Opinion | US democracy is alive and well: Trump was duly elected, then ejected
- The storming of Congress by Trump supporters was an aberration and doesn’t define US democracy
- Every time the United States’ global image is tarnished, it picks itself up. This time will be no different with Biden as president after four turbulent years of Trump
But violence or not, I know I will wake up this morning to the news that Biden’s swearing-in at the Capitol has gone ahead. Otherwise, I will eat humble pie. To me, a successful inauguration during one of the darkest times in US history is more than a triumph of democracy.
Many have declared the demise of American democracy, some gleefully, others mockingly, after the storming of Capitol Hill. The Global Times headlined it America’s “Waterloo” and quoted Chinese experts as saying the incident marked the fall of the “beacon of democracy”.
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Unprecedented security in Washington as US capital prepares for Joe Biden’s inauguration
Authoritarian states had a field day. Iranian President Hassan Rowhani described Western democracy as a failure. Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia’s upper house, said American democracy “is obviously limping on both feet”.
