Donald Trump's role in US Capitol attack was shocking but should not have surprised anyone

Last week’s events in Washington were a logical outcome of the last four years which have seen the US president promoting prejudice, fanning the flames of racial tension, encouraging conspiracy theories and undermining the democracy which he is supposed to uphold. Inciting the insurrection at a rally immediately beforehand, he fired up his supporters, repeating the lie that he had won the election and telling them: “We will never give up, we will never concede. Our country has had enough, we will not take it any more.” He urged them to march on the Capitol and added: “You will never take our country back with weakness. You have to show strength.” After the scenes of chaos and violence had unfolded, his eventual, half-hearted appeal to the mob of thugs and extremists to go home said it all: “We love you. You’re very special.” But for the former reality TV host and billionaire, who was elected in 2016 after campaigning to “drain the swamp”, this was not an aberration or acting out of character. Incredible though the events were, Trump’s behaviour was all too believable. This was the man whose response to the Charlottesville attack – when a white supremacist attending a neo-Nazi rally rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19 – was to say there were “fine people on both sides”. And when the FBI foiled a plot by anti-lockdown extremists to kidnap and possibly kill Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, the president made light of it and told a rally: “Hopefully you’ll be sending her packing pretty soon.” There isn’t space to catalogue the daily diet of lies and misrepresentations, unfounded boasts and preposterous claims – like injections of bleach to combat Covid – which have characterised his term of office. Thankfully he did not win re-election in November, but perhaps the most disturbing thing is that 74 million Americans did vote for him despite the last four years. Even after the storming of the Capitol, when Congress resumed its business to ratify the election result, many Republican lawmakers still sought to overturn the electoral college votes. The day after, some of the mob – interviewed on TV as they went sightseeing in Washington – said they were proud to have taken part in it and insisted “it had to happen”. One poll found 45 per cent of Republicans supporters backed their action. It all suggests the US is a deeply divided country which new president Joe Biden will struggle to bring together. And no-one knows what Trump will do next. Will he try to run for the White House again? If a fresh impeachment led to conviction, he could be permanently disqualified from elected office. But would that be enough to end his influence? Some argue “you can’t have Trumpism without Trump” but others think one of his family could stand as a surrogate. Failing that, there has been speculation he could set up his own TV channel or media outlet. Sadly, it is unlikely we have heard the last of Donald Trump. A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.

Donald Trump's role in US Capitol attack was shocking but should not have surprised anyone – Ian Swanson