An angry mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol left European allies aghast at the furor over President Trump’s electoral defeat and the blow delivered by the rioters to American prestige.
“Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted Wednesday. “The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.”
The violence interrupted the regular certification of the Electoral College, whose votes are dictated by the outcome of each state’s presidential election. Trump vowed that he would “never concede” during a speech at a rally before the uproar, which President-elect Joe Biden declared “insurrection” after the lawmakers evacuated the Capitol under duress.
“The US Republic has inspired millions. Not today,” British lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who chairs Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, tweeted as the chaos unfolded. “Today many will watch the screens fearful of the power of demagogues who claim to speak for the powerless but tear apart the laws that constrain the strong and protect the weak. The actions of [Trump] threaten us all.”
The US Republic has inspired millions. Not today. Today many will watch the screens fearful of the power of demagogues who claim to speak for the powerless but tear apart the laws that constrain the strong and protect the weak. The actions of @realDonaldTrump threaten us all.
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) January 6, 2021
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoed the British leaders’ lament. “Shocking scenes in Washington, D.C.,” he tweeted. “The outcome of this democratic election must be respected.”
The day was marked for historic controversy even before the violence, as a minority of Republican lawmakers announced that they would object to the certification of electoral votes from several states — an unprecedented yet futile gesture, as the objection was sure to be voted down by a majority of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate.
“This is banana republic shit,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican and Marine Corps veteran. “This is the type of stuff I saw in Iraq when I deployed.”
Philippine Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who opined last month that Attorney General William Barr’s “repudiation of President Trump’s insistence to question the integrity of the election results is probably why American democracy is the greatest of all democracies,” lamented the “irony of all ironies” underway in the Capitol.
“Democracy is put to shame in the world’s greatest democracy,” Lacson tweeted.
Tugendhat, who cited his service in Afghanistan alongside U.S. troops while affirming “the privilege of having US allies” while recalling the string legal defeats that Trump’s lawyers suffered in their attempt to challenge the election results.
“The US is a great nation and great people. Only our enemies will watch with anything but sadness,” the British lawmaker tweeted. “All who champion freedom, who believe in liberty and the law need America to be great again – as a nation united under law, the Constitution that guaranteed the pursuit of happiness as a right, and the courts that have ruled so clearly in recent weeks.”
