American democracy is crumbling and inevitably Twitter provided rolling commentary and memes, lots of memes.

Last night, U.S. Congress was set to certify the votes to confirm Joe Biden’s presidency before thousands of Trump supporters pushed past law enforcement and stormed the Capitol building.

The vote certification was paused and members of the house and senate were evacuated as police attempted to take control of the situation.

It’s the result of years of President Trump repeatedly encouraging violence, his refusal to accept the democratic vote and more recently his calls for supporters to riot at the ‘Save America March’ yesterday.

Though real lives are often at stake during the seemingly endless debacles, chaos and controversy in modern America it’s become akin to a reality tv show that the rest of the world can look at from the outside. The growth of the far right in America also provides a stark warning for other countries for what can happen if hate speech and the actions of the far right are left unchecked.

Here’s how Irish Twitter reacted:

Erica Cody

Irish-American singer Erica Cody rightly pointed out that Black Lives Matter protesters were treated completely differently when they took to Washington in the summer of 2020. Trump supports were flirted with in comparison to the to the heavy-handed approach and fully stocked guard BLM activists faced last year.

Richard Chambers

Irish Twitter favourite and news reporter Richard Chambers highlighted the platform’s meagre sanctions on the President’s highly volatile and dangerous account.

He also gave Irish CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan his dues for his reporting on the chaos and perhaps unknowingly passed the torch to Irish Twitter’s new favourite news head.

Blindboy

Yup.

Fynch

There were a host of memes doing the rounds after one particularly empty-headed trump supporter turned up to the Capitol in a costume fit for Body & Soul.

Dave Tynan

Soulé

2021 is just 2020 but more rapid. A bit like that part in come on Eileen that gets faster and faster.

Ian (ShitLondonGuiness)

This one cut deep.