In the wake of the attack on the US Capitol, I spoke with 17 TV and radio outlets across nine countries on Thursday about the “attempted coup” for Donald Trump and about the significance for US politics and society in 2021.

My chat with Heather Hiscox of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:

Trump will continue to say that the US system is standing against him. Now how many of these supporters will take that as a call to action?

Will Trump do this just to rail for the next two weeks or to set up, as I think he is, for a run for the Presidency in 2024?

See also Deep Dive Politics VideoCast: An “Attempted Coup” in Washington

Listen to BBC Radio 2 from 26:18

My chat with Jeremy Vine on Thursday afternoon:

This was a man who wanted to stay in power despite losing an election, the “most secure” election in US history, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

He failed to stay in power by having the courts overturn the election, by having state legislators overturn the election, by having Congress — including his Vice President — overturn the election.

So this was his last move: to call on people to go to the Capitol He didn’t say, “Storm the Building”, but he knew full well what that call meant.

We also discuss the importance of Democrats winning both runoff elections in Georgia, giving Democrats control of the Senate through the deciding vote of incoming Vice President Kamala Harris.

This is beyond the Biden Administration and the Republicans. The outcome, after months of Trump disinformation, is that you have two factions within the Republican Party: one which plays by the rules, as we saw on Wednesday, and the Trumpists who don’t believe in the courts, don’t believe in abiding by what Congress says, and don’t believe in the media.

Listen to BBC London from 1:09.21

A personal reflection, when asked by Vanessa Feltz how I would respond to a friend or family member who believes in Trump’s proclamation of a “stolen election” despite the absence of any evidence:

Unfortunately, well before Donald Trump became President, this is a polarized America. So it’s not information, it’s disinformation. It’s not just dialogue, it’s a lot of shouting.

Trumpists divide this into Us v. Them. The Us is their camp, and Donald Trump — who is a snake oil salesman, but a very good one — has made this his camp by saying, “We’re under attack. Under attack by the Democrats, the liberals, the Chinese, the immigrants, the fake news media.

You either have to leave the Trump camp — “maybe there is something beyond this” — or you get further and further entrenched in this division.

How do I respond to that? You come back not by ostracizing them, not by repeating the language of division. You try to get this back to what unites America.

Because in 13 days, the adults are back in the room.

Listen to Austria’s Radio FM4 at 11:46

In discussion with Joanna Bostock: Can the 25th Amendment be invoked by Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump from office?