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January 6



  • 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. 



  • Like the Klan, January 6 Deniers Will Lose

    by Adam Serwer

    During Reconstruction, the rapid growth of partisan media outlets made it impossible to tell whether stories of Klan atrocities were true or "fake news." Elaine Frantz Parsons explains how the reality of the Klan became established. 



  • 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. 



  • Was the Civil War Inevitable?

    by David W. Blight

    As a growing number of Americans entertain the idea that dissolving the nation might be better than holding its incompatible parts together, it's worth revisiting the series of decisions that led to the Civil War, and to ask whether the nation has, or will, experience the equivalent of the Dred Scott decision. 



  • Milbank: January 6 Roots Begin with Gingrich, Not Trump

    While relatively little of Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" became law, the House Speaker who rose to power in 1994 set the tone for the Republican Party's rigid partisanship and demonization of the opposition, a stance that justifies antidemocratic steps to keep power. 



  • The Secessionist Roots of January 6

    by Elizabeth R. Varon

    "The story of Southern secession provides illuminating evidence that the Jan. 6 insurgency was, indeed, precedented, rooted in long-standing efforts to preempt, delegitimize and suppress Black voting."



  • Missing from the Conversation on Christian Nationalism? Whiteness

    by Peter Laarman

    The extreme wing of the Christian right is attracting attention for its rhetoric equating freedom with their own power to determine the course of society. A minister argues that recent works in religious history show that it's a mistake to leave out the significance of white racial identity to that movement.