Capitol Hill violence result of ‘decades of division’

An American political analyst believes that the violence at the Capitol Hill on Wednesday is the result of “decades of division” and institutionalized racism in the United States.

Armed protesters broke into the US Capitol, forcing lawmakers to halt the ongoing vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s election win.

After two months of refusal to accept defeat in the November 3 election, President Donald Trump sparked violence in the Capitol, calling on his supporters to “fight like hell.”

In pictures: Pro-Trump rioters storm US Capitol as Congress certifies Biden’s win

Pro-Trump rioters storm the US Capitol as Congress certifies the Electoral College

Speaking on Press TV’s The Debate on Thursday, author and commentator David Swanson from Charlottesville said, “Putting Trump on television created this crisis, we need the media outlets like Twitter to ban Trump from speaking ever again.”

But more importantly, Swanson added, “this is a development that comes out of decades of division, of divisive policies, of the absence of universal benefits coming from the US government, divisive racist society where there is inequality growing, suffering growing, declining quality of life to the point where the US cannot be compared to most wealthy countries.”

He went on to say that “unless Congress acts and acts non-violently through the rule of law, increasingly people on both sides of politics in the US are going to see force and militarism as the solution and this is a danger that extends beyond Trumpism.”

Meanwhile, another, commentator, former CIA Counter-Terrorism Officer, John Kiriakou from Washington, DC, said the root causes of Trumpism in the United States “are angry White men who really believe that they are being discriminated against the craziest thing.

"They really believe that polices enacted over the last decades favor minorities,” but “to many observes, including me, it is so preposterous.”

He went on to say that “to pick up on a point that David made a moment ago, Trumpism without Donald Trump is alive and well, there is a possibility, a good possibility that Donald Trump will run for President again.” 

Elsewhere in his remarks, Swanson said police forces on the Capitol Hill acted in a biased way, adding, police officers would have acted differently if protesters had been, for example, peace activists.  

“You also had a very biased response by the police on the Capitol Hill, if those had been peace activists or leftists with peaceful posters and signs, the police would have attacked them not waited until they got inside the building.”

“People are starting to see the bias in a supposedly fair and equal system,” he noted.

Video shows moment woman killed by police in US Capitol amid riot

Four Americans are killed as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday.

Swanson also said, “You have a corrupt quasi–state corporate media system that shuts out alternatives” in the country.

“We need major reforms to the system if we’re gonna get something we could call representative,” he added.

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