checks of this are fascinating as well and donald trump seems to have so much faith in mike pence that he would reject biden's when this is what he was expecting the vice president to do mike pence for whatever reason self-preservation maybe he just didn't agree with it maybe believed in it and a higher form of democracy whatever it was he didn't do that's worrying for the republicans isn't it a big divisive split at the very top. you know i think that mike pence read a copy of the constitution understood that he did not have the constitutional powers to do that i think that was easier for him to to do than to write that letter to the president of the united states and telling him that he simply could not just thank wish or even the democratic election of joe biden what i will also say is that you know just the other day on the news me had steve schmidt who of course was john mccain's campaign manager in 2008 against obama and the co-founder of the lincoln project

a republican sect that was against donald trump and what he said was today as we had at least 12 senators who are going to reject the certification of joe biden was we were going to see today a split in the republican party those who maintain a sense of sanity and a sense of duty to the republic and those who are flirting with an idea autocracy and we saw that today it was very very interesting because right after soon to be former senate majority leader mitch mcconnell give a rather impassioned speech about what was happening we saw ted cruz kind of try to rip what his his chamber leader i just said and right after ted cruz spoke was when the chaos ensued and that's where we are you know just to recap if any are viewers just coming on to what's happening here in the program we're looking at the live pictures from outside the u.s. capitol building. where congress sits both the senate's the house of representatives. we're looking at right now largely peaceful pictures of people.

building still attempting to get in it looks like but earlier in the day a lot of chaos a lot of people dealing with police being firing. off them. throwing some projectiles out them guest was saying there are also reports of a woman being shot a police officer at least one has been injured but right now it does seem as if some. broken after a number of hours that we're speaking to political activists live in the u.s. right now clearly how is this going to end. this is a very very good question i mean obviously our hopes is that this peacefully and if nothing else it in genders a discussion a long overdue discussion about race about class about gender about colonization and as you mentioned before people who don't see themselves represented in the

government that is supposed to be sovereign by the people so i'm hoping that it does and with really really deep conversations we don't want to see anybody else for we want to peaceful transition of power and then joe biden has that got a gargantuan task on his hands to bring a nation that hasn't been so divided since arguably you know the days of. the civil war bringing a very very fractured nation together to the best extent possible but at the end of the day we can't rely on lawmakers to do the work that every day people are going to have to do in the room you know you say all he's going to begin trade doesn't he joe biden but of course before that he has to actually become president with with these scenes and you know and can he as you well know 'd sometimes something this brick side on it drags on and continues for days and weeks on we are off the stage later this month do you seem. and actually going ahead as planned as it

sounds. i just don't see how that could happen at this point it would just be too dangerous i mean keeping in mind right that the president elect and eventually the president doesn't have to actually follow the orders of the secret service and if the secret service like deems that something is too dangerous maybe his feet would touch the ground but they will simply just drag him out of there and so that's very very unfortunate but i simply believe that would be extremely irresponsible quite incredible couldn't it jeff yeah i mean we saw scenes right you know even in the house chamber of secret service agents with their guns drawn as people in the succession were being evacuated including the speaker of the house senate pro tem and other people in senate and house leadership so i think an unfortunate be very irresponsible it looks like very similar to the democratic convention this year this is going to have to mainly be

a digital affair and and like you said i mean he has to become president 1st and you know we hope that that oath of office is something that we can all see the a satellite and that must just you know we might have to embrace that this is the world and the nation that we live in for now but i really really hope that they don't try to force anything that will put not just lawmakers but regular people citizens and residents of the district of columbia unnecessary and under arrest you look like a young man i don't think but you've been mentioning some presidents all of bygone eras that you remember is this the most divisive you can remember america. you know what i could finally like really understand politics is probably in about 84 where i'm jesse jackson. 88 when when jesse jackson ran i believe for the 2nd time i don't even remember it being that did this and then and i would say that. there

was a lot of tension in 2000 with bush v gore and that sort of raising some tensions but but like this i have never you know i remember 2000 people would speak to each other people would debate what would accept certain points it seems no doubt there is just this ever widening my view is the only for you and i'm happy with. yeah i mean. you keeping in mind right in 2000 i know the. internet but we didn't have you know this social media the information that people were getting from you know a journalist with integrity like yourself they could count on that being the truth we weren't fact checking you know journalists we expected them there was an expectation and an honor in journalism of speaking the truth and then you know some f.c.c. regulations were removed and we get into this advent of cable news twitter facebook and had no more control on the information being spread whether was truthful or not

and we already know from what we saw in 2620 in that social media can be utilized to totally divide people and unfortunately you know some of these platforms they profit on division they profit so like you could allegedly had some hackers on the one hand were standing with black lives matter protesters but those same hackers were also inciting you know black lives matter counter protesters in 26 that brings us to where we are we cannot have it does doesn't it because it leads to a lot of frustration among the general public who for whatever reason supported donald trump some support certain views completely legally i'm not talking about the more extreme factions and they feel as if the mainstream media and as you say a lot of the social media giants which wield so much power today are telling them what they can not say what they cannot read in funchal ising them essentially and they're saying well you know what if it comes to it and we have to go to washington doorstep we're going to. doing. no no you're at you're absolutely right i mean i'm

just look at the facts that you know our data you know your data points and my data points are more lucrative than oil and gas right now it's a more lucrative come out of it in our data points can be totally manipulated you know every time we use our credit card you know go onto our website those are data points that are being harvested like crops right now and you realize to to so division we you know. i was just reading a book called the zealot in the emancipator about john brown and abraham lincoln and speaking about reading about the lincoln and stephen douglas debates they would travel on the same train together in between cities look for they debated each other you know this is something that even john mccain was asking about if that was a potential in 2000 he when he was running against obama and that just doesn't seem to be possible right now we cannot have these conversations with avatars on computers these are face to face conversations that meets occur so that we can look

into each other's eyes and see our humanity even if we are on different ends of the spectrum i have many many friends who are members of the republican party and we can disagree vehemently but after the disagreement we have a cigar we have a glass of bourbon and we go about our way and shake hands and say hey that was a really really good debate i think over a year mainly disagree with you but i really do appreciate the way that you debate there is a way to disagree agreeably and to force us to not only be more human but also the more scholars there are imperfect nations you know it goes back to what. the former prime minister of great britain once said which is democracy is the worst form of government it's just better than the others. yet we're just looking here is well i'm funny that some live pictures just to recap for viewers maybe just joining us this is our change national coming up to 22 on. am in the morning here in moscow

but this is washington d. c. just approaching 5 in the afternoon there are still a sizable crowd on the steps of the u.s. capitol building a lot of different a lot of different outfits but one thing in common they all believe that donald trump was cheated out of the u.s. election a lot of frustration seemingly was 'd built up earlier in the day by the president himself who is speaking to these crowds saying there's no way that he's going to relent he believes he won the election himself. will continue fighting for what he believes is justice on earlier in the day we did see the u.s. capitol building one of the most famous buildings in the united states actually breached the police in front of the building were forced back they had been using pepper spray on protesters the activists to enter the building enter the chamber

where a senate confirmation a certification of electoral college vote essentially making joe biden the next president of the united states ahead of his inauguration a few weeks was occurring these are those scenes the cordon just really taken back by those 'd police in full riot gear sizable amount of police as well but not able to control those crowds they stormed the building while journalists politicians inside that building themselves were told to get don on the ground and stay there. mike pence the vice president was there. was forced to leave so a locked door and of the senate from the house of representatives both houses of congress currently in place protesters there from all across america we believe coming to the capitol today to make their feelings felt 8 as we say a lot of the. a lot of frustration rodgers writes been very patient has been

staying with us on the program just to commentating on this situation. you know i think as you look at these pictures you can you can clearly see the garbage you can also see really. i'm not sure how to put it but a frustration in the eyes with just the entire political system not you know that's why double trouble said for so long he's not a politician he's not part of the elite he wanted to drain the swamp these people believe that that still possible but it's dwindling hope surely. absolutely no again i will say that i do not agree with you know there's this methodology but as we did earlier i empathize with anyone who doesn't feel like they are being seen by by their government you know that their their tax dollars are not being utilized to benefit them their families and their communities. but at the same time i would

ask people it suggests apply some simple logic the reason why you know it came down to yesterday were 500000000 dollars was spent in a senate runoff 3 this is because of how quickly the democrats performed down ballot they were supposed to just overtake this and it wasn't supposed to come down to those 2 races so i would ask these people how did the republicans do so well in the house to where there is now only on an 11 seat majority in the house for the democrats and a $5050.00 tie in the senate but somehow the presidential election was cheated that that that does make any sense and i wish people would take pause and just apply you know that's of logic and ask that question but at the same time as you stated my friend it is very very clear that on both sides and on on myriad sides of the political spectrum there is massive frustration and there is anger. and people want to be heard and. and this what we're seeing right now is

a manifestation of the other side great doing what we saw this summer you know and it's up to people to say like what is justified and what is not i have my own opinions for sure but this is a very very very dangerous time for the united states of america for for a republic that it's the shining light on the top of the hill and maybe again it's time for us to get introspective as a nation and think about our complicit in this and in global imperialism and are complicit in what we have done to other countries whether it be cheap or. numerous nations in the middle east and this is what it feels like you know that we are dealing with so many other people have now in missions of africa the middle east south america central america and and maybe that will cause us to wake up and to really hold our lawmakers and ourselves you know accountable for the type of

government and the type of union that we want to see not to put you on the spot but if you just put your political hot on for a moment because what congress really is the center of the. of the of the empire today is not because what we're seeing in georgia you alluded to as well was the the runoff the final 2 seats in the senate there are so vital because whoever controls those 2 seats one state in georgia essentially controls congress because the high surf representatives is already under the dems control if the democrats 2 seats that are ready to go and i think there are so when the others that's got. yet so that's a must have story that not means that democrats are dominating congress not just as i say but on your political hot how important is that does that mean. that political structures are going to completely go to to the. center left now are we

going to see a lot of different judges are we going to see a lot of you know the so-called obamacare the medical issue that was a huge thing what do you think are going to be the biggest. off specs of a democrat controlled congress right i mean so putting my political hat on you know for a moment great the democrats are obviously not a monolith the party great and just because an incoming vice president a comely hairs will represent the tie breaking vote it doesn't mean that that this is that necessarily off 50 democrats will really 48 democrats right and 2 independent senators and bernie sanders from vermont and angus king from maine are going to all be in alignment with each other you have a full spectrum right from bernie to people like joe manchin of west virginia john hickenlooper coming in in colorado christian cinema in arizona who may not be you know as progressive so to speak as a bernie sanders so there still is

a lot of work to do chuck schumer does not have been easy job of keeping that chamber aligned because it would just take one or 2 democrats to break away from that caucus for something to not be able to go the other thing that i was a really quickly is that it's you know require 60 votes and so chuck schumer is the incoming majority leader has a very big decision in me is he going to do away with the filibuster which would allow for a simple majority or is he going to keep it intact which would still require 60 senate senators to pass a piece of legislation and if that's the case then i don't see very many things that are groundbreaking passing unfunny terrific as always thanks for saying so long in the program giving us your take on a whole lot of issues are reacting to those breaking news pictures as well we've been speaking to anthony rogers writes in seattle political activist and deed friend of the program thank you all like you so much. well just in fact on the

latter point he was speaking about let's get into that because republicans appear to be continuing to lose political influence as a dollar to the wire race for 2 senate seats in georgia appears to be tilting in favor of the democrats have both seats are secured we're not exactly sure enough i'm sure caleb maupin our correspondent in addition with me no will be able to tell us more all not it's going to be a good year 2 years in fact for the democrats caleb tell us more. indeed well as the capitol hill chaos was in suing the results did come in and both of georgia's senate seats that were contested in this recent hotly contested vote in georgia both of georgia's senate seats have gone to the democrats we have raphael warnock who is a democrat he has won as has as has democrat john aasif and earlier john declared victory but now the votes are in and his victory seems to be secure take

a listen it is with humility that i have banked the people of georgia for electing me to serve you in the united states senate whether you are for me or against me i'll be for you. now we have voices all across the united states who are blaming donald trump for the results in which democrats seem to have won control of capitol hill and many voices are speaking up and saying that while donald trump has a pretty solid base of support the country seems to be pretty united against him beyond his supporters this is some of the analysis we've heard. well he may inspire people who thought he really pisses off people in democrats and really inspires them to come out and vote and you can have a credible villain that really helps the democrats turn out their vote. now mike pence vice president of the united states recently sent a letter to donald trump making clear he did not consider it part of his job to

declare who wins or loses the presidential election and that he would not be using his position you know in congress to take the allegations and try to stop donald trump and joe biden from being ratified as the winner of the election now this is some of what was in that letter from mike pence. some believe i should be able to accept or reject electoral votes unilaterally or does believe that electoral votes should never be challenged i believe neither view is correct when disputes concerning a presidential election a rise under federal law it is the people's representatives who review the evidence and resolve disputes through a democratic process. now donald trump then blasted mike pence on twitter basically accusing him of cowardice not being strong enough now the latest thing we've seen from trump has been a video urging his supporters to go home saying that they are hurt by the election

results urging them to go home many are looking on at this and saying this is an attempt on donald trump's part to deescalate some of the chaos that has ensued on capitol hill but it is worth noting that at this point when polled 70 percent of america's republicans said that they wished that leaders of their party would be more like donald trump not less like donald trump but regardless it seems that beyond trump supporters beyond the republican party there is a solid base of opposition to trump among the population and that is what has propelled the democrats to a situation they haven't been in since 2009 looks like very soon we'll have a situation where the democrats control the senate the house of representatives as well as the white house and the executive branch so they haven't had that power since 2009 and this will be a situation where it'll be very hard for republicans to push their proposals through it'll also be very hard for republicans to block moves by the democratic party so the democrats are are sweeping into a moment of

a rather secure hold on power for the next few years at least it looks like the democratic party seems to be the big winner as the 2020 alexion seem to be reaching somewhat of a conclusion of what is a very very long saga the vote was november and today we see what has just happened or us correspondent kill up and taking us through it let's just a tick a look at what is happening in washington d.c. these are pictures from just a little earlier with a sizable amount of the interim supporters all make up at all building showing their frustration of what they say was a cheated lection we saw earlier some people attempt to storm congress and these people if i got inside where congress. was attempting to certify the results of the presidential election essentially making president joe biden the next leader all of america. this is what occurred let's get into this because i'm very happy this say

live on the program we have got. journalist and commentator speaking to us today from new york a lot happening just up the road in washington d.c. how do you see this playing out. what is it and what's your prediction. well look you know european soccer matches and americans have politics that's one of the ways people vent a lot their grief obviously the country is very tense it's very tense up it's very tense for a while but that's been agitated of course by economic shutdowns by lockdowns and you have at least 80000000 voters who truly believe the election was stolen from them who believe that it was fraudulent and so they came to washington and they're storming that after all they're venting this is obviously something fairly new for conservatives and for the right and for truck supporters to gather in massive behave such as this but you know the other side's been doing this for 4 years let's not forget that just 2 years ago when justice had been always being confirmed by

the senate liberal stormed the supreme court so and of course obviously the liberal praise of marches started with the with an operation a before and then kind of reach of beaver pitch this summer george will wait in the black lives matter stop and keep a stop so are we seeing i don't think that we're going to see this sort of along to be here from the right the way that we do with the left and with we have with kids with that with liberals but you know people are upset they're venting and conservatives aren't immune from an emotional response particularly when they truly believe that that that that this election was illegal and that they had it stolen from them just in the short term we saw that don't seem to merit a terra 6 pm curfew double trump not so long ago also and a recorded message and playing really for the protestors to go home peacefully do you think they will. interestingly i just saw on twitter that twitter made that

message impossible to like or share claiming that the president's message was still being violent or actually said this in their little of notification at the bottom that's interesting because i watched the message and it did encourage everyone to go home i believe this is the real fear is people are worried. what's going to happen at sundown what's going to happen to black lives matter in a deeper comes out at sundown in terms of borders still out obviously. there there's a potential for a lot of violence is potential for a lot of confrontations and you know god forbid it should happen god forbid it should get violent but i believe that's where everyone is right now it was nice to see this disappointing feature out of it because we saw you know the pictures all of the democratic. city. in the summer we saw violence we saw looting and it went on and on but we also saw a lot of conservative commentators saying you know well that's not how we do our

business is this disappointing these scenes to you or is this the market see in action albeit a little bit of chaos earlier in the day. i think you could look at it either way really i mean you can say this is a lot of ways democracy in action i don't see a lot of people in washington right now who are looting small businesses who are burning down buildings i see them storming the property that's going to be owned by the american people that's the capitol building you see some scope of the police officers and talk supporters which you rarely rarely ever see i think that it doesn't escalate any more people are allowed to gather they're allowed to grieve they're allowed to be upset and that's what we're seeing you know god forbid there should be violence and we hope that there isn't anything worse but you know look we had the media and we had democratic politicians not only in either at best turning a blind eye to left wing violence for months and rioting and looting or just or or actively indorsing it or actively trying to play it down so is anyone surprised that the other side might take this opportunity to mimic some of the behaviors that

are swirling in our in our society people are the sort of trump basis with with republican leadership that doesn't fight for them that they believe how restore towards the left how restored to big institutions like the media like big tax like big business like the war machine and they see that the other side gets away with bloody murder literally in many places so you see a lot of these people say we're just what if we behave like them what if we try to get our leaders to act more like their leaders what happens then a lot of these people don't think that the sort of principled conservative the polite principled reasonable conservative has worked for them and has been a voice for these people what we've got 30 seconds left but just finally the point of the defeated accepting their losses and then allowing the victor to continue that's that's democracy in action to is not to to show that you're the bigger person and ok we lost this battle but we're going to win the bigger war later with

the 22nd sorry. right and i mean i can imagine that's why. you're going to see a mass is going to rest and you know people are going to go home people have jobs and and they're going to recalibrate and america is going to return. you know i mean it's probably going to be a nasty duration of the residency and you know it was nasty so. you know i don't think that we're going to see widespread chaos in republican districts that we did democratic districts over the summer chadwick always a pleasure to have you on the program thanks very much chadwick were a journalist and commentator life on r.t. . yes so that is our full hour of news coming from washington where protesters earlier broken to storm the congress the capitol building just certification hearing all joe biden the electoral college vote was taking place

a lot of chaos r.t. america it will be picking up the mantle for us in about a minute's time do join the team in washington then i'm going to know neal from our team here in moscow sees. 2021 we're going to see an interesting point 21 you know america has been exporting its inflation and china for 20 years and now has caught up to america and now all that money that's been going on for 2025 years is going to show up. real inflation . 2021 we're going to see an interesting point 21 you know america has been exporting its inflation to china for 20 years and now china's caught up to america and now

all that money that's been going on for 2025 years is going to show up. real inflation. live from the world headquarters of our t. america our nation's capital this is the news with rick sanchez part of body armor and i want to welcome all of you watching from around the world especially those of you who are watching us on your phones on portable t.v. you may have just looked at the images and wondered what in the world is going on in the united states of america well on this day when according to the constitution the pro-forma was that the senate and the house would meet in a joint session of congress to affirm the presidency.