No place for smiles in Washington on eve of Biden inauguration
Anything that happens near the Capitol, site of the recent riots and of Biden’s swearing in, invites a military-scale response.
I was driving near the Capitol Building in Washington when the fire truck appeared from nowhere, hurtling towards my car, siren roaring and lights flashing.
Thinking it was about to smash into me, I veered off the road, screeching to a halt next to an armoured vehicle and a group of national guard troops holding their semi-automatics and staring at me.
I smiled and waved at them, mostly to let them know that I wasn’t trying to ram them in a terrorist attack. They didn’t smile back. Washington is not a place of levity and sunshine at this moment in its history.
Nerves are frayed and the nation’s capital is on edge.
The city is barely recognisable as 25,000 national guard troops stand across every major road artery and outside every famous building ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration on Thursday (AEDT).
It turns out that the fire truck was responding to reports of a small explosion several blocks away under a bridge.
Unknown to me at the time, police and troops had locked down the Capitol and surrounding areas in response, describing it initially as “an external security threat”.
In the end, it turned out to be a small fire in a homeless community under a bridge a few blocks from the Capitol building.
But anything that happens right now near the Capitol, site of the recent riots and of Biden’s swearing in, invites a military-scale response.
For days now, a fully armed Washington has been waiting for an unknown number of Donald Trump supporters who might wish to protest the inauguration of Biden and the imminent departure of their president.
No one knows how many might come to the national capital but authorities are unwilling to risk a repeat of the lax security that allowed the Capitol riots to occur.
So authorities have erred on the side of overkill. Washington is now a fully militarised zone, with troops, armoured vehicles, police and security crawling all over it. Fences have been erected outside every significant building.
I parked my car and walked across the city, going as close as I could to the Capitol, the White House and Pennsylvania Avenue, the traditional sight of the inauguration parade, which will now be virtual.
I could not get within cooee of any of them before being stopped by persuasive men carrying M16s.
The closest I got to was several blocks to the White House.
If you stand on Black Lives Matter Boulevard and look out over the rows of the new security fences and the concrete anti-terror bollards you can make out the armed guards pacing on the White House roof in the distance.
When I was on BLM Boulevard, there were just three protesters, all African American, standing amid a sea of anti-Trump flags and signs.
“Domestic terrorists not welcomed,” said one sign, referring to the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. “Impeach, Expel, Investigate,” said another.
Throughout my walk across Washington, I did not see a single person who could be identified as a Trump supporter, much less a protester.
They may still come in the next 24 hours, ahead of the inauguration, but I doubt they will do so in large numbers. If they have looked at any news media, they would realise how hopelessly outnumbered they would be this time around.
As someone who has lived in Washington for four years, it’s sad to see the city locked down like this. It is empty of pedestrians and almost unrecognisable — with far more security than during Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
The fences that went up around the White House after the George Floyd protests earlier this year have been joined by new and larger fences everywhere.
I hope that they come down after Biden is inaugurated and the political temperature cools in the post-Trump era.
But while some barriers will come down, I’m not too sure that all of them will. While America remains so divided about politics, the historic symbols of Washington — from the White House to the Capitol — might remain largely locked away from those who would do them harm.
That would be a terrible legacy for this beautiful city and for this turbulent era.
End game? Appeasing Iran will only lead to a wider regional war
After pounding Hezbollah, Israel must attack the Iran’s nuclear sites. Appeasement doesn’t prevent war, it ensures a conflict that’s infinitely more terrible than it might otherwise have been.
Intensifying to Cat 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
Hurricane Milton has exploded in strength to become a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm, threatening Florida with a second ferocious hurricane in as many weeks.