the will of the voters. Just look at the flags they brought in with them, look at how many of them were the far-right snake-on-yellow-background (a symbol of lasseiz-faire libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism, which tend to have a very clear pipeline towards fascism and the revokation of individual freedoms in favor of religious laws) flags. There was even at least one swastika flag, and the well-known "shaman" figure had tattoos depicting symbols connected with esoteric fascism (usually taken from germanic mythology).
2. It would be simply stupid. Attacking the same place twice does not make any sense. The Capitol (as I've also seen today) is already protected by the soldiers and I don't think that anyone would go for a fight with them.
3. I don't think that could end up with a war, but the scenario with riots is still possible. Especially, due to the situation all over the world. People can be mad due to elections, people can be mad due to the pandemic. At some point, people might not even care about the reason, but about the goal. They might go together and do something which... might be not good for the rest. I am hoping that a more peaceful scenario will take place in the United States and there will be no more fatalities.
At first, these events made me laugh. I watched a lot of movies and on each one, capturing the Capitol, the White House is like taking a fort, fighting for hours, a well-planned attack. It turns out, however, that this is an invention of the creators, and these places are really easy to get to, just be a guy dressed up as a buffalo.
It seems to me that it is always possible for the government to prevent this from happening. Government should anticipate the event and be flexible in its actions.
2. Do you think that if The Capitol was taken once, they will try to take it again?
I think the events may repeat themselves in a few years. We do not know if a person as erratic as Donald Trump will be in power in a few years. Social media entries, sharp speeches, ignorance of people can lead to riots.
3. What do you think will come next? Will there be a second American Civil War?
I don't think there is a chance for that. A group of Donald Trump fanatics has just taken the floor and cannot come to terms with defeat. The group that attacked the Capitol was influenced by the speeches and posts of the former president in social media, which is why I am very happy that his accounts have been blocked. With his theories, Donald Trump inspired the fanatics who attacked the Capitol, and people were also killed. It seems to me that the former president should be well-punished.
2. Taking the capitol doesn't prove anything, except that they are terrorists. If anyone would try harder, you know what will happen. People will day and then go home. The fact that they used russian-made app "Parler" already marks them as a victims of anti-propaganda. Normal people including republicans didn't and won't support those savages.
3. What will come next? Covid stuff will end, people will get their jobs back and they won't have time for such nonsense again.
2. Do you think that if The Capitol was taken once, they will try to take it again?
I think they might try to take it again. If they remain dissatisfied with the situation, they might try to take over the Capitol again as a statement of power. This would show the world that they are a force to be reckoned with (but mostly would just prove the world that they are nothing more then dangerous group of lunatics).
3. What do you think will come next? Will there be a second American Civil War?
I don't think that this cause has enough supporters to escalate into war. Many people may be unhappy about the results, but hopefully they are not determined enough to take real actions. Hopefully this whole situation calms down soon.
2. I think the situation is over, Mr Donald Trump has finished his "elections are wrong" campaign. Now we should deal with freedom speech problems because of Facebook and others.
3. Maybe it will be in a movie or a game, but not in real life. Yeah, there were a lot of people there, but there aren't enough reasons for the most population to break into two parts that will kill each other. This incident is not even close to the abandoning slavery war, so I think it's just overrated.
2. I'm pretty sure that someday people will try to take again capitol, but I'm also sure that capitol will be much better prepared. I think that first aking of capitol was only possible, because no one thought that anyone will try to take it. Events of past week will definetly cause drastic increase in security measures in all goverment buildings.
3. As America is divided right now, I don't think there will be civil war. There are some borderline protestants (like those storming the capitol), but they are just a fraction of a larger group. Next, I think, will be nothing exciting really. As soon a Biden takes over, hardcore trump voters will have no other choice but to let go and go home. All political tensions will dissolve, at least until next election. God knows what will happen then.
It is difficult to predict the government's actions in this situation, I think there is no correct answer to this question. Regarding this situation, I think that the death of a person is the worst thing that could happen.
2. Do you think that if The Capitol was taken once, they will try to take it again?
I believe that no one will succeed a second time in entering the Capitol by force. In my opinion, the security of the Capitol will be strengthened to prevent any further attacks on the Capitol.
3. What do you think will come next? Will there be a second American Civil War?
I don't keep up to date with events in America, but from what I've learned the situation is very unpleasant. I hope that there will be no war in America and that a satisfactory solution will be found for both sides of the conflict
That fact provides to many conflicts. We sure that our ideas are the only right, and we don’t even try to understand another side. We divide our world into white and black, but as we know the truth always lies in the middle. So I don’t think that the government had any chances to prevent those events. It was a too old and deep problem to solve it immediately.
It’s a hard problem, but if we don’t take any action to solve it, the same events will repeat again and again. It’s not only an American problem. Most democratic countries, including Poland, are approaching civil war.
There a few things you can do to help prevent such events. Try to understand people with opposing views. Read and watch different materials, even if you don’t agree with them. And of course, try to provide constructive discussions to form your own, independent opinion.
If you would like to know more about perceiving a world through facts instead of social media algorithms, you should definitely check out this book “Factfullness” by Hans Rosling. I think it a must-read in XXI century - the age of fake news on every corner.
I think this is a wild situation that could have happened not only in the USA. But since it has already happened, the people and politicians of the United States may need to turn to the history of the USSR, since a similar situation has already happened. And what happens next will not benefit anyone.
2. I think that due to the current situation in the USA, it is quite possible that this will happen again. Since we remember what happened earlier, for the actions committed due to the movement of the Black Lifes Mater.
3. I don't think it will happen now or in this context. But this will probably happen much later.
2. I think there is no chance for it. Americans learn from their mistakes. After the incident with the man who had jumped over the fence of the white house, a huge fence was built and it never happened again. I doubt that the 5-meter fence and the national guard can be crossed.
3. I don't think it will happen.
At this moment I they know that they don't have a chance to take capitol again. Government put more forces to protect it. But everyone see what happen in USA on spring when police can't do anything with thieves and highwaymen who destroy entire cities, shops and everything. At this moment situation in America is very bad and we can't tell in 100% what happen next.
I don't know for sure what will happen in next few months. People who vote for Trump hate Biden and they will start strike and people who vote for Biden hate Trump. America nowadays is very divided and who knows maybe people starts to fight each other. One think is for sure, China are very happy. They can take first place on global market and in my opinion this is the worst thing for all world. Biden need to solve all of problems and try to reconcile all voters. But if he try to start fight it is big chance for civil war.
I think that those event could be prevented. Not only government could prevent it but especially police forces. If you compare BLM protests (which was in my opinnion understandable, the people that prosted has a good reason to protest) and Capitol Attack, you can clearly see that for example: police treated protesters differently (on BLM protests police many times provoke protestors, attacked them, pepper sprayed them withoud any reason etc. while on Capitol Attack police just let the people go into the Capitol, after a few incidents where protesters where too much agressive (acctualy you can see a lot of examples where Trump's supporters shout and push police officers and they just push them back while on BLM protests police would simply attack or even kill the protestor that only touch the policeman).
2. Do you think that if The Capitol was taken once, they will try to take it again?
After that event in my oppinion they won't try that again. In my oppinion Capitol Attack is such big historical event for the USA as 9/11 attacks so right now Americans would be very sensible in case of Capitol and it safety.
3. What do you think will come next? Will there be a second American Civil War?
To be honest I don't know but I am for sure going to follow future events in USA.
Thank you for your reply, it really gave me a clear view on what was going on there, not only from the media site.
@Igor Goryszewski
I think you should be interested on this and other global politics topic, just for the sake of your own country. What to do and what you should't do. It gives a new point of view on current political situation also in Poland.
@Polina Rybachuk
As some people say, only thing that can unite divided people/nations is one common enemy.
I think that what happened was truly horrifying. I think that this could be prevented by Trump, if he didn't was such aggresive in his campaign and social medias saying that election was a fraud. He encouraged his supporters to go riot. If he conceded his defeat then this event won't happen. He's only one to blame. I hope that he will be impeached for his actions.
2. Do you think that if The Capitol was taken once, they will try to take it again?
I don't think so because it's pointless. Capitol is only a building, what matters is what The Capitol represents. And I believe that it represents the whole system of american democracy which can't be crushed by some mad rioters. Violence is never the answer.
3. What do you think will come next? Will there be a second American Civil War?
I don't think so. It's not the first time in the history of US when nation is divided between two candidates. If I remember correctly JFK was also chosen without majority of voters. And then nothing happened. Also civil war is something that I can't imagine in nowadays US. I mean that this country is simply to big and to populated to have a war inside.