On December 12th local time, in protest against the election results, supporters of US President Trump held a second large-scale march in Washington, D.C., during which violent clashes resulted in the injury of at least 4 people and the arrest of 33 people.
So far, the post-election deadlock has lasted for nearly 40 days, even if the electoral college votes1 At the end of the 4th, the confrontation has not been eased.
Analysis believes that despite losing the election, the large number of Trump supporters and the enthusiasm of emotions show that Trump’s influence on American society will not disappear with the change of power, and his opponents are becoming increasingly unyielding, which means that the division of values in American society will persist for a long time, and the split of people is The phenomenon of standing is becoming more and more prominent.
Violence reappears in Washington
Speaking of the latest march, I have to mention the previous demonstration. On November 14th local time, tens of thousands of Trump supporters held a rally in Washington, D.C., to protest against the election results under the call of several right-wing organizations that support Trump. Meanwhile, some anti-Trump organizations and groups also participated in the demonstration.
At that time, although both sides said they would express their demands peacefully before the event, some violent clashes occurred with nightfall. One demonstrators were stabbed several times, many policemen were injured, at least 21 people were arrested, and images of violent clashes circulated all over the Internet. This incident fully demonstrated the sharp opposition between the left and right forces in American society after the election.
With the lesson of the past, Washington police deployed early on the march this time, but they still failed to prevent the recurrence of violent conflict. On the night of December 12, some demonstrators destroyed some anti-racism posters and flags, and there was also vicious violent clashes between members of the far left and the far right, resulting in 4 knife wounds, 33 arrests and 8 policemen injured in the course of their duties.
It is worth noting that the demonstrators not only fought fiercely with their opponents, but also put pressure on those who theoretically belong to their own camps. According to Fox News, many prominent right-wing people at the event made speeches, including asking the Republicans to do everything possible to overturn the election results, or they would do anything to “destroy” the Republican Party.
The people tear up and do not compromise with each other.
According to the results of the November election, Trump was able to get 232 electoral votes, accounting for only 43.1% of the total of 538 votes. However, he got much better votes in the popular vote – with 74 million votes and a high rate of 48.7% of the vote, making him the loser with the most popular votes in American history. This series of data shows that Trump’s supporters are quite large, and he has a huge base.
At the same time, Trump’s supporters also have a very high degree of loyalty. The Pew Research Center polled on supporters on both sides before the election. Although Trump’s approval rating is slightly lower than Biden, 66% of its supporters said they were “strongly supportive”, compared with only 46% of Biden supporters. In other words, Trump has many “fanatic fans” compared with many people who “opt Biden to oppose Trump” among Biden supporters.
Some experts point out that the enthusiasm of Trump supporters, the high loyalty, and the widespread distrust of mainstream media by this group make it almost inherent in the function of “blocking Trump’s negative news”, coupled with the homogenization of social media content push and sharing, have made Trump’s basic disk always stable. and are in almost “parallel world” with Trump’s opponents, and the two sides are unable to communicate or even lack basic consensus.
In such a fanatic atmosphere of confrontation, the continuous legal disputes after the election and the extreme conflict brought about by the two large-scale marches will further exacerbate the antagonism, making the confrontation between the American people increasingly prominent, making it more difficult for the two factions to compromise. In this case, analysts worry that American society will be bound by many contradictions in the future: ethnic conflicts, political polarization, social unrest, and it is increasingly difficult to bridge the tear.
Trump’s influence will not disappear.
CNN commented that it seems difficult to overthrow the election results at present, but even if Trump leaves the White House, his influence will not weaken. Some analysts believe that because of the binding relationship with the Republican Party, Trump’s popular confrontation is destined to exist in American society for a long time.
In fact, in the recent election-related protests, Trump supporters have targeted some senior Republicans and asked them to do everything possible to help Trump overthrow the election results. And because of Trump’s ultra-high party approval rating, many Republicans will still choose to continue to support Trump even if they are just worried about offending voters.
The Washington Post released a survey on the attitude of U.S. federal lawmakers towards the election results on December 5. The results show that out of a total of 249 Republican lawmakers, only 27 have admitted Biden’s victory. Some experts point out that this means that as long as Trump’s fundamentals remain, Republicans must accept Trump’s long-term influence.
In this case, Trump’s influence will rely on a huge fundamentals, as well as support within the Republican Party, which will long cover American society and collide fiercely with his opponents, eventually leading to a tearing of American society’s value uplift. And this kind of tear is even directly reflected in the geographical tear, showing a kind of “map tear”, which is shocking.
The Wall Street Journal commented that in the past 20 years, the United States has gradually formed a situation of value antagonism, which has strong geographical characteristics – the east and west coasts and large cities have become the strongholds of the Democratic Party, while the Midwest and rural areas are dominated by Republicans. This kind of “popular tearing on the map” reached a climax in 2020.
According to the analysis, Trump’s current decisive confrontation with American society essentially heralds a trend. It represents the conservative counterattack in American society and shows the long-standing contradictions and conflicts between urban and rural areas, new immigrants and earlier immigrants, minorities and white groups. Trump’s impact on the United States is not out of thin air. It has a deep social foundation and soil for growth, and will not change because of Trump’s own stay.
