01/07/ 01/07/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> usa! usa! usa! amy: the u.s. congress has of joees the election biden and kamala harris hours after a violent, right wing white supremacist mob, incited by president trump, stormed the

u.s. capitol in what's been described as an attempted coup. four people died in a day that shook the nation. >> the votes for president of the united states are as r. ofws, joseph biden, j the state of delaware has received 306. donald trump, florida, 232 votes. amy: lawmakers held the vote hours after being forced into hiding inside the capitol as right-wing rioters ransacked the building. a shameful on our democracy. it cannot deter us from our responsibility to validate the election of joe biden and kamala harris. amy: hours after the deadly insurrection began, president trump to the riors -- "we ve you y'reery spial." talk inow growg of reming

e presidt fromffice bere s term es on juary 20. will spd the ho looking at the remarkae developmts. althat andore, comg up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. a violent mob incited by president donald trump stormed the u.s. capitol wednesday, attacking police, ransacking and looting offices, and sending lawmakers diving for cover amid gunfire and tear gas. the unprecedented violence interrupted a joint session of congress convened to certify joe electrod emily harris' -- electoral college victory. it came after president trump -- backed by his attorney, rudy giuliani -- rallied thousands of supporters outside the white

house, urging them to march on the capitol to overturn the results of the election. >> let's have trial by combat! pres. trump: you will never take back our country with weakness. you have to show strength and you have to be strong. amy: after the speech, trump retreated to the white house while his mob marched on congress, where they pushed past police and smashed their way into the capitol. the secret service whisked vice president mike pence to safety as terfied lawmakers fled the house and senate chambers. a dozen lawmakers were trapped on the gallery above the house floor as marauders tried to rce thr way pastarricades. some of the lawmakers put on emergency gas masks as tear gas filled t air. others broke furniture apart to fashion makeshift clubs to defend themselves before capitol police finally cleared a path for their escape.

the insurrectionists overturned desks, tore paintings off walls, posed for photos on the house and senate daises, and looted the office of house speaker nancy pelosi. four people died in the melee, including ashley babbitt, an air force veteran and supporter of the racist pro-trump qanon conspiracy theory. she was fatally shot by police inside the capitol. washington's police chief said three other people died in "separate medical emergencies," but provided no details. a bomb squad discovered pipe bombs left outside the headquarters of the republican and democratic national committees, and police seized a rifle and molotov cocktails from a truck parked near the capitol. the insurrectionists were overwhelmingly white and male. some carried confederate flags and displayed white supremacist and neo-nazi symbols. more than an hour afr the attempd coup, esidentrump

reased a srt videotatement aski his suprters too homewhile adng, "we ve u" and "u'reery specl." despite the extraoinary enes violee, policarrested just6 peoplen the catol ounds weesday. congressmber timyan, the io democt chargewith funding the capitol police, told politico -- "i think it's pretty clear that there's going to be a number of people who are going to be without employment very, very soon." one video appears to show capitol police opening a metal barricade outside the capitol building. as the mob surges forward, the police walk slowly backwards, making no obvious attempt to stop them. another video shows a capitol police officer posing for a selfie with an insurrectionist inside the capitol building. meanwhile, cnn reports president trump resisted demands he send

in washington, d.c.'s national guard to stop the insurrection. instead, it was vice president mike pence who coordinated with the pentagon to send in the guard troops after hours of delay. after congress reconvened wednesday night following the violence, several republican lawmakers called for ending the objections to the certification of the electoral college vote. this is utah republican senator mitt romney. >> what happened today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the united states. those who choose to continue to support his dangerous game about rejecting to the legitimate democratic election, will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. morning,:40 a.m. this congress formally declared

president-elect joe biden the winner of the electoral college. the declaration capped hours of debate that saw six republican senators and 120 republican congressmembers object to states' certified results. moments after biden's win was made formal, the white house released a statement attributed to president trump. it read in part -- "even though i totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on january 20." he reportedly said. multiple news outlets report members of president trump's cabinet have discussed invoking the 25th amendment to remove president trump from power. such a move would require the support of a majority of cabinet members, as well as vice president mike pence. democrats on the house judiciary committee wrote to pence wednesday demanding he take such action. joining the call was the president of the national association of manufacturers, representing 14,000

corporations. minnesota democratic congressmember ilhan omar said she is drafting articles of impeachment. her bid has already drawn the support of more than two dozen lawmakers. newly sworn-in democratic congressmember cori bush of missouri tweeted -- "my first resolution in congress will be to call for the expulsion of the republican members of congress who incited this domestic terror attack on the capitol." first lady melania trump's chief of staff and former white house press secretary stephanie grisham resigned just hours after trump supporters stormed the capitol. deputy national security adviser matt pottinger also quit, as did deputy white house press secretary sarah matthews, who said -- "i was deeply disturbed by what i saw today." other, more senior trump administration officials are reportedly considering resigning, including national security adviser robert o'brien

and transportation secretary elaine chao. who happens to be married to mitch mcconnell. twitter locked president trump's account for 12 hours beginning on wednesday and deleted three of his tweets after he incited violence at the capitol. twitter cited trump's "repeated and severe violations" of its policies. facebook followed suit later wednesday, blocking trump from posting for 24 hours on its main platform and on instagram. buzzfeed news reports earlier wednesday facebook managers silenced comments on an internal message board where employees discussed removing trump from the social media site. world leaders reacted in horror over the storming of the u.s. capitol. u.n. secretary general antonio guterres called on u.s. political leaders to demand their followers refrain from violence.

leaders of the u.k., new zealand, australia, canada, india, japan, france, germany, nato, and the european council called for a peaceful transfer of power to joe biden. in a statement, venezuela's government condemned political polarization and the spiral of violence, adding -- "with this unfortunate episode, the united states is experiencing what it has generated in other countries with its policies of aggression." the democratic party is poised to take control of the u.s. senate after georgia democrat jon ossoff was projected the winner of tuesday's runoff election against republican incumbent senator david perdue. at 33 years old, jon ossoff is the youngest person elected to the senate since joe biden won in 1972. senator-elect ossoff live-streamed a victory speech promising he'd fight to end the wednesday pandemic. >> i will work in the u.s.

sete to support of robust response.h o trusting medical expertise, doctors and scientists, to bring the tools to bear of technology to bear, the ingenuity to bear, and the resources to bear necessary to stop to stop this virus and get our daily lives back. and russian economic relief to people who need help right now. amy: ossoff's victory came after another georgia democrat, reverend raphael warnock, was projected the winner over republican kelly loeffler. before his twitter account was temporarily suspended wednesday, president trump tweeted baseless conspiracy theories that the georgia senate election was rigged. the united states set another daily coronavirus world record wednesday with nearly 4000 deaths from covid-19.

u.s. hospitalizations hit a new record high, topping 132,000. more than a quarter-million new infections were confirmed wednesday alone. california's total cases have topped 2.5 million with hospitals reporting critical shortages of oxygen, icu beds, and medical workers to tend to 23,000 patients. in new york, three more incarcerated people died of covid-19 wednesday, adding to a record surge in prisoner deaths. in other news from new york, the largest health system in the state, northwell, announced tuesday it would rescind some 2500 medical debt lawsuits it filed during the pandemic and would stop suing patients, after "the new york times" reported on the lawsuits. on an exposéorting done by the community service society.

joe biden will reportedly nominate judge merrick garland for attorney general. garland is a centrist judge who has alreadreceived the support of prominent republicans. he was president obama's pick to serve on the supreme court after the death of antonin scalia, but his nomination stalled after republican senators, led by mitch mcconnell, refused to put it up for a vote. garland has served on the d.c. circuit court of appeals for more than two decades and previously worked at the justice department where he prosecuted the oklahoma city bombing case. many progressives expressed disappointment at the pick, which was seen as a safe choice for bipartisan confirmation, on the same day democrats gained control of the senate and following the historic uprising for black lives over the summer. as a judge, merrick garland's record shows him often siding with law enforcement. biden has also tapped lisa monaco -- obama's advisor for homeland security and

counterterrorism -- as deputy attorney general, vanita gupta as associate attorney general, and kristen clarke -- president and executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law -- as assistant attorney general for civil rights. to see our last interview with kristen clarke just this week, go to democracynow.org. in kentucky, the louisville police department has officially fired two detectives involved in the killing of breonna taylor, after the two men received pre-termination letters last week. taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency room technician, was shot to death in her own home on march 13, sparking mass protests. the officers are detective myles cosgrove, who fired the shot that killed taylor, and detective joshua jaynes, who prepared the search warrant that led to the fatal raid. no one has been criminally charged over breonna taylor's death.

newly elected illinois congressmember mary miller has received widespread condemnation for praising hitler. miller made the comment at a moms for america rally in d.c. on tuesday. >> hitler was right on one thing. he said whoever has youth, has the futu. amy: illinois governor j.b. pritzker, who is jewish, called miller's remarks unfathomable and disgusting during a news conference wednesday. >> hitler got nothing right. this rhetoric has no place in our politics. amy: washington, d.c.'s police chief has warned republican freshman congressmember lauren boebert against violating the district's strict gun control laws after she posted a video to social media vowing she would bring her glock pistol to congress. >> even though i now work in one

of the most liberal cities in america, i refuse to give up might rights, especially my second amendment rights. amy: under federal law, congressmembers are allowed to have guns on capitol grounds if they are unloaded and securely wrapped. they are barred from carrying a gun on the house floor. congressmember boebert owns a restaurant known as shooters grill in the town of rifle, colorado, where servers openly carry firearms. she has expressed support for the racist pro-trump qanon conspiracy theory. and basketball superstar lebron james suggested he'll try to buy the wnba team lanta dream from freshly defeated senator kelly loeffler wednesday. lebron james tweeted -- "think i'm gonna put together an ownership group for the dream. who's in?" he added a photo of the team's players wearing "vote warnock" t-shirts. atlanta dream's players endorsed senator-elect raphael warnock in

his race against loeffler, who has spoken out against the black lives matter movement. journalist jemele hill credited the wnba players for helping propel reverend warnock to victory. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, when a violent mob incited by president donald trump, stormed the u.s. capitol wednesday, some carried confederate flags like the one bassdown by bree newsome in south carolina. she will join us to respond to yesterday's remarkable events in washington, d.c. we will also speak to manisha slavery,storian of abolition, civil war, and reconstruction. and finally, journalist allan nairn. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined remotely by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: good morning, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the u.s. congress certified the election of joe biden and kamala harris shortly before 4:00 a.m. this morning, about 14 hours after a violent mob incited by president trump stormed and occupied the u.s. capitol in an act of insurrection to stop the counting of votes. some lawmakers described the siege as an attempted coup. members of the right-wing mob smashed windows, broke down doors, and scaled walls to enter the capitol. they attacked capitol police. they ransacked and looted offices, including house speaker

nancy pelosi's. an armed standoff took place at the door of the u.s. house of representatives. rioters took over the senate chamber with some trump supporters, including a prominent supporter of the qanon conspiracy theory, posing for photos in the seat occupied by vice president mike pence just minutes before. one man carried a large confederate flag inside the capitol. another wore a shirt that read "camp auschwitz." vice president pence and many lawmakers were evacuated to secure locations just as the mob breached the capitol. other lawmakers hid in their offices. four people died, including a trump supporter who was shot dead by police. meanwhile, explosive devices were found at the headquarters of the republican national committee and democratic national committee.

as of last night, washington police had made just 26 arrests on capitol grounds. lawmakers are calling for probes into the capitol hill police after officers were seen moving barricades for trump supporters and taking selfies with members of the right-wing mob. the insurrection began shortly after trump spoke at a rally urging supporters to head to the capitol after once again falsely claiming that the election had been stolen. pres. trump: we are going to walk down to the capitol and we're going to cheer on our bright senators and congressmen and women, and we are probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. because you will never take back our country with weakness. you have to show strength and you have to be strong. amy: when trump supporters

stormed the capitol, the esident mained silent. safely in the white house. "the new york times" reports he initially rebuffed and resisted requests to mobilize the national guard to protect the capitol. hours after the insurrection began, trump released a video statement urging his supporters to go home while telling them, "we love you. you're very special." calls are mounting for trump to be removed from office before his term ends on january 20. multiple news outlets report some members of his cabinet have discussed invoking the 25th amendment to remove him from power. such a move would require the support of a majority of cabinet members, as well as vice president mike pence. the move has been backed by democrats on the house judiciary committee, as well as the national association of manufacturers which says it is needed to "preserve democracy." congresswoman ilhan omar says she is drawing up new articles

of impeachment. new jersey senator cory booker condemned the president for inciting the violence. >> i can only think of two times in american history that individuals let siege to our capital, stormed our sacred civic spaces, and tried to overrun this government. one was in the war of 1812 and the other one was today. what is interesting about the parallel between the two is they to a soulwaving flags sovereign, to any individual surrendering just one was a monarch in england and the other was a flag i saw over our capital, including in the hallways and in this room to a single person named donald

trump. the said difference between these two times is one was yet another nation in the history of our country that tried to challenge the united states of america, but this time we hel uponl announced he would resign following wednesday's insurrection. shortly after come he wrote an op-ed for "the wall street journal." at least four other trump administration officials resigned on wednesday, shortly ther congress certified election. "it isd the message safe

only the beginning of our fight to make america great again!" the certification vote process was prolonged after republican lawmakers challenged the election results in arizona and pennsylvania in a last-bid failed effort to overturn the election. the senators were led by senator holly. he said he has blood on his hands for continued to challenge the vote after the mass insurrection. we begin today's show with two guests. manisha sinha is a professor of american history at the university of connecticut. she is author of "the slave's cause: a history of abolition." and we go to north carolina where we are joined by bree newsome bass, artist, anti-racist activist. following the massacre of eight african-american parishioners and their pastor by a white supremacist at the emanuel ame church in charleston in june 2015, bree scaled the 30-foot flagpole at the south carolina state capitol and removed the

confederate flag. therwere cfedera flags i thatapitol yesterday cried by the insrectionis. she is now housing rhts vocate inorth calina. up a yoork tweeting storm sterday a t storm was unfoldg in wasngton, d.c yeerday. you said e d.c. mor requesd the guard. it is nopossibleecurity forcesere caug off guard a prepar or simp failed. leaseease thi ridilousarrati. ta it fromhere. >>hank y for inving me t jo you. i was sociaediall sterday d like eryone el, gried watchg the even that we happeni. one ofhe thingthat we saw througho the dayesterday re peopllike mel whoave be prese for varus prests and mostly oplef

colo black peoe, notinthe obousifferee in termof ho polichave a coordined, ovtly milirized response to any kind of protest that is challenging racism and policing or racism and at the government versus what we witnessed yesterday. i think what we saw yesterday was another one of these kind of flashpoint moment in history that represents the culmination of everything that came before it and really shines a spotlight on everything that is fine mentally wrong stuff one of those things is policing. the idea we had no idea this was coming, which i think is frankly one of the ongoing, most disturbing talking points we have gotten throughout the trumpet administration. people say, how do we get here? this is not who we are. which flies not just in that phase of american history, but in the face of the events of the

past five years. everything we have seen in the past five years pointed to what happened yesterday happening. so the idea that security officials, people who are tasked with protecting the capital could not have foreseen the conflict that played out yesterday is clearly beyond belief. there is no way to believe that is the case. nermeen: quite apart from the fact that it was just an astounding spectacle of all of these -- i mean, effectively domestic terrorists invading the strange,what is also if not outright stunning, is the fact there was such little comment from either the department of justice or security agencies responding to this extraordinary event -- a part, of course, from the fbi asking for solicit help in

identifying those who instigated the violence. extremely bizarre request given it was quite apparent who the instigators were. >> absolutely. again, the central issue here is white supremacy. white supremacy with -- was foundational to the establishment of this nation that is the central conflict -- it is amazing that continue to say as an activist, clearly this is the central conflict. it is baked into our institutions and our constitution at the founding. that continues to be the case. i would nots why -- even describe it as a difficulty in figuring out what is going on. it is just that that it is the defining internal conflict of the nation. course, you have people within the military. you have people within the government, elected officials who initiated the event that led

to this riot. one of the scenes that was most striking to me -- i was among the people who stayed up into the wee hours of the morning watching how things played out at the capitol -- she was a commerce person after congressperson condemning the insurrectionists milepost of civilians who showed up. but there was still very little acknowledgment of the fact that the people who lead the insurrection, the people who have incited these people to mob the capitol were sting in the chamber, were still voicing their objections to the election. so this idea that we are somehow just going to reach across the aisle and shake hands and carry on as though we did not witness things play out as it did, as though the primary insider of violence yesterday was not the president of the united dates, is completely unrealist.

there is no way that can happen. nermeen: youmong your tweets yesterday wrote that what was happening yesterday was not the culmination of the last four years, but in fact the culmination of the last five centuries. to talk about that? the reach weeding someone else who made the excellent point. it goes to the heart of this false notion that we could not for see what was happening or this was not america. this is absolutely america. we have an ongoing, prolonged history of not just colonization and slavery and genocide in this country, but this constant back-and-forth where we tried to make strides toward having a democracy that truly recognizes the rights and citizenship of all people and violent, white supremacist backlash against that because -- people were

bringing up the wilmington riots of 1898 that took place in north carolina come another example and a the aftermath of the civil work where you had black people being elected to congress, withng in collaboration white elected officials, and they were overthrown. there was a white mob that came to town, burned down buildings, and violently overthrew the democratically elected government. we are still in our state in the year 2021 dealing with the aftermath of that conflict. so this is not something that is foreign to the united states. this is something very much our dna. what happened yesterday cannot be separated from the fact we just had an election that not only ousted a blatant white nationalist president, but we just elected a catholic president, vice president who is black and indian-american, and then we have the senate split

the day before yesterday with the election of a black man and a jewish man from georgia. yes, of course we are going to see white supremacists in the capital waiting federal flags. we have known the greatest imminent threat to the united states is both white supremacist, far-right terrace, and the current president of the united states. so for anyone in position of security or authority who is tasked with securing national security and securing the capitol and the safety of the people who work and reside there to claim somehow it was unpredictable, again, flies in the face of any logic. if we are going to be serious about addressing the threats that we face right now from fascism and the far-right, we have to confront the presence of that element in our police forces. this has been the main point that we have been making in the

black lives matter movement, the call for defining the police and shifting resources. because it is very clear the primary function of police forces in the united states is to enforce racism above enforcing public safety. amy: as you point out, yesterday was book ended -- the early morning hours i've wednesday, it firstnounced that the african-american democrat was elected senator from the south. and that was raphael warnock. then yesterday afternoon, the democrat jon ossoff was announced had beaten david perdue. and that shifted the power of the u.s. senate. this book ends, this insurrection at the capital. also just two days ago in wisconsin, the da chose not to bring charges against the white police officer who shot jacob

blake in the back, the african-american 29-year-old, seven times at point-blank range. but going from the immediate history and this week the white supremacist proud boys leader being arrested in d.c. with automatic weapons, clear what was going to be happening in washington, to centuries analysis, let's turn to manisha sinha in addition to bree newsome bass who still with us. professor of is american history at the university of connecticut. thank you so much for joining us, professor. if you can respond to what happened yesterday and then explain this discussion right now on the 25th amendment and what this would mean? >> thank you for having me, amy. well, i think what happened

yesterday was rather astounding and i have often made comparisons between what has trump regime -- and i caught that, not an administration -- and what happened earlier in our history. i did not think this would come to pass most of the should have suspected it because of what happened in michigan recently. attemptmentioned, this to disrupt the democratic process, in this case the counting of votes of the electoral college, by the use of domestic terror, has happened repeatedly in our history. and especially happened during reconstruction, not just the man 10-q of 1898, but before that in each of the southern states either voting for actually democratic governance was disrupted by right wing, white terrorist groups active

who collects plan, the knights inthe white, the red shirts south carolina -- a number of them. these groups today remind me of those people. they were the ones flying the confederate flag in congress. that did not happen during the civil war and it happened yesterday. so i think this is an awful portend for our democracy, and we need to respond forcefully to it. act frome enforcement the reconstruction era to arrest and prosecute or i am shocked at the few who have been arrested so far. clearly, we need to evoke the 25th amendment against donald trump. i don't think we have the time to go through a lengthy process

anymore, but we do have the time to invoke the 20 fit amendment. the question is, will mike pence of his cabinet and a section the republican party go along with this? they have clearly enabled trump so far. even those who denounced violence yesterday were clearly complicit in the extent to which trump has challenged the election results. and there is still a segment within the republican party, 102 members of the house of representatives and seven senators -- because rick scott joined the challenge the electoral college of pennsylvania. so we are saying right now a substantial group within the republican party that is enabling trump, and it is extremely dangerous. a message needs to be sent. trump needs to be disabled. these members of congress, as

cory booker called, need to be sutured, expelled, and bear the consequences of incitin violence. nermeen: you suggested the recent trump called on these efctively domestic terrorists was because it became clear the u.s. military was not going to support him in his aempt to subvert the election, to instigate a coup. could you talk about that, the resistance of the military and what it means if it is significant? you were talking about reconstruction. could you talk about the significance of discussing reconstruction now? >> yes. clear ink it was quite the last few days by the statement made by former secretary of defense, by statements made by senior

military officials, that they would not enable it. poopooell the who thed idea that trump would go that far, i would say they have not actually comprehended the of thisf the madness man. it was clear when he tear gas protesters and used the army to do that that he would go that far. when he actually applauded people who were gunning down protesters on the streets of the united states, that he would go that f. and i think it is really important to remember that, finally, there were people in thmilitary and others who realized -- democracy. the military is under civilian law, but they cannot obey unconstitutional orders.

he has pardoned people who have violated the military's code of conduct, people have committed war crimes. trump is a fascist as far as i'm concerned. if he could have used the military to orchestrate a coup, he would have done it. mark my words, there's no doubt in my mind he would have done it. i am thankful that even after taking such a badgering, some of our situations have held up, including this principle of the military subservience to constitutional law. that is what he called on the proud boys and these right wing terrorists across the country. that is exactlwhat happened ring reconstruction when these white terror groups, predominantly white men, with impunity murdered people, killedegislatures,

leading politicians -- there was a plan to kidnap governor whitmer. they are replaying the playbook of the reconstruction terror groups, and we should replay the playbook of the federal government and the union army to actually take action against these people. a lot is at stake. our constitutional democracy is at stake. i am not one -- in this case, that is the only solution. i am still shocked that law enforcement response so wanting. we know the mayor of d.c. had national guard held the day before yesterday. her request was still under review at the department of defense, which is now, of course, staffed by trump loyalists.

a very dangerous situation -- john amy: in the end, wasn't president trump, but vice president pence who called in the national guard, who had been evacuated before almost anyone else, congressmembers left to fend for themselves. some hunkering down in the galley. they were there to socially distant about. many have put on gas masks. if you could talk about the cabinet members who are threatening to resign -- you have elaine chao, transportation command apparently -- what role they would play in the 20 fit the memo as well as pence because he would become president in this period. >> yes, he would. think it is high time for them to take action. the problem is so many people have left trump's cabinet. we have not heard of people from the other members of

the cabinet who presumably are trump loyalist. the fact that national guard was officially called out only because of pence is shameful. that shows that trump has abdicated his duties. president-elect joe biden has clearly said that. this man is not capable of even --erning and in fact he is he says he loves these people. amy: what does it mean to invoke the 25th amendment? >> it has never happened in the history of the united states. it is been contemplated, but has never happened. waters afterharted what happened yesterday. a majority of the cabinet and vice president pence would have to agree on invoking the 25th amendment. and then that action would have to be agreed by a majority in congress. done,think that should be

ought to be done. let us see if ke pence, who loyalist being such a in the egregious actio taken by the trump administration, in this particular case come has that he will not violate his constitutional role of merely announcing the votes for the electoral college. let us see if he has the backbone to actually invoke the 20 fit amendment with a majority of the cabinet members. it ought to be done. it is the only solution we have now terrain trump posted remember, he is still president and he could start a war. he could do anything. at this point, he is so desperate and he is so criminal in his action that i would not put it past him to do anything. i think he is a national security threat to this country. certainly a threat to american democracy right from the start. the 20 fit the movement needs to

be invoke. , take youha sinha for being with us, professor of american history at the university of connecticut. author of "the slave's cause: a history of abolition." thank you to bree newsome bass, artist, anti-racist activist. took down the confederate that was flying over the grounds of the south carolina capitol. when we return, journalist allan nairn on what this looks like, world reaction overseas, and what president trump's actions yesterday mean the world. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

world leaders reacted in horror over the storming of u.s. capitol, the u.n. circular general called on u.s. political leaders to demand their followers refrain from violence. leaders of u.k., new zealand, australia, canada, india, france, germany, nato, and european council called for a peaceful transfer of power to joe biden. in statement, venezuela's government condemned political polarization and of the spiral of violence adding "with this unfortunate episode, the united states is experiencing what it has generated any other countries with its policies of aggression." by more, we're joined award-winning journalist allan nairn. as we watched what happened in full yesterday in the u.s. congress, the difference between mob ofppened with this white supremacists, what many are calling domestic terrorists,

the difference in how the capital policed some of them taking selfies, dealt with them versus what we saw in lafayette park, black lives matter activists, or just african-americans in general, your response? lost histrump i think chance to actually seize full power on election night when he failed to stop the vote count. but yesterday he proved he does enforcement in law are ready to stand back and let them rampage. i think many in law enforcement see themselves as being on the same team. the capitol was under siege from the outside. the crowd, but at the same time, also under siege election lee. inside, had about one third of congress that was toying with the idea of opposing

presidential elections. and biden said, this is who we are. in fact, this is consistent with a lot of traditions of the u.s. rulers, restricting the franchise -- which the founders always sought to do and which the u.s. right seized today is her only hope for political survival. and also the basic bipartisan u.s. principal of the current establishment, that no election is -- in election can be is aurned as long as it foreign election. the u.s. has supported coos consistently, nonstop, through every administration. obama and john kerry after the coup andarmy staged a overthrew the elected president. john kerry said they were acting

to restore democracy. trump when he was president, along with general kelly, his chief of staff, supported the stealing of an election in honduras where the candidate nasrallah was winning the vote count. and just shortly before the u.s. has supported a coup to overthrow the elected president of honduras under obama. more recently, trump supported a the in bolivia to overthrow president evo morales. after that, elon musk come the second richest man in the world can work 184 billion dollars come he tweeted on july 24 saying "we will coup whoever we want. deal with it." i think that it's a pretty good statement of u.s. foreign

policy. no trump innocence is bringi that foreign policy home. nermeen: could you talk about response from -- i mean, the widespread condonation of what happened from leaders around the world and in particular one comic that stands out is the german foreign minister on twitter writing inflammatory words, violent action. on the steps of the reich and now in the capital reference to the 1933 fire that the nazi party used as a pretext to seize power. >> it has always been the case establishment was willing to use terror and kill civilians overseas, either to do oil, seese sees

political power, or basically on a whim. the presidency of george w. bush was a prime example of that. but trump brought a unique aspect. ability to unique unleash the beast and white america, to reach into people's and bring out the worst aspects. he also has the ability to create a fascist atmosphere. he is a product of the american elite. he is any oligarch himself. but he takes a different approach from the respectable presidents who have been the ruthlessendly face of american power. in a way, i think he is kind of exposing the american system for what it is, in many respects, through his behavior and through the way he talks.

but the movement he has incited is a unique threat. and it has to be stopped. but at the same time, i think it would be a huge mistake for tople who are anti-fascists respond to that by embracing the establishment, embracing authoritarian measures. imagine how the laws are going to be rewritten now. imagine how surity procedures will be rewritten. it is almost a guarantee will be harder to hold demonstrations in washington, d.c., in the vicinity of the capital. it will be harder for movement legally, movements like the black lives matter for example to go out on the streets. there are sure to be more restrictions as are to be more restrictions on speech through the newly empowered corporate sensors like facebook and twitter and so on.

perhaps the government. i think we have to be clear i'd and don't let this trumpist movement co-op the idea of rebellion. rebellion against injustice is a good thing. the problem is they and the u.s. system is indeed unjust and murderous, but they are rebelling against the aspects of the u.s. system that having to be good. the democracy, the tolerants, the chance for democratic space to organize. that is what they are rebelling against. racism,f of evils like madness, like blind obedience to the leader -- trump. but we have to be careful and stand against both that, but also the establishment -- which is still the main power in the united states. gutting theiddle of

american core, the american working class. that has to be rebelled against just as we resist these fascist forces. and it is not easy to do both at the same time, but it is necessary. nermeen: barring the succeful invocation of the 25th amendment, trump still in power for the next almost two weeks. could u talk about some of the concerns you have about what might happen, what he might do in these 13 days? tradition of the american establishment, especially the corporate press come is to rally around the flag. whenever an american president watches a new war. so if trump wanted to come he could get the military to go along. -- could do something like

he recently sent u.s. worship prepared foro be that possibility if this were impulsive in that direction. call for lawiously enforcement authorities to do things like arresting biden, arresting hillary clinton. he was not able to pull that off but clearly, there still alive he could do. ,ut even after trump is gone elon musk will still be there. he will still have his money. the american oligarchs will still be there. the u.s. surity establishment will still be there ready to do -- capitals around the world, what trump's mob just into the u.s. capitol.

although i have to say, what has shaken the u.s. population so badly his assault on the capitol yesterday is really nothing by comparison to what u.s. operations have done in latin america, in asia, in africa, in the middle east to other democratic movements and elected governments over the years. just days before this, remember, , by an. congress overwhelming margin, pasty defense authorization bill to put more money to the pentagon and oversees special operations. and through other measures is backing those operations of the cia -- basically, dedicated to whatever the order comes down, being able to overthrow democracy.

americans are getting a taste of their own medicine. fight against daschle and amy: allan nairn, thank you so much for joining us. that does it for our show. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

narrator: on this episode of "earth focus," how can we manage, protect, and nourish our natural resources while meeting the growing global demand for food? a model of local control along the coast of madagascar provide a blueprint for ocean sustainability and community building, while in san diego, scalability is the goal as researchers work to build the first open-ocean fish farm in the united stes. [film advance clicking]