BY TAPIWA GOMO The year has started on a bad note with the COVID-19 pandemic taking lives, causing sickness, destroying livelihoods and depriving people of freedoms. It is like starting a new a day under a thick dark cloud. For the wise, there are lessons to be learned about leadership, governance and State management. Talking about leadership and governance, ugly scenes have been unfolding in the United States of America ahead of Mr Joe Biden, the President-elect’s inauguration. The incumbent, Mr Donald Trump has been raising allegations of vote rigging long before the elections started. He continued making the same allegations throughout the election season up until January 6 when a mob of his alleged supporters stormed the United States Capitol building where Congress was sitting to certify the Presidential results. On the surface, the storming of the Capitol building was caused by opposition to the results of the 2020 United States presidential election and Mr Trump’s and his allies’ false claims of 2020 presidential election fraud. The objectives of the insurrection was to disrupt, delay, and change the Electoral College vote count in Trump’s favour, to capture and destroy the certificates of ascertainment of the Electoral College votes, to pressure Congress and Vice-President Mike Pence to overturn the election of former Vice-President Joe Biden, and to ransack, vandalise, and overrun the Capitol building. The plan was perfectly executed and deaths, injuries and destruction of property were reported. Events at the Capitol building have been described in several ways from treason, insurrection, sedition, domestic terrorism, assault, and an attempt by Mr Trump to carry out a self-coup or coup d'état. These are not words associated with the US. And of course, there were several comparisons with African dictators and their refusal to leave office. The House of Representatives moved in quickly to impeach Mr Trump for inciting insurrection, making him the only President in the history of the USA to be impeached twice. The question that continues to linger since these events unfolded is where does the insurrection at Capitol building leave American democracy. This question arises from different angles. Mainstream international media has focused on one side of the story — how bad and dangerous Mr Trump is as President of the most powerful country on earth. It is as if this was breaking news and yet Mr Trump’s trail prior to his presidential bid is littered with all manner of unorthodox behaviour. Even in his four years as President, he has demonstrated reluctance to behave presidential. The real story to some of us is Trump supporters’ voices which are being muzzled by the media and yet they carry the frustrations which, I think, are the real issues of concern. They are not a negligible number, nearly 75 million people voted for Mr Trump — that is 47% of the voters. Even if their views may not sit well with mainstream and modern-day thinking, they too must be allowed to exercise their right to express themselves. Democ