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Dark days

January 07, 2021
Balance of Power
Bloomberg

Democracy in America entered uncharted waters after a mob instigated by a sitting president stormed the U.S. Capitol.

In the aftermath of the chaos, as lawmakers returned and formalized the election victory of Joe Biden, there were calls mainly from Democrats to impeach Donald Trump. A pro-Republican manufacturer group said Vice President Mike Pence should "seriously consider" working with the cabinet to remove him from office.

The White House was hit by resignations. Twitter and Facebook suspended the president's accounts. Washington was placed under curfew, and the National Guard deployed on the streets. World leaders expressed shock and dismay.

It was an extraordinary day all around. The Democrats won two Senate runoff elections in Georgia that gave them control of both houses of Congress, ensuring a smoother road for Biden's cabinet nominees and legislative agenda.

As the electoral vote count began, Republican lawmakers split as some objected to Trump's defeat in November, citing discredited claims of fraud.

Then the mayhem arrived. Lawmakers fled the chambers, gas masks in hand. The police were overwhelmed. Four people died, including one woman shot inside the Capitol, and at least 14 officers were injured.

A Trump supporter sits in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The protesters, some armed and carrying Confederate flags, wreaked havoc, with images on social media showing people clambering in the Senate chamber and infiltrating legislators' abandoned offices.

After the violence subsided, Republicans increasingly recoiled from Trump, with some blaming him directly for whipping his conspiracy-believing acolytes into a frenzy, as Steven T. Dennis and Jarrell Dillard report.

Others stuck by his fraud claims, with more than 100 Republican members of Congress still objecting to Biden's victory, which was certified in the early hours of today.

While Trump has since promised an orderly transition, the insurrection poses an urgent question: Was this the nadir of the U.S.'s extreme political polarization or a harbinger of things to come? — Karl Maier 

Protestors inside the U.S. Capitol.

Photographer: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images 

Click here for a photo essay on yesterday's events in Washington and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

Global Headlines

Aide exodus | Trump's reaction to the events at the Capitol — he watched them unfold while walking back and forth between the Oval Office and the White House dining room and was initially pleased — alarmed many aides and prompted a handful to quit. They included his deputy national security advisor, a deputy press secretary and First Lady Melania Trump's chief of staff. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien also considered leaving but was persuaded to stay. Others are still considering leaving.

Simmering rage | Since Trump lost re-election, obscure corners of the Internet have seen rising calls for violence and revolution from what appear to be a subset of Trump's supporters. But as Daniel Zuidijk and Kartikay Mehrotra report, as the president tried to delegitimize the Nov. 3 ballot, the rhetoric sharply increased and even reached the far-more-mainstream Facebook, hidden away in private far-right groups with names like "Joe Biden is not my president."

Shock outside America | Global leaders voiced alarm over the breach of the Capitol, warning the U.S. risked its status as a positive example of democracy. Some criticized Trump: "Inflammatory words reap violent deeds," said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. But Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, a staunch Trump backer, noted there had been "many reports of fraud" in the U.S. election.

  • China used the violence to drive home a narrative of American hypocrisy, with state media casting the incident as "karma" and "retribution" for Washington's support of global protest movements, including those in Hong Kong.

Boosting Biden | Democratic victories in Georgia's two Senate runoffs will give Biden's administration the narrowest of margins in the chamber and help him advance his nominees and legislative agenda. But as Gregory Korte reports, the president-elect's promise to restore bipartisanship will be put to the test, and yesterday's scenes of political violence — against the backdrop of Republicans challenging the legitimacy of his victory — show just how much work he has ahead of him.

Biden with Democratic candidates for the Senate Jon Ossoff (L) and Raphael Warnock (R) the day before their runoff elections in Atlanta, Georgia.

Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 

New threat | Chinese tech companies did a pretty good job convincing global investors they operated independently from the Communist Party, but Beijing's pursuit of Jack Ma and his Ant Group after he criticized regulators arguably plays into the hands of China's biggest detractors in Washington, who say no Chinese tech giant or entrepreneur is beyond the reach of President Xi Jinping. The party's sway over business has become even clearer as Xi consolidates power ahead of its big congress next year.

What to Watch

  • Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency today for Tokyo and adjacent areas in a bid to stem Covid-19 infections that hit a daily record in the capital.

  • The soaring fortunes of the world's richest people in 2020 is reviving calls to tax all that new wealth, with politicians and activists from Chile to the U.K. floating proposals for levies on millionaires and billionaires.

And finally ... At first, the disruption seemed like a nuisance, at worst. But the situation quickly turned grave. As Billy House and Erik Wasson reported from the scene, security officials suddenly warned that "lots of people" had broken past a perimeter, and the House sergeant-at-arms was heard telling someone on the phone to "Hold the line." Whoever he was talking to, it didn't work. Pence left the chamber, a gunshot rang out, and Democrats blamed their Republican colleagues, with one representative shouting "This is because of you!"

Capitol Police with guns drawn stand near a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the House chamber.

Photographer: Andrew Harnik/AP

 

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