"This is what happened in the '20s with the rise of fascism, which was a form of populism when it started," Professor Herr said.

The US was rocked to its core on Wednesday (ET) when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC, leading to violent clashes with police and one death.

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It followed a rally held by Mr Trump, where he continued to baselessly claim that president-elect Joe Biden's November election victory was illegitimate.

Professor Herr, whose father was in the U.S. Air Force, moved from state to state growing up, never staying in one place for long. He lived in Florida, New York, Arizona and Illinois among other places, before moving to Australia in the early 1970s.

He traced the extraordinary scenes that recently unfolded in the US Capitol to the rise of right-wing populism in the West and "the disrespect of politicians, the media and others for democratic institutions that lead people to believe they do not have to exercise responsibility when they vote".

"The leaders in Congress, who actually know it's not true, that it's a manufactured and confected unhappiness with the election, are reinforcing it, trying to give it a validity which they know is improper," Professor Herr said.

"Because they're afraid of the beast that they themselves have encouraged: an electorate that doesn't want to behave responsibly because they're being told they don't have to behave responsibly [because] their leaders aren't behaving responsibly."

US veteran Jon Peterson lives in Launceston and formerly owned the now closed Smokey Joe's Creole Cafe on Lawrence Street. He said he was disgusted by the pro-Trump mob and that he hoped to see Mr Trump held responsible for the events.

"I'm shocked but I'm not surprised," he said. "We have seen this coming but hoped it would not happen."

Mr Peterson said the response to Thursday's riot was remarkably different to heavy-handed responses to the Black Lives Matter protests at the Capitol building last year.

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