-
The world looks at Washington
For much of the 20st century, the rest of the world looked to the United States as a shining example of a vibrant democratic system combined with wealth, power and global ambition. Obviously this was far from perfect. Its image was always marred by racial inequality, the dangerous confrontations of the Cold War, Vietnam, uncritical support for Israel and the invasion of Iraq.
And then on January 6, the world looked on in horror, disbelief – and undisguised joy in some quarters – as President Donald Trump, with just two weeks left in the White House, urged supporters, some waving Confederate flags or wearing Nazi symbols, to march on the Capitol to prevent the official decision confirming that his democratic rival Joe Biden had beaten him on November 3.
China, Russia and Iran, were all quick to condemn the Twitterer-in-Chief in the Oval Office, who was then blocked from his favorite social media account. Beijing’s self-serving take was to compare what happened in Washington to last year’s mass protests in Hong Kong. Moscow’s interpretation was that it demonstrated vividly the weakness of western democracy, while Tehran – waiting to see what Biden will do to revive the 2015 nuclear deal – denounced Trump as an unchecked threat to the world’s security.
US allies, from Nato and elsewhere, spoke out more in sorrow than in anger, but some leaders did not bother to disguise their irritation. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “One of the ground rules of democracy is that after elections there is a winner and a loser.” French President Emmanuel Macron said that what had taken place was “not American, definitely“, adding: “We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy.”
Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson, tweeted to say the events were a “disgrace”, that the US stood for democracy around the world, and that was it was vital that there should be an orderly transfer of power. Ursula Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, condemned “contempt for democratic institutions, values and rules.”
Overall, western governments focused on the threat to the basic principles of democracy, nearly 250 years since the American revolution, though without naming Trump. From New Zealand the highly-regarded prime minister Jacinda Ardern, tweeted: “Democracy - the right of people to exercise a vote, have their voice heard and then have that decision upheld peacefully - should never be undone by a mob.”
Historical perspective, as ever, helps explain these reactions. In 1945, after the horrors of the second world war, the countries of Nazi-occupied Europe opted for democracy. And then 44 years later, in 1989, the Communist-ruled countries of Eastern Europe made the same choice – largely as a result of the American example. And that has been followed in recent decades by multiple countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Today’s autocratic leaders, by contrast, sought to exploit the Capitol assault for their own messaging. Putin, who was accused last year of seeking to poison opposition critic Alexei Navlany, responded: “This
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman responded that the Washington events “were an internal US affair” – an answer that the Kremlin would clearly prefer whenever its own actions are questioned – but then described the US electoral system as “archaic.” Trump’s behaviour,, in short, serve to confirm the narrative, favored by both Moscow and Beijing, that democracies are fundamentally flawed, and therefore the west has no right to judge them or impose standards of freedom or openness.
But the truth is that even before this latest hair-raising episode, Trump had eroded America’s global reputation and credibility. Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa tweeted about the American sanctions imposed on his country, citing concerns about its democracy. The stunning events at the Capitol “showed that the US has no moral right to punish another nation under the guise of upholding democracy”, was his conclusion.
Yet it did not all begin in January 2017. George W. Bush’s presidency did a lot of damage to the global standing of the “land of the free”: the 2003 war in Iraq, human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay and the alienation of allies drove America’s popularity abroad to what seemed at the time to be a new low. It did improve under Barack Obama.
But Trump has rapidly accelerated that decline – despite his populist slogan of “Make America Great Again”. His withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement; fostering tensions with traditionally friendly governments, and cosying up to authoritarians including Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Trump has done more than any of his 44 predecessors to remove the sheen from “the shining city on the hill”, to use the phrase beloved of Ronald Reagan. And it will not be easy for Joe Biden, the 46th president, to repair that damage from January 20.
IAN BLACK
