Sick(x)th of January and a Sicker American Politics

Georgia's run-off Elections for the two seats in the Senate prove to be a massive setback for the Republicans. The run-off elections were conducted since none of the candidates from the state could muster the 50% vote required to be declared a victor according to the state's Constitution in the November General Elections. Both the seats were held by Republicans, Senator Kelly Loeffler and Senator David Perdue. The Democrats won both seats with Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff being elected to the Upper House of the US Congress .

The Four contenders. Raphael Warnock (D) vs Kelly Loeffler (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) vs David Perdue (R).

The run-off Elections were significant. Politically it proved a distaste the American citizens had for the entire fraud campaign that was built by Donald Trump led Republican party in states like Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania where there was a turnout of postal ballots and a last minite change from the Red camp to the blue securing Biden's victory. Also it removes the major impediment Biden would have faced had the Senate been still under Republican control such as rejecting his nominees or not ratifying his executive orders. At least for the next two years, the Biden administration is expected to function smoothly with the Senate being in Democrat control with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris having the Casting Vote. This is a big victory for the Democrats who will have the Senate in control after they lost it to the Republicans in 2014. 

The Final Picture as released by the Associated Press.

The Balance of Power in the Senate. Democrats finally have the Senate in control that smoothened Biden's Presidency for the first two years.

Raphael Warnock is going to be the first Black Senator from the state of Georgia and second from the Southern states since reconstruction. Warnock was the pastor of the Atlanta church once led by Martin Luther King Jr. He and Ossoff successfully energized the Democrat voters particularly the black and urban population than the two incumbent senators could with their demoralised supporters. Most of the voters have admitted that the elections were held peacefully with no signs of any rigging or fraud. Ossoff aged 33 would be the youngest member in the Senate in about 50 years.

Trump who has refused to concede power to Biden has asked his Vice President, Mike Pence to overturn the PEC ballots caste and declare him the winner, something which the later is skeptical of doing although publicly declaring his commitment to the President.

In Washington DC, the scene was different. With Trump refusing to concede power to Biden and fiercely maintaining the position that he would do everything in his capacity to keep the White House, he directed Vice President Mike Pence to take steps accordingly. In his campaigns at Georgia this stance was supported by both the Senators and he himself stated that it was the penultimate election to conserve the America they love. Although loyal, Pence being a shrewd politician knows the catastrophic effect it would yeild if he pandered to the President's tunes any longer. In a letter to the Congress he stated that it was not in his capacity to unilaterally turn the results. 

The Chaos and Pandemonium which engulfed the Capital and Capitol portrays the huge cracks in the unblemished picture of America's democratic system.

What followed was an unprecedented occurence in the history of American politics. White-supremacist groups and staunch Trump supporters stormed into the Congress to stop the confirmation of the votes polled by the members of the Presidential Electoral College on the 6th of January. In many of the footages men were demanding the Capitol Police to "surrender' the Building to them or show them the ballots. According to the local media outlets even noose and hanging posts were constructed. The property inside the Congress was vandalized with a picture of a man sitting in the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office going viral. Although the local administration of Washington DC, a Democrat stronghold took measures to contain any sort of violence, it proved to be highly inadequate. A White House spokesperson has announced that the National Guard has been deployed to contain violence. Twitter has suspended President Trump's account for 12 hours alleging that it was inciting violence. The Capitol staff pushing aside their political allegiances stepped up gallantly to protect the leather-bound wooden crates that have the electoral college ballots in them.

The leather-bound wooden crates which contained the Electoral College ballots were saved by the brave staff amidst the threatening rioters and extremists.

Noose and hanging posts constructed in Washington DC. (Courtesy: Twitter)

Although the confirmation of the PEC ballots by the Senate is a ceremonial affair, nearly 11 senators have raised objections echoing Trump's claims of election frauds. In the Presidential elections that were held in November, Joe Biden won 306 votes to Donald Trump's 232 in the Electoral College hauling the popular vote by nearly 7 million. Biden and Kamala Harris are expected to be inaugurated on 20th January. However considering the violence that has usurped the capital, doubts have been raised whether the Constitutionally provided procedure can be followed. It has also brought to the limelight how weak America's democratic system has become currently- a feature it would boast about. Political commentators have waged their own wars on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms about how America is living through an occurrence it orchestrated in many of the countries since it became very active in international affairs after 1945. 

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are expected to be inaugurated on January 20th, the last stage of the two month long Presidential Elections.

America has today succumbed into a political and constitutional crisis on the same patterns it inflated in several Latin American states. Whether it'll recover and even if it does how much will that be is what we all have our eyes on.