Coup Attempt In America

Harry Hutchinson ✒ It was weeks in the planning.

Far right social media sites “The Donald" and “Conspiracy theorist QAnon” called on protesters to “storm the capital” and for “violent insurrection”.

The site also urged protesters to bring their guns and it made direct threats to House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and even to Vice President Mike Pence.

Timed to coincide with the election declaration, the far right, predominately “Proud boys” rioters, easily stormed Capitol hill. Despite all these warnings, security around Capitol Hill was lax. Rioters easily broke through barriers (some of which were removed by police) and overwhelmed the US Capitol Police and the Metropolitan force.

There were no signs of the tear gas that was used against the BLM, or in Lafayette Square, to make way for Trump to carry out his propaganda stunt, Bible in hand. The National Guard were not mobilised until rioters had dwindled to a few hundred.

Police offered little restraint to the storming of Capitol Hill. Many Officers even had their picture taken with the Proud Boys, in marked contrast to the brutal repression by these same Officers of the peaceful BLM movement. Similar ‘Storm the Capitol' protests had taken place across America before and by the same mobs: notably in Michigan where a fascist mob occupied the state government building last Summer.

Party splits

The Republican Party is split on its support for Trump. A hundred and thirty-nine Republican representatives and eight senators challenged the presidential election result, although Vice President Pence refused Trump’s appeal to object. A fascist wing of the Republican Party is solidly behind Trump.

However, ten former Secretaries of Defence, including some appointed by Trump, signed a letter against military involvement, effectively opposing violent means to overthrow the election result. There is now a spilt in the American establishment.

Aims achieved

The storming of Capitol Hill achieved its objective. It demonstrated that this fascist movement can infiltrate the levers of power in the US, with at least sympathetic support from security personnel and the part of the establishment. Although many protesters saw this as a takeover of the state, for it to be an effective coup, the conditions and time were not right. Certainly, Trump with the assistance of Fox News, has developed a major shift in US ideology to the far right, as witnessed by his seventy million votes. But although the Far right is not yet mature or influential enough to seize power, that is the objective of this movement.

The Trump ‘steal the vote' campaign has already raised $200m. The aim now for the far right is to build this movement further, possibly leading to another Trump challenge for the White House in four years. But more importantly, the aim for the far right is to be in a position to replace a ‘parliamentary’ capitalist democracy with a fascist dictatorship.

The January 6 storming of Capitol Hill is a warning to working class people in America and across the globe. Far right groups see Trump as the champion of their cause. Fascist groups will be invigorated by this insurrection, in Europe and the East. An anti-fascist movement of organised working class people must be built to counter balance this fascist movement. Trade unions, in particular, must now throw their resources into organising working class people against this fascist threat.

➽ Harry Hutchinson is a member of the Labour Party Northern Ireland.