Dramatic front pages document the chaos that unfolded as angry Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in protest against a Democrat win.
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Deadly Insurrection Finally Forces Trump to Admit Defeat
It took a mob insurrection and sacking of the US Capitol building, but President Donald Trump has finally acknowledged the end of his presidency Thursday morning saying there would be an “orderly transition of power” on Jan. 20 just minutes after Congress formally certified the Electoral College votes in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump’s statement was shared through the Twitter account of White House aide and social media director Dan Scavino. Facebook and Twitter temporarily suspended Trump from his social media accounts after he posted about a pro-Trump mob that overran the Capitol on Wednesday that ran afoul of platform guidelines.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our… fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
The message by Trump via Scavino came just before 4 a.m. on Thursday, minutes after congressional lawmakers formally tabulated the Electoral College votes. The certification dragged into the early morning hours after the process was interrupted just an hour into debate on Wednesday afternoon when Trump supporters breached the Capitol, resulting in both the House and Senate chambers having to gavel out.
Earlier in the day, Trump told the crowd of supporters he would “never concede,” instead insisting as he has for almost two months that the election was stolen from him through coordinated and widespread fraud — claims that neither he nor his lawyers have proved.
“Make no mistake — this election was stolen from you, from me and from the country,” Trump told supporters.
The breach of the Capitol prompted a host of lawmakers, and Democratic and Republican former U.S. presidents, to call on Trump to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. Sen. Tom Cotton (R- Ark.) said in a statement Trump should “quit misleading the American people.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has aligned himself closely with Trump, said in a fiery floor speech late Wednesday that he had tried to support the president but “enough is enough.”
“Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. … All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough. … We’ve got to end it,” Graham said.
DC Riots the Culmination of Trump Vote Fraud Claims
Guardian (UK) The riots at the US Capitol shocked many in the US and around the world, but for some, the violent scenes in Washington are simply the natural culmination of Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and repeated stoking of division in the US.
The descent by thousands of Trump supporters on the Capitol – minutes after the president specifically asked them to march towards it – might be the clearest evidence yet of Trump’s responsibility for Wednesday’s debacle.
But in truth, the violent insurrection was a long time coming.
Months before the November election took place, Trump supporters were already being fed a steady diet of misinformation, as Trump repeatedly claimed the only way he could lose was if the election was rigged.
Should that happen, Trump and his allies told supporters, the US would descend into socialism, communism, or worse. In August he told a crowd that if Biden were to win the election, “China will own the United States” – to the extent that Americans would “have to learn to speak Chinese”.
As the world watched the mob of Trump supporters lay siege to the Capitol building, the beacon of American democracy, it clear to some that this had been a long time coming.
“What we are witnessing at this moment is the manifestation and culmination of reckless leadership, a pervasive misuse of power, and anarchy,” Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP civil rights organization, said in a statement.
“This is not protesting or activism; this is an insurrection, an assault on our democracy and a coup incited by President Trump.
“For the past four years, we’ve seen him chip away at the civility, integrity and dignity of our nation. The pattern of President Trump’s misconduct is unmistakable and has proven time and time again that it is a grave threat and harm to the fragile fabric of our country.”
Johnson and others called for Trump to be impeached for his role in the siege of the Capitol. Some Democratic members of Congress have already said they support that measure, and Ilhan Omar, a progressive congresswoman from Minnesota, said on Wednesday evening she was already drawing up articles of impeachment.
The tone at Trump’s rally before the riot was combative, as the president told the crowd: “You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.” Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s confidante and increasingly beleagured lawyer, had earlier demanded “trial by combat” over the election results, further stoking the crowd.
Away from Trump’s immediate circle however, many elected Republicans have also lent credence to the president’s baseless accusations of fraud – and have supported Trump even as he defended far-right, torch-bearing marchers in Charlottesville, refused to condemn white supremacy, and spread fear among Black Americans.
“Make no mistake: the domestic terrorism at the US Capitol by armed protesters is not only Trump’s fault alone,” Julian Castro, a Democratic former secretary of housing and urban development and 2020 presidential candidate, wrote on Twitter.
“This is the result of leaders in the Republican party fueling conspiracy, division and hatred for years. And it won’t be fixed until they lose their office.”
The Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth, who was on her way to speak on the Senate floor when Trump supporters besieged the Capitol, had no doubt who was responsible.
“The [one to] blame for this is Donald Trump. He is the one that has been spreading conspiracy theories, falsehoods,” Duckworth said in an interview with CBS News.
“He is the one that is rejecting the results of this election which has been certified by all 50 governors, it is this president who has incited his supporters to this violence.”
The Republican senator Mitt Romney, who has frequently served as a fly in Trump’s ointment, was among the relatively few GOP members to directly link Trump to the violent uprising, as Romney described the storming of the Capitol as “an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States”.
Many others remained silent, as Trump himself refused to criticize those attacking the Capitol, instead posting a mixed-message video where he asked supporters to go home, but also praised those supporters and repeated baseless accusations that the election was “stolen”.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter removed the video amid concerns it could inflame the situation further.
“We are witnessing one of the greatest assaults on our democracy since the civil war,” Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the US, said.
“Today’s attempted coup has been years in the making as Donald Trump consistently spews venom, conspiracies, hate and lies to his supporters. They are carrying out his wishes, and far too many Republican lawmakers have enabled and even encouraged this violent threat to our republic.
“This is an effort to violate the constitutional rights of every law-abiding American and the labor movement will not stand for it. Not today. Not ever.”
The post Deadly Insurrection Finally Forces Trump to Admit Defeat appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
What's next for the Republican Party?
Tonight, the focus should be on the Republican Party.
It's long been the North Star for conservatives around the world, including here in Australia.
It's the party of Reagan, Eisenhower, Abe Lincoln.
https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/1347084844501708800?s=20
The party of policy that traded all of that five years ago for personality and three-word slogans.
Remember "build the wall", "drain the swamp", "lock her up"?
Well the wall isn't built, the swamp isn't drained, and it's Donald Trump's friends in prison tonight, not Hillary Clinton.
All the while, the President trashed, often one tweet at a time, the very institutions, establishments and alliances that helped make not only America great, but Australia great as well.
But that's the president.
Donald Trump is who he has always been.
Republicans are who they chose to become and having hitched so much of the party to the Trump Train, they've lost the presidency, they've lost the House, today they lost the Senate.
And after watching a day of violence in the President's name, tonight, instead of chanting those three word slogans they are pondering a two word dilemma: Now what?
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Calm after the storm: Inside the riots at the US Capitol
The US Capitol has been secured after a day of chaos as angry Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in protest against a Democrat win, resulting in four deaths.
Angry Republicans call for Trump impeachment after Capitol Hill riots
A growing number of Republican leaders and Cabinet officials now believe Donald Trump should be removed from office before January 20.
Four of them called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked, and two others said the President should be impeached.
"He has to be impeached and removed," one Republican elected official told CNN.
LIVE UPDATES: House rejects objection to Pennsylvania electoral votes
READ MORE: Stream of White House staff quit after riot chaos
A former senior official said the President's actions were egregious enough to remove him even with such a short time left in his tenure.
"I think this has been a huge shock to the system," said the former official.
"How do you keep him in place for two weeks after this?"
By impeaching and removing Trump, even at this late stage of his term, the Senate could subsequently vote to disqualify Trump from ever holding federal office again.
On the other hand, invoking the 25th Amendment would require Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of the Cabinet to vote to remove Trump from office due to his inability to "discharge the powers and duties of his office" – an unprecedented step.
READ MORE: Twitter and Facebook block Donald Trump in wake of US Capitol riots
Some Cabinet members are holding preliminary discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment, a well-placed GOP source told CNN.
The discussions are ongoing but it's unclear if there will be enough Cabinet members to result in Trump's removal.
The conversations have reached Capitol Hill, where some senators have been made aware of the discussions, the source said.
READ MORE: Obama condemns 'violence incited by Donald Trump'
Within minutes of protestors breaching the Capitol this afternoon, Republicans were revisiting the idea of removing Trump from office, a choice that nearly all of them passed on making a year ago during last year's impeachment trial.
The forceful denunciations of Trump are also unprecedented.
Former President George W. Bush, who has kept a low profile, released a strongly-worded rebuke Wednesday evening calling the "insurrection" at the Capitol a "sickening and heartbreaking sight."
https://twitter.com/TheBushCenter/status/1346963094409539591
Mitt Romney, the Utah senator who was the only Republican to vote to convict the President on an article of impeachment last year, went further, calling the President a "selfish man" who "deliberately misinformed his supporters" about the election.
Romney also called the attack on the Capitol an "insurrection" and blamed Trump, saying he "stirred [supporters] to action this very morning."
Trump supporters harass media and smash cameras during Washington protest
Supporters of Donald Trump have harassed members of the media and smashed cameras during protests in Washington.
A number of journalists were forced to abandon their equipment in a set-up area after violent thugs forced their way in.
The angry mob was caught on camera kicking over lights and battering expensive cameras with sticks and flags.
READ MORE: Vote objecting to Biden's Arizona victory fails in landslide
9News US Correspondent Amelia Adams witnessed the chaos while reporting from the city.
"We were constantly harassed and abused and some of our colleagues really came under attack," she said.
"The Associated Press had all of their camera gear smashed and destroyed."
READ MORE: Death toll of US Capitol riot grows to four
Protesters stormed the Capitol as lawmakers held Joint Session to certify the Electoral College count of the presidential election.
Four protesters were killed during the violence.
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Even after the Capitol riots, the US may not yet have reached a tipping point
ANALYSIS: The strength of Donald Trump's connection to his base means the extraordinary riot inside the US Capitol today may not be enough to shock the country out of its partisan divide, former 9News foreign correspondent Robert Penfold says.
A mob of Mr Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol while Congress was certifying Joe Biden's election win, gaining access to both chambers and smashing windows.
One woman was shot dead by police and three others died from "medical emergencies".
The protesters turned their attention on the Capitol moments after Mr Trump addressed them at a nearby rally.
Penfold lives in Los Angeles and retired in 2019 after 43 years with Nine, including more than two decades as the network's US correspondent. He continues to work as a special contributor.
He said he'd never seen anything like the chaotic scenes today.
"This is really shocking and I think most Americans will join me in saying that," he told 9news.com.au.
"Sure, we understand it's a very divided nation but nobody thought it could ever have gone to these lengths where crowds have actually stormed the Capitol building.
"It's just unbelievable, particularly after the president spoke to them this morning.
"In many ways, so many people now believe he incited them.
"He was the one who got them riled up to the point after he finished speaking, they turned around and up they went to the Capitol building."
Penfold said security was usually extremely tight at the Capitol and he was baffled as to how the rioters managed to get so close.
'Something much deeper is going on here'
Since his convincing election loss to Mr Biden, the president has pursued an unfounded conspiracy that the election was "stolen" from him and the Republican party.
That continued during his incendiary rally.
"If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," Mr Trump said.
"Let the weak ones get out.
"This is a time for strength."
Mr Trump did belatedly post a video online calling for protesters to go home.
But far from denouncing the chaos, Mr Trump instead sent a message of praise to the rioters: "We love you, you're very special."
Social media giants Facebook, Twitter and YouTube soon moved to delete posts from the president and lock his accounts.
READ MORE: Twitter threatens Trump with permanent ban
The scenes of looting in the chambers of Congress and Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office were disturbing, but Penfold said the country might not yet have reached a tipping point.
More than 70 million people voted for Mr Trump in the November election.
Some polls show more than 70 per cent of those voters believe the election was in some way rigged or fraudulent in Democrats' favour.
"Something really much deeper is going on here," Penfold said.
"A lot of the people out here really do believe the election was stolen.
"Over and over again, the president, the person they voted for, has told them this is the truth and as we know, because it's been through more than 20 court cases, it's not the case.
"But because Donald Trump is such a convincing salesman, he's been able to continue to sell them on the idea to the point where America is more divided than it ever was before.
"You'd like to think this might be the moment that shocks everyone to end this great divide in the United States but at the moment I tend to think that's not going to be the case."
Where to now for Republicans?
Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley had led the charge in objecting to the election results, even as more senior figures in the party such as Senate leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence pushed back on pressure from Mr Trump.
Since winning office in 2016, the Republican party has been reshaped in Mr Trump's image.
But in the intervening four years, the party has lost control of the presidency, the House, and finally this morning, the Senate.
"The Republican party as we knew it doesn't exist anymore," Penfold said.
"Those conservative Republicans who did vote for Trump because he was their candidate are now believing their party has been hijacked and they don't have a party anymore.
"It's going to be interesting to see whether or not the Republican hierarchy that was the leadership there will work out somehow how to reestablish the party as a real party and somehow distance itself from Trump.
"But what happened today has just driven a nail in the coffin in the Republican party as we know it."
Joe Biden's challenge
Mr Biden delivered an address from Wilmington, Delaware today as looters ran rampant in the Capitol.
Tradition usually sees the incoming president respect the office of his predecessor and Mr Biden has painted himself as a healer, rarely mentioning Mr Trump by name.
That changed today when the president-elect demanded an end to the rioting and called on Mr Trump to address the nation.
"The words of a president matter. No matter how good or bad that president is," Mr Biden said.
"At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite."
Penfold said Mr Biden appeared to lay blame for the riot with Mr Trump's words and actions.
"He's been pretty loathe to criticise Trump while he's still president and maintain the routine of what happens when you're the president-elect – you stay quiet, make your plans, you work quietly in the background," Penfold said.
"Today he decided obviously it crossed a Rubicon, as it were, and he said to Trump, 'You have to come out, you have to say something to the people of America'.
"He actually demanded Trump, who hadn't said anything at that stage, come out to try to quell the violence that he indicated Trump had created in the first place."
Mr Biden's inauguration is less than two weeks away but the spectre of Mr Trump looms large.
"Trump's always there, Trump's always hovering," Penfold said.
"This could well be Joe Biden's problem for years to come.
"There are suggestions now Trump may, once he's gone, go and get his television show.
"If he gets that, he might be like one of those old-time American preachers on television every day calling his supporters up, appealing for money so he can run again, building the millions or hundreds of millions.
"They are terrified Trump just won't go away."
'America always seems able to overcome'
In his decades living in the US, Penfold has seen the country stare down crises from the September 11 attacks and the financial crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chaos that hit the US Capitol today might have been unprecedented but Penfold backed the country's institutions to recover.
"People think: boy, could this been the end of America as we know it?" he said.
"I don't think so. It's a very strong nation, even in recent history.
"America always seems to be able to overcome.
"There is no doubt Americans are very stunned at what they saw today and no doubt embarrassed at what they were watching but I wouldn't say America is on its knees at the moment.
"It's going through an extraordinary upheaval politically but I've always said as an American citizen as well as an Australian citizen, I've always seen the strength this nation has uniquely.
"I think, somehow, it will rise all above that.
"The big question is: where will Trump be?
"He's going to be around for some time and that's going to be a very, very disruptive influence for America for some years to come."