In the English-speaking segment of the Internet, a wonderful joke is gaining popularity: "Due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States staged a coup at home."
What happened on January 6 in America can really be called a failed mutiny (as we remember from the epigram of John Harrington in Marshak's translation, the mutiny is by definition doomed to failure - "otherwise his name is different"), and a completely successful coup, in as a result of which the Washington swamp with a triumphant chomp swallowed up both the 45th President of the United States and the hopes of the Republican Party for revenge in the coming years.
Even on January 5 (before the results of the repeat elections in Georgia were summed up), things did not look so sad for Trump.
His chances, if not for a second presidential term, but for the status of head of the opposition to Biden and the Democrats looked pretty decent.
And the Republicans still had the hope that they would still retain the majority in the Senate.
But then in Georgia ballots were counted, 90% of which arrived in advance by mail, and it turned out that both Democratic candidates (Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff), who at first consistently lagged behind the Republicans Purdue and Lefleur, suddenly took the lead in the same pattern as On November 3, Biden "won" against Trump: at about midnight, an "anomaly" occurred in the vote count - and the Democrats won by a minimal margin.
Thus, the Democrats equalized the score in the Senate: now the ratio of forces will be 50 to 50, and given that the vice president in the upper house of Congress has the right to vote, then 51 for the Democrats.
Control over Congress unties the hands of the "donkeys": now they can put into practice all their plans to rebuild America in a new way.
For example, lift restrictions on accepting refugees from underdeveloped countries, legalize illegal migrants, increase the number of states to 52 (at the expense of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia), and the number of Supreme Court justices to 15 (so that conservatives never have an advantage there) ...
There was only one obstacle on the way to this whole liberal utopia.
Donald Trump.
Even after Trump's bet on the Supreme Court did not work, the incumbent still had quite a working option on how to ruin the life of the Democrats at least until January 20, the day of the inauguration.
A small but highly militant group of Republican senators led by Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley set out to challenge the electoral college vote in the "disputed states" during the first joint session of Congress on January 6.
Senators said that "unprecedented allegations of fraud" in the presidential election led to the fact that, according to polls, 39% of Americans believe that the election was dishonest (and therefore, Biden is illegitimate).
Cruise and his team intended to demand that Congress appoint an electoral commission with full investigative and fact-finding powers to conduct an urgent ten-day review of election results in disputed states.
Upon completion of the [verification], individual states will evaluate the findings of the commission and, if necessary, may convene a special legislative session to confirm the change in their vote.
"Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject electors from disputed states ... if and until the emergency ten-day check is completed," Republicans said.
And there were precedents of this kind in the history of the United States.
In the 1876 elections, the Democrat Tilden was first declared the winner, but after Congress appointed an electoral commission to check the results of voting in three southern states - Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina - 20 electoral votes were taken from Tilden, and the Republican Rutherford Hayes became president.
In theory, something similar could be repeated now.
The Congressional Election Commission, which was to include five senators, five members of the House of Representatives, and five Supreme Court justices, would have enough power and authority to declare voting results in several “contested states” untrustworthy and call a rerun.
And at least it would make the Democrats very nervous.
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But as soon as congressmen and senators gathered for a joint session, where the approval of the voting results in the electoral college was to take place (or not to take place), as crowds of Trump supporters who came to Washington from all over the country went to storm the Capitol.
There is a lot that is not clear with this assault.
The authorities of the American capital (the Democrats, of course, the District of Columbia is generally a nest and center of liberalism - it is no coincidence that the first BLM Plaza appeared in Washington) took measures so that only a few of those who wanted to support Trump could infiltrate the city.
Hotels were canceling registrations, and police patrols were stationed at the entrances to Washington DC, wrapping up right-wing activists.
At the same time, the Antifa and other leftists entered the capital without hindrance - as "class relatives."
Screenshots of the leftist militants' correspondence on social networks show that they had previously agreed on disguises as Trumpists, in particular, red MAGA baseball caps, which, however, had to wear a visor back to distinguish their own.
As a result, in the crowd that gathered around the Capitol on the evening of January 6, there were many leftists, and, perhaps, they were the ones who initiated the assault.
The assault itself - which killed 35-year-old Trump supporter Ashley Babbitt, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and one of the Capitol police officers - was as spectacular as it was pointless.
The rioters who burst into the congress building took pictures against the background of the interiors, plundered and misbehaved a little, after which they left the "captured" Capitol under the pressure of the appeared FBI agents and some other obscure special services.
Congressmen and senators, who had been evacuated to a nearby military base at the height of the unrest, returned to the conference room and dutifully voted to approve the electoral college vote.
The logical result of this whole mess was that the "twelve angry Republicans" did not even hint about the creation of an election commission to check voting in the disputed states.
But this, of course, did not end the matter.
The January 6 riot dealt a colossal blow to Trump's reputation and image.
Already no one recalled that the president urged his supporters to act strictly within the law, emphasizing that "we are a party of law and order."
On the contrary, the Democrats hastened to hang all the dogs on him, making him responsible for the attempt on the holy American democracy.
Renowned journalist and TV presenter David Korn on one of the main progressive sites Mother Jones called the president "the leader of terrorists."
“Trump,” writes Korn, “directed his angry supporters to the Capitol, where they broke through police barriers and took over the building.
They closed the congress.
They terrorized lawmakers and staff, fought the security forces, they broke American democracy. "
Democrats are again talking about impeachment of the president.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, who had just held this post with great difficulty in the competition with Republican Kevin McCarthy, called Vice President Mike Pence and demanded that the 25th amendment to the Constitution be enacted (allowing the president to be removed from power due to his incapacity) ...
Pence, according to information leaked to the press, did not speak to her, and then Pelosi appeared on ABC News with an ultimatum: "If the vice president and administration remain inactive, Congress will begin impeachment proceedings."
And about.
District of Columbia Attorney Michael Sherwin said the Justice Department would consider bringing criminal charges against “all involved,” including President Trump, for participating in Wednesday's riots.
But the biggest blow came from social media.
He was "indefinitely" banned from Facebook, Instagram, Twitch and even the Shopify trading platform (which sold official Trumpist symbols, including the famous red baseball caps).
But most importantly, Trump was blocked for 12 hours on Twitter, the president's favorite social network.
It turned out that it is possible to remove the president (if, of course, this president is Trump) from power even without the 25th amendment and impeachment.
You just need to block him on Twitter.
Trump has nearly 90 million followers on Twitter.
And it was through tweets that he communicated with the nation during all four years of his presidency.
He communicated his decisions, fired and appointed employees.
Argued with opponents.
By and large, it was through Twitter that Trump ruled America.
And suddenly it turned out that his main management tool was in the wrong hands.
And it can simply be turned off by the administration of the social network - in about the same way as in February 1917, Duma deputy Bublikov, taking control of the Ministry of Railways, did not allow the train of Emperor Nicholas II to Petrograd.
At the same time, the leadership of Twitter threatened Trump that if the president does not comply with their conditions (in particular, they demanded to delete all tweets in which Trump called the elections "stolen"), then they will block him forever.
And Trump gave up.
Almost immediately after the 12-hour lockdown expired, Trump returned to his favorite social network and posted a video that looks like a complete and final surrender.
In a nearly three-minute clip, Trump vigorously denounced his supporters who stormed Capitol Hill and said he would focus on a smooth transition of power to the Biden administration.
“The demonstrators who entered the Capitol defiled the throne of American democracy,” Trump said.
"Those who participate in acts of violence and destruction do not represent our country, and those who broke the law will pay for it."
Twitter did not delete this video.
pic.twitter.com/csX07ZVWGe
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
Trump's opponents have outplayed him almost outright.
The provocation on January 6 was the last, final chord of the symphony played out on the notes (first a pandemic, then the economic crisis caused by it, then racial riots and finally the storming of the Capitol).
But this victory is Pyrrhic.
Trump may leave the political scene (or perhaps become a victim of the Washington bog - after the end of his presidential term, he may well be prosecuted and even imprisoned).
But the real America that he awakened - at least 80 million people who do not accept liberal dogmas, all this rosy-migrant-transgender future - will no longer return to the lethargic state in which it was before the eccentric New York billionaire came to the White House.
“We must rekindle the sacred bonds of love and loyalty that bind us into one family-nation,” the defeated and humiliated Trump said in his video message.
But such a Trump - Trump as Leopold the Cat - few will listen.
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The commentary posted on the Breitbart website is characteristic - it is quite long, but it is worth citing in full.
“I am not a Trump fan, I have never been and I will never be, because I consider him a useless coward who only speaks but does not act.
But at the moment he is being attacked by dirty, sticky left thugs, so the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Right now, all Trump has is his supporters, so we need to organize and march on his behalf across America, with weapons if possible.
We must make it clear to the dirty left thugs that we are not the type to be used and easily dismissed, we must make them understand that we are a force to be reckoned with, that we are ready to fight and die for our faith.
This is the perfect moment to strike back, and if we don't, then we will lose this war.
Yes, it's a war now, so get up, my American patriots, because God wants it !!! "
This is the legacy of Trump, which, despite all the clever manipulations of the liberals, they can neither cancel nor ignore.
Yes, the Democrats have won, but the Biden administration and the true masters of liberal discourse behind them will have to rule a "divided house."
A country where almost half of the population is disillusioned with the political system considers the elections to be rigged and the president to be illegitimate.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.