Black Wednesday at the Capitol: What Trump and Trumpism have wrought

THE events that took place on Jan 6, 2021, when a mob, incited by US President Donald Trump, broke into the Capitol Building, smashing windows, breaking doors, destroying furniture, occupying the legislative chambers, forcing a lockdown of the citadel of American democracy and a curfew in Washington, DC, will be recalled as one of the darkest days in American history.

On television, the scenario playing out around the world - a national leader carping, baselessly and endlessly, of a rigged, stolen election and whipping up thousands of his supporters to march to the Capitol to press their case; indeed, storm the country's seat of government, clashing with police and military forces - would have seemed to have come out of a Third World banana republic.

What was supposed to be an orderly procedure to certify the results of the recent presidential election - a democratic ritual that celebrates the peaceful transfer of power in Washington - turned into a direct and violent attack on American democracy, orchestrated by a vengeful president who vowed never to concede his loss. Instead, he pressed his Vice President Mike Pence to violate the US Constitution by invalidating President-elect Joe Biden's electors, feeding his supporters with lies and conspiracy theories, and fuelling their assault on Congress with a call "to take back our country", the battle cry that marked the start of Wednesday's insurrection.