President Donald Trump speaks to supporters from behind bulletproof flexi-glass during the certification of Joe Biden prior to a violent protest breaking out. Photo / AP
President Donald Trump speaks to supporters from behind bulletproof flexi-glass during the certification of Joe Biden prior to a violent protest breaking out. Photo / AP
Editorial
EDITORIAL:
The mob of Donald Trump loyalists who stormed US Congress have trampled on the idea of the United States' moral authority among global democracies.
Even in asking his followers to "go home in peace", the US President continued to push misinformation about a stolen election and declared his lovefor the so-called "patriots" stomping on the principles of American democracy.
There is really no historical precedent for what is happening in the United States right now. Even the impeachment of Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal feels tepid when viewed alongside the current administration's concerted efforts to overturn the results of a legitimate election.
Police stand outside the Capitol after a day of rioting protesters in Washington. Photo / AP
If this was taking place in a poorer, less powerful nation, it would immediately be derided for its broken system and autocratic leader.
When power in the US government eventually transfers to President-elect Joe Biden, the world will not forget how vulnerable the US democracy is to the allure of dangerous populism.
This will only accentuate the geopolitical complexity for nations such as New Zealand, which increasingly find themselves stuck between an old ally ongoing intelligence cohort in the United States and an important new trade partner in China.
One the one hand, we have Trump undermining foundations of the democratic process to stay in power and, on the other, we have Xi Jinping who has assumed power to remain "president for life".
While this is not the first divide we've seen between two superpowers, the behaviour of the current US administration has created a moral ambiguity not seen before.
The thing which historically drew much of the western world to side with the United States was the strength of its democratic system. In the face of Josef Stalin's red tide during the Cold War, the US was propped up as a nation built on opportunity and freedom, held together by a fair election process.
The choice there was simple: democracy or autocracy.
The US currently has a leader leaning more to the latter than former, doing everything he can to stay in power in spite of the election process - declaring his love for those attempting to illegally occupy the Capitol Building.
The US is the only country in the world to have had a continuous democracy for more than 200 years, but Trump's belligerence has brought it dangerously close to an abrupt conclusion.
He will likely prove unsuccessful in his attempts only because he doesn't have enough Republican loyalists to support him.
The lesson here for all the younger democracies of the world is that even processes and structures which look good on paper and have been applied fairly historically, come with no guarantee of continuing indefinitely.
The United States democracy has endured for so long and claims the record because other major democracies around the world have all been disrupted at various junctures in history. This is the brink on which America now sits.
The United States didn't get to this chaotic point overnight. Trump and his acolytes have been allowed to steadily push the boundaries and test the breaking point of the system over the last four years.
The only hope now is that it isn't allowed to go any further.
