DURBAN - AS the world watched in shock as Trump supporters forced their way into the seat of US government, Capitol Hill, local political analysts said they were not surprised by yesterday’s events.
The incident resulted in United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden condemning the scenes that unfolded.
Trump condemned the violence. He tweeted calling for the protestors to go home and that they were loved. While he continued making false claims about election fraud, his Twitter and Facebook social media accounts were suspended by the social media companies.
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said: “I am surprised people were taken by surprise. There was an unhinged president for four years.” He said Trump was not going to accept electoral defeat.
“Things had come to a point where Trump’s mental state was questioned by members of his own cabinet and that he would fire people who disagreed with him. Another factor of the Trump presidency was how there was how many of his staff members resigned during his presidency. The lesson is that democracy cannot be taken for granted,” Seepe said.
Under the Trump administration, he said, democracy had become the will of Trump, rather than it being the will of the people and that the worst of America had come out during the presidency.
"It was sad how unprepared police were for an attack on Capitol Hill by white people. If it was black people, it would have been a different matter,“ he said.
“The lesson South Africa could learn was to be constantly vigilant to ensure democracy was maintained.”
Xolani Dube, a senior researcher at Xubera Institute for Research and Development, said what happened was a case of Americans finding each other. "What the rest of the world should be scared of is when Americans find each other and the consequences thereof.“
He said Trump would continue to be a significant role player in the American landscape in the future. “What happened in the United States showed how Americans were able to fight for the interests of their country and put them first and not put the interests of their political party first. This was a lesson that was supposed to be learned in South Africa.”
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said they did not have any comment regarding what happened in the US.
Daily News