The pro-Trump mob are trashing the Republic

Watching television news, captivated by the images of pro-Trump rioters, looters, and frankly losers storm the Capitol building in service of a lost cause, I could not but help think about the old analogy that best summarises the Donald Trump era: it’s like a train-wreck; it’s hard to watch, but you can’t look away.

Unfortunately, the train-wreck we are talking about today is the American Republic, which was thrown into complete and utter disarray when thousands of disgruntled, angry, maskless Trump devotees broke the barriers outside the Capitol Building, breached the doors, chased police officers up the marble staircases, and made the House and Senate chambers their own personal lounging areas.

Inside, lawmakers were trying to do their constitutional duties by certifying the Electoral College votes, the final phase in what is historically a peaceful transition of power to a new US administration. Outside those doors, you had crazy people break windows, desecrate the cherished great hall of the Capitol Rotunda, and muck around in congressional offices pretending to be blue-blooded revolutionaries.