Surreal finale on chaotic Capitol Hill

Editor's note: Shocking the United States and the rest of the world, Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday claiming the outgoing president is the victim of a "stolen election". How far-reaching will be the impact of the horrendous act on US society? Five experts share their views on the issue with China Daily. Excerpts follow:

A result of power serving the wealthy and corrupt

Let us be reminded the assault on freedom and democracy in the US began 20-plus years ago when those in the halls and boardrooms of power decided to govern for the wealthy, corrupting and sucking dry as a bone all the goodness found in Western capitalism's attributes.

While both sides of the political divide play the blame game, the neutral observer informs us that putting the blame on Trump would be missing the bigger picture. The US is in ruinous decline because its government and economic system were forged into something rotten, and were neglecting society in many ways.

Why is this chaos and decline really upon us?

What is the simple missing magic ingredient? When those in power promise "what's best for the American people", they don't mean it or actually care about it one bit. Their shameful lip service is evident in the decisions, legislation, the policies. They have created a society where the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness is not even possible because the opportunities to do so have vanished.

Alchemy of political, social, medical issues

To predict the future one does not need a crystal ball or tarot cards. Underlying America's unfolding political crisis is the same alchemy of political-social-financial-pandemic issues that amalgamated in the Great Depression, which fueled the rise of the Third Reich leading to World War II.

The US' past decades of national debt over-leveraging supporting capital markets that enrich a super elite at the cost of debt riddling most households, now crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and unable to put food on the tables are the ingredients of populist movements that surged in both Europe and America during another era.

Such movements are resuscitating today, as evidenced in hard-line rightist protesters and militia storming the Capitol in Washington. Trump has achieved the kind of personality of populist leaders of another era. It should be clear what is coming next.

Hopefully, Biden will ditch Trump's populist policies

The illegal occupation of Capitol Hill by American populist forces for three hours disrupted and delayed the congressional confirmation of the incoming Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration. It was planned, instigated and orchestrated by the current White House occupant and his loyalists.

Populist politics is destructive not only for the US but also for the rest of the world. Populism is reckless, ruthless and rudderless. I hope the incoming Biden-Harris administration will abandon Trump's wrong policies both at home and in international relations including its policy toward China.

To inherit the current administration's foreign policy without mentioning its author while trying to clean up its ideology domestically would only be using double standard and condoning the ideology at home. If not contained, populism would bite even harder and cause more havoc not just for the US and China, but also humanity as a whole.

Divided society will make Biden's job more difficult

Before thousands of people stormed the Capitol, Trump had urged his supporters to go to the US parliament to express their dissatisfaction with the presidential election result. But it's difficult to say whether the outgoing president will be held accountable for the chaos according to US laws, especially because it is unprecedented in US history.

Nevertheless, the incoming US administration could amend the laws to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Biden will give top priority to domestic affairs. But dealing with a divided US society is a daunting task. He needs to contain the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible, although the disagreement over how to end the crisis still divides the US.

Unleashing the forces of hate and divisions

The entire world was shocked by Wednesday's mayhem in the US, the largest developed country which supposedly values law and order. The large-scale vandalism will tarnish the image of the US as a great power.

The outgoing president fanned the passions of his supporters, and the latter released their pent-up "anger" against what Trump described as a "stolen election". His remarks are considered by many Americans as unleashing the forces of hate and divisions in the country.

Those who were involved in the mayhem on Capitol Hill broke US laws. And several Congress members are calling for impeaching Trump for the unprecedented storming of the Capitol.

The incident reflects the split between people for and against Trump in the US. That means Biden faces a big challenge after being sworn in as US president on Jan 20. Facing such a divided society, Biden will have too many hot potatoes to deal with including bridging social and racial divides, containing the pandemic and promoting economic recovery.

But in the short term, the chaos may help Biden elicit more public support, which may facilitate a relatively smooth transition of power. Besides Democrats, many Republicans have also criticized Trump for harming their party's reputation.

Given that Democrats will take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, it should be easier for Biden to appoint secretaries in his administration and implement policies. The world is watching the developments in the US.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily