Michael Chugani January 14, 2021 06:00
Last Wednesday, when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Congress building, mainland social media erupted with glee. The foreign ministry and Communist Party mouthpieces, including the Global Times, mocked the US. Other authoritarian states gloated, proclaiming the demise of Western democracy.
To those who wrote off democracy as a brittle political model, and to those who said the storming of Congress proved the US never had moral authority, I say this: he who laughs last laughs the longest and the loudest.
The attack on the Congress building provided fodder for dictators to brainwash oppressed citizens into believing authoritarian rule is superior to democracy. Brainwashing is not hard in repressive states where free speech, media freedom, and the internet are strictly controlled.