‘It breaks my heart’: Americans in New Zealand stunned by Capitol building riots

Americans in New Zealand watched in horror and disbelief as pro-Donald Trump protesters swept through the United States Capitol building on Thursday (NZT).

Supporters of the outgoing president stormed the Capitol building in Washington, DC, occupying offices and legislative chambers, in a violent protest against the congressional process to confirm Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the November presidential election.

Across New Zealand, Americans were stunned by the events, during which a woman was shot and later killed.

Genice Paullay-Beazley, a New Yorker who lives in Auckland and is active in the New Zealand chapter of Democrats Abroad, said before the news of the death that “if no one dies today on Capitol Hill, it will be a miracle.”

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“This is a combination of lack of gun control and incitement to what has always been present in white supremacy,” he said, describing scenes as “total anarchy” that amounted to an attempted coup by supporters of Trump.

Paullay-Beazley, who lives in the relative calm of New Zealand, where she has been residing for the past 16 years, said she had been suffering from “survivors’ fault” while her family in the US dealt with the riots and the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Having said that, America is still my home and it breaks my heart. The Senate is the safest place in Washington outside the White House, ”he said. “I said many years ago that America was going to fall apart, and we are seeing that is happening now.”

Professor Peter Field, an American expat and historian at the University of Canterbury, said he believed the vast majority of Americans would condemn the violence.

The “real danger” was the presence of “left and right” media and targeted distribution through news content algorithms that supported people’s worldviews, Field said.

“The healthy division, the division that is a means of finding the truth through a healthy disagreement, is a great thing,” he said. “But the division itself is the end of the compromise.”

Field, who was a classmate of former US President Barack Obama at Columbia University, said he was “not writing an autopsy” for the United States.

“I really hope Joe Biden finds a middle ground in the Democratic Party that restores some faith that there is a middle ground, but he is fighting a very difficult battle,” he said.

‘Anxious for the future’

Cody Ayres, a resident of Wellington, North Carolina, called the situation insane.

He said the United States had been slowly approaching the scenes seen on Capitol Hill.

“[Under the Trump Administration] a lot of coverage was given to problem people. They got emboldened and now they are seeing this privilege and coverage taken away from them, they worry about losing the power they accumulated under Trump. “

He was worried about the future of America.

“I am looking forward to the future. Even if Trump is removed, 49 percent of Americans voted for him. It’s good to know he’s out, but the army behind him is waiting for the next one to come in. “

Ayres’s partner Audrey Koncsol, also from North Carolina, said the situation in Washington was disturbing.

“None of that was surprising, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t jarring, you expected it to be different.”

He had no intention of returning to the United States to live there long term.

Helpless from far away

Rachel Bowyer moved from the US to Auckland in 2019 due to the “unbearable” political climate in her home country.

“The division between family and friends was becoming so cruel that I felt like I couldn’t breathe,” he said.

Although things have gotten worse since then, Bowyer said she was still surprised to see the news coverage on Thursday (New Zealand time).

The fact that the protesters had managed to storm the Capitol illustrates the double standards in the country, he said. “If I was a BLM [Black Lives Matter] protest, they would have been shot on sight. “

He felt sad and helpless watching from so far away.

“It’s embarrassing, that’s the biggest emotion I feel. It will be on the news in every country in the world, as if we had not been mocked for four years, “he said.

“Everything that is happening is ridiculous, but there are so many decent and sensible Americans who do not reflect this in any way.”

‘Grotesque and terrifying’

Todd Hopkins from Southern California had been glued to the news all morning. The place in the Capitol building that was robbed aroused so much emotion that he had to leave his home in Wellington to stop thinking about things as the situation came to an end.

“It was quite grotesque and terrifying at the same time.”

He said that society in the United States has been divided for some time and Trump had “fanned the fire of the far right.”

The hostile political climate at home had influenced Hopkins’ decision to come to New Zealand three years ago.

“After Trump’s election, I thought it was time to take a break; he was very unhappy with the political climate.

“My family is very conservative and voted for Trump [in 2016] and voted for him again. [This situation] It has been divisive in many families, especially mine. “

He was optimistic that the political climate would improve when Biden entered the Oval Office, but that division would persist for a long time.

Fraud claims

Amy Benjamin, an Auckland-based Trump supporter, said that while she did not agree with the tactics used by the protesters, she understood their frustration.

“I think the election was stolen,” the Californian said.

He claimed that the protests were the culmination of two months during which the Republican Party tried to expose the fraud.

“I don’t know how it will develop from here, except that the army will be the only way. If that is true, we are seeing history, it is incredible ”.

She predicted that the military would be heavily involved, both in maintaining public order and in the “administration of justice” against alleged Republican perpetrators.

“Trump is not leaving. That’s the bottom line. “

Violence caused by ‘misinformation’

New Plymouth-based Californian Jake Hechter said the protests were sad to see. He said that “misinformation and nonsense” were leading to real violence.

Hechter is on vacation in the South Island and said it was hard not to pay attention to what was happening. The protests did not surprise him.

“Trump has been provoking violent feelings for a long time.

“Most Americans see the point, but this is a noisy minority who believe their opinion is worth more than anyone else’s.”

Tay McDonald, a New Plymouth resident from Texas, said he was not a Trump supporter, but that it was “idiotic” to blame one man for the reasons behind the protests in Washington, DC.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist guy, but this is the result of years and years of chaos in politics, education, and religion.

“They finally have a boy [Trump] they can identify the cause of problems. “

McDonald, who moved to New Zealand 14 years ago, said breaking the law and causing violence was wrong.

“Protest and use freedom of speech is what the Constitution supports.”

Katie Splawn from North Carolina said her phone had gone haywire on Thursday with friends and family in the United States and New Zealand calling about the protests.

“He couldn’t have missed me, even if he wanted to.”

She wasn’t surprised by what happened, but she was angry and exhausted after taking it all in for the day.

“I’m angry. Angry that they were able to enter the building and that they were able to leave. If they had been protesters from Black Lives Matter, there would have been a greater response.”

She described the political landscape in her homeland as a “garbage dump fire.”