The storming of the U.S. Capitol building by supporters of President Donald Trump to stop Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory prompted expressions of alarm from America’s allies and a few comments of satisfaction from its rivals.

The traditional friends of the United States reacted in horror to the scenes of police ushering out lawmakers with guns drawn, as Trump supporters roamed the hallways of Congress. Some were particularly outspoken, holding Trump directly responsible.

“This is an assault on democracy. President Trump and several members of Congress bear substantial responsibility for developments,” tweeted Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, calling for the election result to be respected.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was “furious” and “sad” over the scenes at the Capitol. “I very much regret that President Trump has not acknowledged his defeat since November,” she said, adding that the doubts sown over the election’s outcome had stoked the atmosphere that led to Wednesday’s events.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel also had harsh words for the president on Thursday, saying in an interview with the BBC that Trump’s “words were associated with violence and his comments directly led to just the most appalling and terrible scenes that we’ve all been shocked by.”

“So far, he’s failed to condemn that violence and I actually think that’s wrong,” she added, also telling Sky News that “America has to move on.”

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was more explicit, telling “Good Morning Britain” that Trump was guilty of “inciting insurrection” in his own country and called his presidency a “dark period in America’s history.”

Before the assault on the Capitol building, Trump spoke to supporters in a rally, encouraging them to take matters into their own hands as Congress moved to certify the results of the election.

“What is happening is wrong,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said bluntly in a tweet.

While he did not mention Trump by name, French President Emmanuel Macron gave an impassioned video message about the historical ties between the United States and France rooted in their early adoption of democracy and expressing his country’s strong support for the American people and their choice.

“What happened today in Washington, D.C., is not America, definitely,” he said in the English portion of the message. “We believe in the strength of our democracies.”

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close Trump ally, called the attack “outrageous” and affirmed his belief in American democracy, his rival, Defense Minister Benny Gantz went further, saying that the images of a mob ransacking the Capitol should be a warning to other countries.

“This is proof that, before political rivalry, we must agree on the rules of the game: the maintenance of the rule of law, respect for democratic procedures and respectful discourse,” he said on Twitter.

Israel’s former consul general in New York, Dani Dayan, a noted right-wing advocate for settlements in territory disputed by Palestinians, was more direct, telling Army Radio that “it will be embarrassing when we’re left with a community called ‘Trump Heights,’ ” referring to a newly named settlement.

Yet even amid such expressions of support, there were those who mocked the United States for its troubles, recalling its past support for other popular opposition movements, including protests in Ukraine and pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong.

Nationalistic Chinese state-run tabloid the Global Times took the opportunity to bash U.S. politicians for having supported Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters who had stormed the city’s legislature in 2019.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,) “once referred to the Hong Kong riots as ‘a beautiful sight to behold’ – it remains yet to be seen whether she will say the same about the recent developments in Capitol Hill,” the Global Times posted in English on Twitter.

Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international affairs committee of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament said the riots on Capitol Hill was a result of a divided America but also alluded to U.S. support for the pro-democracy uprisings in Eastern Europe that were named for different colors.

“The boomerang of color revolutions, as we can see, is returning to the United States,” he said.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, said American democracy was “obviously limping on both feet.”

“America no longer charts the course, and therefore has lost all right to set it. And even more to impose on others,” he said.

The breakdown in order at the heart of U.S. political institutions also allowed for the surreal situation of countries with poor democratic records and authoritarian traditions to call for calm and peaceful resolutions to the conflict, including Turkey, which urged “restraint and common sense.”

Venezuela, which has been in the midst of a severe political crisis for years and is antagonistic to the United States, condemned the “political polarization and spiral of violence” in the country.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in remarks Thursday that “what happened in the United States showed how weak Western democracy is.”

He said the scientific and industrial achievements of the United States had been overshadowed by the “huge influence of populism.”

“When a sick person takes office, we see how he disgraces his country and creates troubles for the world,” Rouhani said of Trump.

There is a sense of “glee” that “pompous” American policymakers “who pontificate to other democracies need to look within,” wrote Smita Prakash, a high-profile journalist close to the Indian government. Still, she added, “no one wants an unstable America. Other than China.”

In Southeast Asia, where many countries have weak democratic systems or autocratic regimes and where the United States frequently lectures governments about free and fair elections, parliamentarians concerned about liberal values condemned the assault on Capitol Hill.

Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian parliament who chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, said Trump was “joining in infamy the likes of Hun Sen and Rodrigo Duterte, in trying to destroy democratic institutions and undermine the will of the people here in this region.” Hun Sen has held power in Cambodia since 1985, while Duterte’s administration in the Philippines has locked up many of its critics.

The expressions of concern highlighted that the United States, as the world’s largest economy and one of its oldest democracies, remains important for those supporting liberal forms of government.

While the more populist turn under Trump for the past four years has meant a move away from multilateral approaches to U.S. foreign policy, the United States is still seen as a bulwark for democracy amid the rise of authoritarian regimes and movements.

“After our catastrophic failure in the 20th Century we Germans were taught by the US to develop strong democratic institutions,” wrote Andreas Michaelis, the German ambassador to Britain, on Twitter. “We also learnt that democracy is not just about institutions. It is about political culture, too. All democratic nations need to constantly defend it.”

The Washington Post’s Joanna Slater and Niha Masih in New Delhi, Simon Denyer in Tokyo, Eva Dou in Seoul, Shibani Mahtani in Hong Kong, Steve Hendrix in Jerusalem, Robyn Dixon and Isabelle Khurshudyan in Moscow, Loveday Morris in Berlin, Karla Adam and Jennifer Hassan in London, and Miriam Berger in Washington contributed to this report.

 

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