If the US cannot manage its home, how can the US spread democracy or act as an example of democracy when democracy in its own country is paralyzed?
By
KRIS MADA
·6 minutes read
Kompas
Flags are placed on the National Mall, with the U.S. Capitol behind, ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, in Washington.
Dave Salo, Jon Urbanchek and Mark Schubert cannot comprehended what happened to Klete Keller. They trained Keller until he finally won medals in the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics swimming. They were also confused as to how Keller ended up being among the thousands of supporters of Donald Trump who broke into and occupied the Capitol Building in Washington, USA, on Jan. 6.
Schubert and Urbanchek telephoned Keller after the occupation of the US legislature. Urbanchek said Keller cried for 15 minutes in telephone conversation with him, a few days ago. "He did not expect things to be like that," said Urbanchek, as reported by The New York Times.
To Schubert, Keller apologized repeatedly. "He kept repeating, ‘You’ve done so much for me, and I let you down.’ ‘I didn\'t mean for any this to happen,” said Schubert, recounting his conversation with Keller.
Schubert trained Keller while at the University of Southern California before the 2000 Sydney Olympics, while, Urbanchek trained Keller ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics. Meanwhile, Salo coached Keller ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "I was surprised that he would find the internal motivation to hike out to D.C.,” said Salo while referring to Keller as a passive, quiet, and nonconfrontational figure.
Keller was among those arrested after the Jan. 6 incident. He was easily recognized from the videos and photos that were circulating. Among the rioters, he looked striking with a height of 2.1 meters and the jacket of the US national swimming team.
Apart from Keller, US officials have also arrested or investigated at least 25 officers and retired officers. A part of the officers and retirees are known to have been members of the special forces. They are, among others, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Larry Rendall Brock and Captain Emily Rainey. Brock is a former member of the Air Force special forces, while Rainey is still active in Army special operations and is based at Fort Bragg.
AP PHOTO/THOMAS KIENZLE, FILE
FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008 file photo, United States\' relay swimmer Klete Keller reacts after a men\'s 4x200-meter freestyle relay heat during the swimming competitions in the National Aquatics Center at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Five-time Olympic swimming medalist Klete Keller was charged Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021 with participating in a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol after video emerged that appeared to show him among those storming the building last week.
Rainey was a longtime member of the psychological warfare unit. Along with 100 people from North Carolina, Rainey took a bus to the Capitol, Jan. 6. US law allows soldiers to be involved in political organizations as long as they are not partisan and do not wear uniforms. He insisted that the rioters in the Capitol were not patriots and Trump supporters. He described the rioters as members of Antifa, a left-wing group opposite Trump’s supporters.
The woman defended her opinion despite evidence that the rioters were Trump supporters. This, among other things, was based on uploads on social media by people who had been arrested after the riots. Keller and Brock, for example, have frequently been posting support for Trump.
Fake news
Rainey is an example of a US citizen who believes in many hoaxes and conspiracy theories. A number of Republican politicians, the party that supports Trump, also believe in the hoaxes. For years, a part of Americans have believed that Trump is fighting against a group of devil worshipers who love trafficking in children.
They also believe there was fraud in the 2020 elections. Therefore, they wanted to drive hundreds of kilometers and demand that the US Congress not validate the 2020 election results. All these lies and unclear news have been spread through various social media platforms over the years.
The spreaders, among others, are Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Michael Flynn and Rudolph Giuliani. Flynn and Giuliani are both Trump supporters. Over the years, they have contributed to spreading misinformation. In the name of freedom of speech, some Americans spread lies that millions believe. Many were getting nervous and urged action to end it all. Facebook and Twitter, after nearly years of inaction despite pressure, decided to act in the wake of the Capitol occupation. Trump\'s social media accounts and tens of thousands of fake news accounts were permanently blocked. "What happened on January 6 was the saddest thing after April 12, 1861," said Sean Wilentz, a Princeton University historian, referring to the start date of the US civil war.
Many said that the US is now divided as badly as it was during the civil war in the 19th century. In the 2016 and 2020 elections it was clear that urban areas with diverse population tended to be controlled by Democrats. Rural areas with population which tends to be homogenous was controlled by Republicans.
President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill listen as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speaks during a COVID-19 memorial, with lights placed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington.
In the 2020 elections, Trump won only in 9 of the 100 largest US cities. On the contrary, Joe Biden won only in one-sixth of all US counties. Blue in the cities, red in the villages.
Election results since 1960 have shown a tendency for Republicans to win in areas with a majority white population and the education of high school at the most. Meanwhile, Democrats have tended to win in areas where the population is diverse and most of them have attended university.
Democratic voters believed that the Republican Party is now controlled by racists. Meanwhile Republican voters believed that Democrats are dominated by socialist groups. Throughout the 2020 election campaign, Republican advertisements continued to repeat the narrative of socialism in Democrats. "We are far from civil war. We are not Yugoslavia, we are not Spain.
However we are clearly in danger of violence, splitting is our country\'s middle name,” said Susan Stokes, a political scientist at the University of Chicago.
A New American Engagement Initiative senior researcher, Emma Ashford, said that the US is now really what many worry about. "A weak democracy cannot prevent violence," he said.
If the US cannot manage its home, how can the US spread democracy.
For her, the US problem is bigger than simply the inability to promote democracy on the international stage after the Capitol occupation. The US problem has been partisan abuse over the years. Even more worrying, many civil institutions have been unable to prevent this phenomenon. Only the military can do this.
She also viewed the Capitol occupation as a stern warning to the US. "If the US cannot manage its home, how can the US spread democracy or act as an example of democracy when democracy in its own country is paralyzed?" said Ashford. (AP/REUTERS)
