‘Moment of Great Dishonour & Shame’: Barack Obama Condemns Capitol Riots, Slams Trump For Inciting Violence

He also accused the outgoing President Donald Trump of fuelling the violence by baselessly lying about the outcome of the elections.

After Donald Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill on Wednesday, former President Barack Obama has denounced the violence calling it as moment of great ‘dishonour and shame for our nation.’ He also accused the outgoing President Donald Trump of fuelling the violence by baselessly lying about the outcome of the elections.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Obama, said, “History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation.”

Here’s my statement on today’s violence at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/jLCKo2D1Ya

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 7, 2021

“For two months now, a political party and its accompanying media ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth – that this was not a particularly close election and that President-Elect Biden will be inaugurated on January 20,” Obama said in the statement.

“Their fantasy narrative has spiraled further and further from reality, and it builds upon years of sown resentments. Now we’re seeing the consequences, whipped up into a violent crescendo.”

Obama further called for Republicans to stand up against the growing campaign of misinformation about Joe Biden’s election as president elect. However, he added that he was heartened to see members of the GOP speak up forcefully against the actions of the rioters, adding that it’s “up to all of us as American’s, regardless of party, to support” President-elect Biden’s efforts to “restore a common purpose to our politics.”

President Bush also decried the riots by Trump’s supporters, comparing it to how “election results are disputed in a banana republic”.

Meanwhile, social media giants Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have temporarily blocked Trump from further posting after his supporters violently stormed the Capitol building in Washington D.C. On Wednesday, a woman was killed in gunfire inside the Capitol after Trump supporters stormed the building to disrupt the democratic functioning of Congress as it was in the middle of ratifying the election of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President.