'Where do we go from here?' is a question I have been asking since the phone of my hosts at a socially-distanced dinner last night beeped an urgent news alert. "Trump tilhængere stormer den amerikanske kongres!"
We rushed to the TV and gawped at the scenes from Capitol grounds in Washington D.C. What I saw was what I had feared since my university days when I read Nobel laureate Elias Canetti's chilling Crowds and Power: a charismatic leader urging a mob to violence to destroy the form of government I believed in. However, I never thought it would happen in the USA.
As long-time admirers of the USA. my host were in shock. We were all in shock. My fears were raised by the apparent lack of law enforcement. How was it possible for domestic terrorists to gain entry into the seat of American democracy? Did that mean that the president had ordered the various police forces to keep away? What about the military? Had he exercised his authority as commander-in-chief and ordered it to support him in overthrowing the election?
 |
| Ready for battle |
 |
| I'm not sure why some were dressed as Vikings. |
 |
| In Nancy Pelosi's office |
Fortunately, it soon became apparent that this was not a coup, but Trumpian thuggery. Those inside the Capitol weren't trying to seize power for themselves, but rather were venting their frustrations over an election they thought had been stolen - a frustration fanned by the loser of the election.
I think it was Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, who provided the most compelling reason of why Trump supporters were behaving they way they were. He suggested that their anger emanates from a fear that their traditional way of life is disappearing, a fear that I think really took hold when Obama became president. The whiteness of their country was threatened and with it their jobs and their political influence. And their ability to look down on another group.
If Goldberg is right, and I think he is, we have to ask where do we go from here. The more people, like Stacey Abrams, register Black voters, the less influence the Trump base will have at the polls and the more afraid they will become as they realize their increasing irrelevance.
 |
| Stacey Abrams - perceived as a threat |
Will this lead to increased violence of the sort we saw last night? Probably - unless we can find a way to ease the fears of the Trump base.
The perpetrators of last night's violence deserve all the criticism they receive, as well as appropriate application of the laws of the land. However, they also deserve understanding and a commitment by the new administration to improve their lot in life.
The problem is that I see no quick way to do this. An improved education system takes years to implement and more years to reap benefits. Improving economic circumstances is likely a better and quicker approach, but the arc of economic prosperity is headed down. How does a country so deeply in debt improve the lot of all of its people, especially when so many of its citizens choose individualism over cooperative behavior, when the rich get richer and the rest poorer?
And finally how can the country accomplish this while simultaneously addressing racism in a meaningful way? And protecting the country from further ravages of the pandemic?
I am an optimistic person, but my optimism is being severely challenged this morning.
Help! Where do we go from here?
