Tunisian Parliament Speaker and Muslim Brotherhood Leader Rached Al-Ghannouchi spoke about the storming of the Capitol and Trump’s electoral defeat in an interview, which aired on Al-Araby TV (Qatar/U.K.) on January 14, 2021. Al-Ghannouchi said that the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was sad but it was expected, in light of the rhetoric of Trump and the American evangelists. He said that they represent the true America that took the lands of the "Indian nations" by force and brought slaves from Africa to work their fields. Al-Ghannouchi added that the United States was founded on "extreme violence." He said that while it is true that the human rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr. gave rise to Clinton and Obama and that "America was flying high the day it elected a black man," it turns out there was still sediments at the "bottom of the American barrel," meaning the rhetoric of Trump and the evangelists.
Al-Ghannouchi said that he thinks that the rhetoric of Trump and the evangelists are a futile and desperate attempt, and just like America gave rise to Bush and Trump, it had also given rise to Clinton, Obama and now Biden, and this reflects American progress.
For more information about Rached Al-Ghannouchi, see MEMRI TV clips No. 4620, 3420, and 2759.
Interviewer: "What is your comment about the images [of the Capitol storming]?"
Rached Al-Ghannouchi: "They are sad, but were expected."
Interviewer: "Why?"
Al-Ghannouchi: "Because, as the saying goes: 'Wars are led by words.' When you look at the rhetoric of Trump and the evangelists for over 20 years... This is a movement that draws from the American deep, from the original America, which was founded on raids and on the killing of entire nations. The Indian nations used to live there, and their lands were taken by force, and hundreds of thousands of slaves were brought from Africa to work there...
"The United States was founded on extreme violence. There are still people who speak on behalf of those ages. There are people who scrape the bottom of the American barrel, where there is slavey and the lives of slaves is fair game.
"It is true that the human rights movement [and Martin] Luther King in the 1960s have started to create a new group of intellectuals and values... The results were wonderful. They gave rise to Clinton and to Obama. For America to be ruled by a black man – that is very sublime. America reached new heights the day it elected a black man. Back then, it seemed as if the end had come to the age of the cowboys and the American raiders, but it turned out that there was still something at the bottom of the barrel, where there are still sediments from the past.
"The rhetoric of Trump, the evangelists, and the millions show that... But I think that these are futile and desperate attempts. Just like the Americans have given rise to Trump and to Bush before him. They have given rise to Clinton, to Obama, and now to Biden. This reflects American progress, whereas the others reflect the bottom of the American barrel."