by Even by the standards of the past four years, the dismay among U.S. allies came strong and fast on Wednesday, as the chaotic—even terrifying—footage of Trump supporters breaching the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., blew apart regular programming around the world, and millions sat glued to their televisions for hours, aghast as the events unfolded.Leaders across Europe took to Twitter to express their outrage at what they were seeing....Gérard Araud, former French ambassador to Washington, said on France’s BFM Television on Wednesday night that the chaos around the Capitol building seemed to be a mix of “sedition, riots, extremists of the right, and the incredible incompetence of the security forces.” He wondered, he said, whether the police action was in fact incompetence, or
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Even by the standards of the past four years, the dismay among U.S. allies came strong and fast on Wednesday, as the chaotic—even terrifying—footage of Trump supporters breaching the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., blew apart regular programming around the world, and millions sat glued to their televisions for hours, aghast as the events unfolded.Leaders across Europe took to Twitter to express their outrage at what they were seeing....
Gérard Araud, former French ambassador to Washington, said on France’s BFM Television on Wednesday night that the chaos around the Capitol building seemed to be a mix of “sedition, riots, extremists of the right, and the incredible incompetence of the security forces.” He wondered, he said, whether the police action was in fact incompetence, or perhaps a sign of darker political forces. “It is absolutely astonishing,” he said.
American soft power, what's left of it, takes another hit. Can't imagine much worse PR. And it's no secret what they are really thinking.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the images from Washington DC showed a contempt for democracy.
Fortune"The enemies of democracy will rejoice at these inconceivable images from #WashingtonDC," he tweeted. "Seditious words turn to violent actions — on the steps of the Reichstag, and now in the #Capitol. Contempt for democratic institutions has devastating effects."
World leaders are aghast at ‘disgraceful scenes’ of Trump supporters storming U.S. Capitol
Vivienne Walt
Dismay and denunciations in Europe as Washington descends into chaos
David M. Herszenhorn
Why it matters: The U.S. government is typically a leading voice in condemning political violence all over the world.Soft power.
Axios
"Disgraceful scenes": World leaders condemn chaos at U.S. Capitol
Jacob Knutson
World leaders react with shock to Trump mob storming US Capitol
AlterNet
Here's how world leaders are reacting to the insurrection by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol
Cody Fenwick
In the end, it all comes down to one question: where do the loyalties of the police and armed forces lie? That is always the bottom line, but we can go for decades without confronting it directly. When the left challenges state authority the issue is never in doubt, at least in the U.S. When the challenge comes from the right we have to hold our breath. There were video images a few moments ago of police gently escorting Trumpists out the door and down the stairs with no apparent thought to arresting them. This indicates at least some softness toward the cause on their part. On the other hand, I don’t expect there will be military or police resistance to the eventual securing of the building. If the folks in uniforms were to go over to the other side, that would be the end of the political order....Econospeak
Thoughts on the Invasion of the US Capitol
Jacobin
The Police Enabled the Far-Right Mob That Violently Stormed the Capitol Building
Peter Gowan
My main model revision was that the police have been more radicalized than I had thought, and some of them seemed to welcome the intruders, let them in, took selfies with them, etc. Why didn’t they arrest more of the felons? Why were the riot police of D.C. so very slow to respond? This problem of die Polizeiweltanschauung remains underdiscussed.
Tyler Cowen | Holbert C. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center
What took the National Guard so long?
Aric Jenkins
See also
Business leaders decry ‘disgusting’ storming of Capitol by rioters, urge Trump to end chaos
Phil Wahba And Katherine Dunn
VOX
The far right is falsely blaming antifa for the pro-Trump insurrection on Capitol Hill
Jerusalem Demsas