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Capitol Riot



  • Proud Boys' Convictions for Seditious Conspiracy Won't End the Far Right Threat

    by Tom Mockaitis

    Despite the conviction of leading organizers of the January 6 attack on the Capitol (which aimed at overturning Joe Biden's election), the extreme right will remain a threat, partly because of the flourishing of online channels for hate and partly because the Republican Party has framed the insurrection as legitimate political expression. 



  • The Real Failures of January 6

    by Karen J. Greenberg

    Despite surface similarities, the attack on Brazil's government buildings earlier this month differed from January 6, 2021 in one key respect: the transfer of presidential power had already been accomplished. The contrast is sobering—for America. 



  • The Islamophobia of Domestic Security and the Capitol Insurrection

    by Juan Cole

    Perhaps if the FBI hadn't been spending the last 20 years spying on American Muslims the organizing of white Christian nationalists leading to to the January 6 assault on the Capitol would't have been an apparent surprise to the authorities. 


  • Patrick Henry and the Defense of Democracy

    by John A. Ragosta

    Patrick Henry has become a hero of the Tea Party and the January 6 insurrectionists. But his famous demand for liberty or death doesn't capture his personal commitments to liberty under the rule of law and acceptance of the outcomes of elections. 



  • Braveheart: President Donald J. Trump

    by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

    Following the threads of religion and nationalism that form the unlikely comparison between Trump and Mel Gibson's (heavily mythologized) Scottish movie hero. 



  • Why Didn't January 6 Force Moderation on the Republicans?

    "So there was a moment after January 6, where it seemed like the right was ready to disown Trump. They were ready to disown everybody who was involved in January 6. And for all kinds of reasons that was a very brief window that didn’t last."


  • A Year Later: Our Tattered and Fragile Democracy

    by James D. Zirin

    American political institutions face a crisis: can they defend themselves against a growing movement that will deploy violence to achieve its goals, or will January 6 become the new normal? 



  • Right-Wing Ideologues Turn Aggressors Into Victims

    by Waitman Wade Beorn

    "Allowing the right to weave pernicious counternarratives and to create saints from sinners will only embolden future Ashli Babbitts and spawn more violence. "