The Pro-Trump riot that erupted at the US Capitol in Washington DC is equivalent to an attempted coup which is reckless, irresponsible and illegal, US political expert Dr George Vital Zammit told the Malta Independent, adding that "there is no way out of it."
On Wednesday, a violent mob loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in a stunning attempt to overturn America’s presidential election, undercut the nation’s democracy and keep Democrat Joe Biden from replacing Trump in the White House.
The riot resulted in one casualty and forced lawmakers into hiding as police tried to barricade the building while Washington's mayor instituted an evening curfew in an attempt to contain the violence.
The Malta Independent spoke with US political expert Vital Zammit to get his opinion on the situation.
"I am appalled, shocked, saddened and disappointed by the developments in what used to be a pillar of democracy for the whole world," he said, noting that while American politics has a lot of deficiencies, it was always an example with regards to the transition of power.
He used the election outcome of 1960 between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy as an example which was a close call yet, Nixon, who lost the election, bowed to the victor and accepted the result without such happenings.
"We are seeing how Trump is a different kettle of fish. He has infused a sense of toxicity into the mindset of his supporters; this false idea that this election was stolen."
Zammit recalled that Trump had tweeted about 6 January, telling supporters to prepare to rally against a stolen election, showing that the riot was triggered by him.
"Breaching the Capitol that way is tantamount to a sacrilegious act, in a way, because America has seen protests, even this year, but never into a Capitol building like this. The symbolic significance of what happened yesterday is extremely negative."
"This behaviour is equivalent to an attempted coup. There are 50 states that have confirmed there is no fraud, the congress confirmed the electoral vote (yesterday) and while he is still the President right now, this looks like someone trying to overturn a democratic result. So, yes this is reckless, irresponsible and illegal, there is no way out of this."
When asked, Zammit completely agreed that the reputation of American institutions has been tainted after witnessing this riot.
"America's reputation in the world is what is suffering the most and it will now be an uphill challenge for his successor, Biden, to restore that confidence," he said, pointing out that Trump only felt comfortable with controversial undemocratic leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Yong-un.
He believes that the gravest thing of all, which he finds difficult to understand, is that Trump is not accepting a result "where he lost by, not only 7,000 or 700,000 votes, but 7 million votes and more than 70 electoral college seats, but he still claims to have won."
When asked if Trump should just respect the political decision and leave, Zammit said that it is not just about him leaving.
He explained that the American system has survived over 250 years of tradition wherein the election is held in November and the inauguration is held in January. Those intermittent weeks from the first Tuesday of the first week of November and the inauguration date, are meant to give the incumbent the time to hand over power.
The incumbent usually hosts the winner at the White House and slowly start giving a hand over and Trump has not done anything yet, except promise an “orderly transition” on 20 January.
Zammit noted that there have been toxic elections and hatred in the past but after the result, there is mutual understanding. He made reference to 2016 where Trump had uttered some words of disdain to Barak Obama, yet Obama still hosted and shook hands with him; "it was not a warm meeting, but it happens and you move on."