It is an awful, sad, tragic sight – and a reminder that Trump should never be near power again

You can but imagine what the reaction from the president would be had these been Black Lives Matters protestors

The Trump revolutionaries are succeeding where those who have sought to tear at the fabric of American democracy previously have failed (Getty Images)

What was that Trump was saying about America turning into a third world state? 

Now he has himself incited the kind of insurrection that’s more associated with the unscheduled violent transfer of power that happens in the more volatile nations around the world.

Inside the Capitol the lawmakers were chewing over the precedent of 1876 and divining the wishes of the authors of the constitution of the United States of America. Outside a bunch of wannabe Bolsheviks were getting ready to storm the Winter Palace. Only some toy town cops stood in their way.

Unlike Petrograd 1917, these revolutionaries are taking selfies with marble likenesses of icons of democracy. The effort to expel them seems lethargic, relaxed, even as Mitch McConnell is hiding under his desk, Nancy Pelosi is locked in the broom cupboard and Mike Pence is dressing up as a chef to be smuggled out (I’m imagining).

Trump, the Lenin of DC? “Stay peaceful” – in effect, stay there and occupy the building and stop the election – “stop the steal” as he calls it. It suits his purposes, this unpopular insurrection and the base love it. The rest of America must now see these fascists for what they are.

In is an awful, sad, tragic sight. The Trump revolutionaries are succeeding where those who have sought to tear at the fabric of American democracy previously have failed. You can but imagine the reaction from Trump if these were Black Lives Matter protesters. 

As it happens the scenes should remind the American people why it was that they voted to sack Trump and why they should never let him get near power again. So help them God.