Democracy is under siege and Donald Trump Jr can’t stop being transphobic
Donald Trump Jr spoke at a “Save America” rally before the Capitol riots. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty)
Donald Trump Jr went on yet another anti-trans rant at the same rally where his father laid the groundwork for the US Capitol riots.
Apropos of nothing, the outgoing president’s son mounted an attack on trans women as he addressed the fateful Washington “Save America” rally on Wednesday (6 January).
As he thanked the “red-blooded, patriotic Americans” who had turned out in droves, he proclaimed: “Amen and a-women,” laughing like an obese, geriatric mastiff at his own words.
It was a reference to Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, who was ridiculed for using the phrase on the first day of the new Congress to recognise the record number of women elected. Trump Jr used it to launch into further frenzy about new research into whether trans women have an advantage in sport.
Fox News finally pulls out of Don Jr's unhinged Stop the Steal speech as he starts profanely railing about trans women and gender-specific terms. pic.twitter.com/Z3CaAbXcXR
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) January 6, 2021
Fox News cut from the speech as Trump Jr turned to profanity. Hours later, his father would address the same mob, instructing them to “walk down to the Capitol and cheer on our brave congressmen and women” as they attempted to certify the results of the election.
It was a thinly-veiled call to arms that led to a violent assault on the seat of US democracy, with extremists storming past a thin and reluctant police presence to invade the Capitol building.
Senators, congresspeople and the vice president, Mike Pence, were all rushed to safety as white supremacists took control of the building.
Extremists storm the Capitol in Washington DC. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty)
Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. – Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
One woman was shot dead by police during the Capitol riots, though many of the insurgents were treated with kid gloves and allowed for a while to run amok: leaving threats on the desk of Nancy Pelosi and falsely declaring Trump the winner of the presidential election on the Senate dais in what can only be described as an attempted coup. Three more died following unspecified “medical emergencies”.
Trump eventually released an insipid video telling the violent mob: “We love you, you’re all very special… but go home.” It was later removed by Twitter, with a threat to permanently ban him should he continue to incite violence.
Eventually, authorities secured the Capitol and lawmakers returned to certify Joe Biden as the next president of the United States – but not without a series of challenges mounted by Republicans, who refused to back down from their anti-democracy rhetoric despite the chilling events of the previous hours. In a statement, Trump accepted the result and promised an orderly transition – but continued his false claim of election fraud.
In the aftermath of the Capitol riots, politicians, human rights groups and many other Americans are now calling for Trump to be impeached a second time or removed from office by the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president and a majority of congress to declare the president unfit.
Whether this will happen is unclear at this point, but what’s certain is that Trump’s reign of terror will be over, at the very latest, on 20 January.
