20 years ago, when a recount of votes for Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush was in full swing in Florida, one of my Dutch acquaintances, a NATO officer (and despite this, a good guy with a great sense of humor), showed the American to the Ambassador in Moscow Collins, a pamphlet downloaded from the Internet entitled Turmoil in Americanistan ("Riots in Americanistan").
The ambassador with a sense of humor was bad: after reading the text, he became seriously angry and for a long time instilled in an ideologically unstable colleague that one cannot compare some (we will delicately omit epithets) third world countries with the great and shining Empire of Good, the highest and last stage development of democracy on the planet!
Today, reports from the American capital are not much different from a CNN picture from somewhere in Baghdad or Caracas.
Washington is actually in a state of siege, in the Capitol building, soldiers of the National Guard are sleeping side by side on the floor, the day before the inauguration of the new president, half of the country froze in anticipation of riots and armed clashes ...
Joe Biden's inauguration is scheduled for January 20, but on January 16, the Secret Service, with police support, began to restrict traffic on bridges over the Potomac River, as well as on a number of streets, including a significant part of the Washington Mall, the famous central alley of the city, around which museums and memorials are scattered and where presidential inauguration ceremonies usually take place.
However, while it is still possible to move around the capital, although with difficulty, it is possible, but starting from 6 am on Tuesday and until 6 am on Thursday, Washington will finally turn into a specially protected area, where the strictest security measures will be introduced, comparable to those that apply to American military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northham and several prominent Democratic Senators and Congressmen were quick to announce that Biden's inauguration ceremony will be accompanied by "the most drastic security measures in the capital in its history."
And that it is, they say, very good and progressive.
And journalists are already sounding the alarm.
“To my knowledge, never before have so many main bridges in DC been closed for such a long time,” writes Washington's Top News reporter Dave Dildine, who specializes in traffic problems.
Hundreds of thousands of drivers living on one bank of the Potomac and working on the other are canceling their plans, taking time off, or in extreme cases planning alternative detour routes - many tens of kilometers away.
However, the authorities are the last to worry about the problems of ordinary people.
"We know this is very inconvenient for our residents and businesses," said Mayor of the District of Columbia Muriel Bowser, not forgetting, however, to thank the Washingtonians for "cooperation and flexibility."
"We are clearly in uncharted waters," added Bowser, patronizingly, the one who threw tantrums on Twitter in June, demanding "that Donald Trump end the extraordinary presence of federal law enforcement and the military in our city."
But in June, the streets of Washington were crowded with violent crowds of BLM supporters, and the black lady-mayor sympathized with this movement with all her heart - it was not for nothing that the first thing after the death of George Floyd she renamed the section of 16th Street in front of the White House in BLM Plaza.
Now American democracy is threatened by real monsters - supporters of President Trump, white supremacists and other illiberal public.
And Madame Bowser's rhetoric changed in a very magical way: “I'm not only worried about the safety of capitols in other cities in America, I'm worried about threats to other parts of Washington.
These threats are real.
Our police, special services and even the army are preparing a plan of action in case of attacks. "
And the main threat is yes, you guessed it!
- this is "internal white terrorism"!
To counter this dire threat, 25,000 National Guard troops from 50 states have been deployed to Washington.
According to the commander of the National Guard, Major General William Walker, they "will assist the Secret Service and the police."
And note - this time no one objects, and Madame Mayor is simply delighted that democracy will be reliably protected.
Think about it: 25 thousand national guardsmen will protect ... whom?
An old man balancing on the verge of insanity with the diction of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev?
And from what threat?
From the bullet of the new Lee Harvey Oswald?
But Sleepy Joe Biden, who barely made it to his inauguration, is by no means young, full of strength, energy and plans of JFK.
Who actually needs it?
However, the city is under martial law - and this is no joke.
The airspace over Washington has been declared a closed "national defense" zone, and civilian aircraft or drones are strictly prohibited there.
"Leave your drones at home," warns the US Federal Aviation Administration website, threatening aerial photographers with fines and jail time.
The Capitol is enclosed by a promptly erected metal fence with barbed wire on top, the entrances to it are blocked by concrete blocks - just like at US military facilities in the Middle East - barricades have been built in the city on the main streets, accumulations of armored vehicles have been noted ...
In such conditions, of course, it will not work to carry out a full-fledged inauguration of Biden.
But she, apparently, is not particularly needed by the democrats.
The National Mall, or the Washington Mall, where thousands of people usually gather to witness the inauguration ceremony for a new president, will be closed - or, more precisely, open "only to insiders."
They will be allowed to enter it strictly according to the lists and through metal detectors - this has never happened before in the history of the freest and most democratic country in the world.
The entire center of the American capital has been declared a National Security Special Event - NSSE.
Parks and memorials have been closed, including Presidential Park, Lafayette Park and the White House complex, as well as the green area along Pennsylvania Avenue.
The NSSE regime formally allows the authorities to ignore the First Amendment to the US Constitution: a memorandum from the Department of Homeland Security restricts the right of the people to peaceful assembly (quotas will be introduced on the number of admitted, participants will be checked before entering and escorted to a "permitted place").
The degree of paranoia is growing by leaps and bounds.
Recently it turned out that the FBI intends to check all 25 thousand soldiers of the National Guard in connection with suspicions of some kind of "internal threat".
What if there are enough Trump sympathizers among the guards stationed in the capital?
"We are constantly going through this process and for the second, third time we are considering each of those involved in this operation," US Secretary of the Army (not to be confused with Secretary of Defense!) Ryan McCarthy told reporters.
Since the jubilant crowds of people at the inauguration are not expected, the list of those invited to the event will be significantly reduced.
Biden and his vice-president Kamala Harris (who, apparently, will very soon replace Sleepy Joe in the Oval Office, becoming the first female president) will come to congratulate former President Barack Obama.
Well, how can it be without him!
The arrival of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton is announced (whether Hillary will be with him is still a mystery).
But 96-year-old Jimmy Carter, who spent the entire pandemic in his home in Georgia, will not come - he limited himself to expressing his "best wishes" to Biden.
But Hollywood and show business stars are expected: the US national anthem will be performed by Lady Gaga herself, and after Biden is sworn in, a few guests and spectators will be able to enjoy a musical performance by Jennifer Lopez.
There will also be no inaugural ball, traditional for such events.
Instead, it will televise a show featuring John Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and other celebrities.
The show will be hosted by actors Tom Hanks, Kerry Washington and Eva Longoria.
It seems that everything is natural (what kind of balls can there be in the era of a pandemic?), But it still looks more like an Oscar rather than an inauguration.
The traditional inaugural parade has also been canceled.
The 46th President of the United States and the new first lady of America will simply proceed to the White House, accompanied by a solemn escort from representatives of all branches of the military.
Escorts - in this case, not in the sense of "honorable escort", but in the sense of "reliable protection".
Because although Biden and the Democrats behind him officially won, their position cannot be called so enviable.
And those unprecedented security measures, to maintain which colossal by the standards of any country - even the United States - resources have been thrown, only confirm that the winners experience quite real fear.
Fear of a people who feel deceived.
Yes, of course, millions of voters voted for Biden - and quite possibly even more than Trump.
But let's imagine what would have happened if the counting of votes had been carried out honestly, without all those dead people who voted for Biden and suitcases with the "correct" ballots that appeared at night from under the tables at the polling stations.
What would happen if Trump won?
Of course, riots in this case would not have been avoided - the street heated up by the leftists, antifa and BLM would again arrange America for a few dashing days (or maybe even weeks).
But such riots after the insane summer of 2020 are unlikely to scare anyone.
In any case, not to the point of declaring a state of siege in Washington and bringing in more national guardsmen there than the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
And to imagine that Trump would hide from his own people at the inauguration, as Joe Biden would hide on Wednesday, is impossible.
Because the 75 million people who voted for Trump are not ghosts, not dead from cemeteries, not dead souls.
These are people who are alive, worried about their country, who, if necessary, would themselves protect their president.
And the trip to the Capitol on January 6 - albeit ill-considered, untimely, stupid - showed that Trump only needs to say one word for his supporters to rise to his defense.
And Sleepy Joe Biden can only count on the police, the Secret Service and the National Guard.
And even in these defenders, judging by the "triple checks" of the guards by the federals, he cannot be completely sure.
Trump himself, by the way, will not come to Biden's inauguration.
Traditionally, on inauguration day, the new and outgoing presidents travel together to the Capitol for a ceremony symbolizing the peaceful transfer of power.
But Trump, who continues to insist that the victory was stolen from him, wrote on Twitter on January 8 that he would not go to the inauguration.
This was his last tweet, after which the social network blocked his account forever.
There is a version that the Democrats were simply scared: what if Trump was hinting to his supporters in this way that since he would not be at the ceremony, they could arrange a terrorist act there?
However, this is as much paranoia as the dreams of Trump's loyal QAnon supporters.
In their publics (those that have not yet been blocked by the vigilant Big Tech companies) Trump's "cunning plan" is being seriously discussed: to gather all the "villains" in one place, declare martial law, arrest, and then try a strict but fair trial ...
Reality, as usual, is much more boring and predictable.
Biden will receive his stripped-down inauguration at gunpoint and behind a barbed wire fence.
Trump will fly to his estate in Mar-a-Lago to play golf.
In several states, his supporters may decide on armed protests, which, of course, will be immediately suppressed.
The Democrats will take a breath and embark on massive purges and repression.
All this has already happened, and there is nothing new under the sun.
Except one.
Before our eyes, America from the Shining City on the hill has finally turned into the Doomed City.
Not from the novel of the Strugatsky brothers, but from the painting by Nicholas Roerich, in which a monstrous serpent has braided a beautiful white-stone castle with a death ring.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.