America
Good morning.
Joe Biden has been confirmed as the winner of the 2020 U.S. election.
American democracy is broken. I don’t want to be sensational or dramatic but it’s broken. An alternative reality has been created by President Trump leading voters to believe their votes were stolen.
And it won’t be fixed easily. Despite Trumps Twitter and Facebook accounts being suspended overnight.
Thousands of pro Trump supporters stirred by Trumps election theft claims attacked the capital. Disturbing outrageous scenes of windows smashed, guns drawn, occupation of the Senate and Congress. People ransacked offices as security shielded law makers. You already saw all this on your TV screens.
Trump is responsible. So are right wing TV networks and news outlets.
But, whoever you want to believe, this doesn’t end with riot police clearing the Capital. It will be hard to bring Americans back to believing in elections. Trumps great legacy will be deconstructing faith in the electoral process. And Democrats can’t simply swear in their new President Joe Biden without addressing it.
This morning, The Senate is confirming electoral votes. But more than 100 Republicans continue to speak out against the election results. So even after all this at the Capital, those disturbing scenes, the evidence of insurrection and mayhem, Republicans, not all, but many continue to spin this myth of a stolen election.
Where do we go from here? Democrats are talking about removing Trump from office in the last 2 weeks of his Presidency, but how? 25th amendment? Impeachment? It’s all on the table and none seemingly reasonable or achievable.
Terrorists and trouble makers who carried out the assault on The Capital will be hunted and arrested and a point made of being jailed. Lot’s of them were captured on TV and on their own selfies gleefully putting their feet up on desks and occupying offices like that of Democrat House Speak Nancy Pelosi.
Biden has been certified with 240 electoral votes. That took place this morning., And he will be confirmed as President on Jan. 20.
Trump will leave The White House. But, he won’t go away. And here’s what I think as a correspondent covering 55 Countries, a dozen wars, and authoritarian leaders from Russia to The Middle East. This was of course going to happen. The violence. Because Trump has been stirring it for months. And all of us could see it coming. But, this is not the last act. You cannot tell people their votes were stolen, and not have them rise up in anger. There will be more violence. The inauguration will be challenging.
It’s not over folks. There should be a post election commission, which clearly airs all grievances, and discusses future election process. Not because I believe there was widespread fraud. 60 courts said no. But, because there needs to be an act of restoration of faith in American voting after Trump did so much to shatter what we now understand was very fragile faith in America’s democracy. Trump who would do anything to keep power has demonstrated he has no moral foundation. It’s ugly. His desire for power over principle is ugly. And he is extremely dangerous. His statement after all of this, is he “loves” those supporters. But he also says there will be an orderly transition of power in 13 days. He issued that statement under huge pressure.
Georgia should be our headline this morning, but the events at the Capitol stole the headlines. The Dems won Georgia’s runoff. Both seats! Which means The Democrats control the Senate and The House.
What happens between now and inauguration? A Dangerous corrosive explosive moment in America. Let’s hope for calm. I don’t believe calm is what’s ahead of us.