5 years since Trump’s January 6 coup
The methods of violent overthrow of democratic institutions are now being employed both at home and abroad in an unprecedented drive for dictatorship and imperialist domination of the world.
January 6, 2021, marked a turning point in American and world history. On that day, a fascist mob summoned by then-president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and establish a presidential dictatorship. As the World Socialist Web Site wrote the very next day, “Not only can a fascist coup happen here. It did happen here.” The attack was the culmination of a months-long conspiracy spearheaded by Trump, aimed at blocking the transfer of power through violence, with the backing of fascistic militia groups and sections of the state apparatus. The coup failed narrowly, not because of the strength of American democracy, but due to the inexperience and disorganization of the plotters—and the cowardice and complicity of the Democratic Party.
The WSWS has explained from the beginning that January 6 was the outcome of the breakdown of American democracy . This page includes a selection of some of the most important statements and articles published prior to, during and after the January 6 coup.
The methods of violent overthrow of democratic institutions are now being employed both at home and abroad in an unprecedented drive for dictatorship and imperialist domination of the world.
The fascist insurrection in Washington DC is a turning point in the political history of the United States.
On Sunday, the Washington Post published a three-part investigation of the January 6, 2021 insurrection detailing Trump’s months-long plot to remain in power no matter the outcome of the 2020 election. Only one publication—the World Socialist Web Site—warned clearly and consistently about the existential danger posed by Trump’s plot.
The following lecture was delivered at the Socialist Equality Party (US) 2021 summer school by Eric London, a writer for the WSWS and author of Agents: The FBI and GPU Infiltration of the Trotskyist Movement.
In a series of politically criminal acts, Trump is establishing a presidential dictatorship based on the military and police.
The World Socialist Web Site first published this statement on October 14, 2019. It warned that “Trump is utilizing the power of the presidency to create an unconstitutional and illegal dictatorship.” In light of the recent nationwide military/police crackdown, the WSWS is republishing this crucial document.
The US election, now less than two months away, is entering its final stages under conditions of unprecedented social, economic and political crisis.
Trump has publicly declared that he will not transfer power peacefully if he loses the November 3 election.
The fascist insurrection in Washington DC is a turning point in the political history of the United States.
Thousands of Trump supporters have stormed the Capitol and halted the congressional certification of Trump’s defeat in the presidential election.
Less than 48 hours after hundreds of people, incited by President Trump and backed by top officials in the Republican Party, stormed the US Capitol, Biden called for “unity” with his “Republican colleagues.”
The attempts by various left journalists to deny that the events of January 6 were an attempted coup undermines resistance to the danger of fascism.
The third hearing of the House January 6 Committee, held Thursday, leaves no doubt that Donald Trump was engaged in an attempt to establish a presidential dictatorship.
Damning revelations concerning the role played by elements within key state institutions in support of Trump’s coup are omitted in the 814-page report.
Two years after former president Trump and his Republican allies tried to overturn the Constitution, the aspiring dictator and the social and political forces that supported him remain free and are openly plotting their next coup.
The evidence strongly indicates that Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election through state legislatures were aided by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, through his surrogate and life-long Republican operative, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas.
Countless millions in the United States and throughout the world are stunned by the outcome of the election, which was made possible by the policies of the Democratic Party. But the shock is turning into disgust as they witness the Democrats’ craven surrender to Trump.
Biden’s State of the Union remarks, consisting of a string of wild assertions, focused on one overriding priority: The escalation of war with Russia.
Even by the standards of American “political culture,” Thursday night’s presidential debate between US President Joseph Biden and former President Donald Trump was a spectacle of degradation, reaction and stupidity.
In what amounts to an American version of the 1933 Enabling Act that gave Hitler dictatorial powers, the Supreme Court announced that the US president must enjoy immunity from prosecution to be able to engage in “bold and unhesitating action.”
This report to the 2021 SEP Summer School was delivered by Jacob Crosse, who writes regularly for the World Socialist Web Site on US politics and the activities of far-right and fascist groups.
In his March 5 column, the ex-left journalist continued his political adaption to the far right.
In response to the unprecedented events in the nation's capital, leading members of Jacobin magazine responded by downplaying the seriousness of the attack and opposing those calling it a “coup.”
Socialist Alternative is seeking to chloroform the working class by insisting that there is no fascist threat in the United States, even after last week’s coup attempt.
The WSWS publishes here the text of a lecture delivered by David North in London on November 22 examining the global crisis of capitalism and the Trump administration’s drive to dictatorship.
The mass pardoning of those who attacked the Capitol sets the stage for widespread violent attacks on those who oppose the policies of the Trump administration.
Two months into the Trump administration, the presidency has become a cockpit and planning center of a dictatorship.
The deployment of the military onto the streets of Los Angeles—the second-largest city in the United States—marks a qualitative escalation of the Trump administration’s ongoing, well-prepared coup d’état.