Nearly three days after the pro-Trump “Diligent King Army” captured Capitol Hill, the political turmoil in the United States still shows no sign of ending.
The Democratic camp is brewing impeaching Trump and claiming to prevent Trump from “launching a nuclear strike”; many senior officials in the Republican camp left and chose to “cut” with Trump; while Trump himself announced that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration and threatened “not remain silent”…
When will this chaos in the United States end? It is too early to draw a conclusion. But the following eight points have been clearly conclusive.
I. “American democracy” has completely stepped down from the altar. The riots on Capitol Hill in the United States, aimed at preventing the orderly transition of power by violent means, shaken the foundation of American democracy and can be regarded as a fatal blow to American democracy.
Spanish newspaper Le Monde said that this is the “decimate way” of American democracy.
The big headline of the picture of the siege of the U.S. Capitol by the French newspaper Figaro is “Democracy Breakdown”. The New York Times also admitted that “This is a blow to the image of the American Democratic Beacon”.
Second, freedom of expression should exist at borders.
Fearing that Trump will continue to incite violence, the American social networking website Twitter not only permanently suspended Trump’s personal account, but also frozen the official account of the Trump campaign. Platforms such as Facebook and Youtu have “closed accounts” and “deleted posts”.
Google removed the social network platform often used by the “Qin Wangjun”, and Apple is considering similar measures. Regardless of whether the reasons for these platforms to ban Trump or not are valid, all of this shows that freedom of expression should have insurmountable boundaries in any society.
Third, violent demonstrations are absolutely intolerable. After the riots on Capitol Hill, American politicians and the media almost condemned the violence.
Even some American politicians who have deliberately incited turmoil in other countries in the past have claimed that “whether in the United States or around the world, lawlessness and riots are always unacceptable”.
I hope relevant people in the United States can always remember this passage. In fact, for any civilized society, riots are not and should not be regarded as “bright scenery”.
IV. The United States’ well-known “double standard” bankruptcy completely. It is also a violent impact on the legislature.
This scene on Capitol Hill is easily reminiscent of the violent collision of radical demonstrators into the Hong Kong Legislative Council building in July 2019. American politicians originally glorified Hong Kong thugs as “democracy heroes”, but now they characterize American protesters as “thugs”. There are countless examples like this.
The double standards of American politicians are exposed and cannot escape the eyes of the world. No wonder someone satirizes the United States and says, “If the United States sees what the United States is doing to the United States, the United States will certainly invade the United States and liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States.”
Fifth, the United States has no face to play the role of “teacher master” again. The United States has long claimed to be the “city of the mountain” and the “beacon of the world”. It always stands on the so-called “moral highland” and points out the “democracy and freedom” of other countries.
The U.S. Foreign Policy said, “America has become the way American leaders often condemn.” Germany’s Le Monde lamented that “overnight, the democratic and moral highlands of the United States became more fragile”.
The New York Times also had to admit that “For a period of time, when the United States seeks to promote democratic values, the rest of the world will look at the United States with suspicion.”
VI. The myth of “American exceptionalism” is disillusioned. Americans often believe that unlike other countries, Americans are “God’s voters” and that the United States has superior systems and are models for other countries.
But the riots on Capitol Hill show that things that are thought to only happen in the “third world” or “failed countries” will also occur in the United States.
The Washington Post lamented, “‘American exceptionalism’ is coming to an end.” Bloomberg also believes that after the impact of Capitol Hill by mobs, the “American exceptionalism” is at stake.
7. It is even more difficult for the United States to lead the world. Discontented that Trump will “cede” some of his role in leading the world, the incoming new U.S. government seeks to lead the world again.
But from now on, no one will look at, respect, awe or rely on the United States as ever did, according to Richard Haas, president of the American Institute of Foreign Affairs.
“Biden must not only try to heal the United States, but also to try to restore its international reputation. From January 6th, the position of global leader will begin to be vacant.” Spain’s Foreign Policy also said, “The riots in the Capitol proved to the United States and the world that although the system has been maintained, the emperor’s new clothes have been dismantled and the United States can no longer lead the world”.
VIII. History is far from coming to an end. After the end of the Cold War, the “final conclusion of history” suddenly emerged in the West, and many people believed that Western liberalism and democracy represented by the United States would be the “end of history”.
But after the “fall” of the U.S. Capitol Hill, the whole Western world was greatly shocked.
In fact, from the chaos of Brexit to the failure of relevant countries to fight against the epidemic, the disadvantages of Western-style democracy have been exposed; the riots on the United States Capitol Hill are the result of the failure of Western-style democracy.
“This is a warning to all [Western] democracies in the world: if this happens in the United States, it will happen anywhere, too,” the New York Times said.
While the “final conclusion of history” has lost the support of reality, American hegemony is increasingly showing signs of end.
