[ad_1]
Right-wing extremists and anti-fascists clashed in the US capital over the weekend.
Pro-Trump protesters in Washington give “OK” signs. For many, it is a symbol of white power. Photo: Jim Urquhart / Reuters / NTB
The er synth.
They display flags and banners that shout “Stop theft,” “Trump 2020,” and “Country MAGA.” MAGA is an abbreviation for Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.”
They want to help Donald Trump reverse the election result. “America, America!” shout protesters from the Proud Boys, a far-right movement.
On Saturday they clashed with far-left protesters, including members of the anti-fascist movement Antifa.
By the end of the night, four people had been stabbed in Washington, according to The New York Times. Several others had moderate injuries and a score were arrested. One person was also shot, according to local media.
People also demonstrated in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona. In these states, the Trump campaign has attempted to reverse the election.
On Monday, the state assembly building in Lansing, Michigan, was closed due to threats of violence.
Pepper spray was used to take control in Washington on Saturday.
1 of 3Photo: Jim Urquhart / Reuters / NTB
Angry men with guns
The riots could be the beginning of more chaos and violent riots, believes Eirik Løkke. He is a consultant for the Civita think tank and has a keen interest in American politics. Løkke believes the time leading up to and after Biden’s inauguration on January 20 could be dangerous.
– It is a very small spark that is needed to create potentially violent situations. There are many strong emotions, many angry men with many weapons who are very dissatisfied.
He notes that Trump is also fueling morale and trying to pressure politicians to overturn elections in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Løkke believes this qualifies as an attempted coup.
Eirik Løkke is an advisor to the Civita think tank. Photo: CF-WESENBERG
Asle Toje, who is a foreign policy researcher and commentator, is not as concerned about the unrest.
– I think it’s over soon now. Soon everyone but the most extreme will acknowledge that the election is over and that Biden won, he says.
He explains the weekend’s riots as a knife fight between young men from the outer wings who show up because rivals do it. The Proud Boys see themselves as a civil defense against the left, while Antifa plays the role of protectors against the fascists, he notes. He believes the bloody street fights are just a media hype of a polarized and chaotic America.
Toje believes that they will not have a real influence or change the fact that Biden will take over the Oval Office.
– Actually, the protesters are simply attacking each other. All the stories that are told about why they are there are not very credible, says Toje.
Asle Toje is a researcher and foreign policy commentator. Photo: Dan P. Neegaard
Civil war?
The outgoing president describes the support of his followers as “heartwarming.”
Up to 70 percent of Republican voters do not believe the elections were free and fair, according to a poll.
But so far no credible evidence of electoral fraud has been presented. The Trump campaign has filed numerous lawsuits and they continue to be rejected in the court system.
“That the United States is collapsing or entering a kind of civil war is no longer inconceivable.” Political science professor Tore Wig wrote in Morgenbladet a month before the US election was decided. Political and economic inequality between ethnic groups can lead to conflict, he said.
– Classic example of democratic erosion
The fighting in Washington should not be mixed with a civil war, says Hilmar Mjelde at the Norce Research Center. He believes that there is definitely no danger of a civil war like the one he had in the 1860s.
– These are fringe players. Most people don’t participate or see anything like this outside of their own living room window, says Mjelde.
Mjelde believes there has never been a real chance that Trump will succeed in a coup because the military and the courts will oppose it. But he believes the United States is experiencing democratic erosion.
– When the president himself attacks the core of democracy, that is, the electoral process, it is a classic example of democratic erosion. Expert panels Freedom House and V-Dem, which measure the state of democracy in the world, downgraded the democratic status of the United States in 2018, Mjelde says.
Hilmar Mjelde is a researcher at Norce.
