Four years after newly elected President Donald Trump vowed to stop "an American carnage," insurrectionists rallied by his lies stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the results of the November 3, 2020 presidential elections. On Wednesday, January 6, while Congress prepared its largely ceremonial certification of President-elect Joe Biden's victory, Trump urged his supporters—many of them flying hate flags—to march up to the Capitol in order to "give our Republicans the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country."

And so they did. On the day Raphael Warnock—pastor of Dr. King's church—was elected as Georgia's first Black senator, a white mob stormed the US Capitol intent on taking back power. They did so at the call of a president who has repeatedly lied about election results, and stirred a slurry of paranoia, white supremacy, and populism since his first campaign speech.

But we would be wrong to blame just Trump for what happened on Wednesday. Over the past four years, a dangerous and deeply narcissistic president has been enabled by a rotating cast of far-right ideologues. Together, this cabal of conmen have taken a sledgehammer to the US immigration system, packed the courts with presidential appointees, passed draconian legislation targeting racial and religious minorities, and sought to restrict reproductive and LGBTQ rights of Americans. Overwhelmingly, the president has been allowed to act with sustained indifference toward inclusive governance and a dictatorial disregard for opposing viewpoints.

As lawmakers were escorted to safety after pro-Trump rioters invaded the Capitol, some Republicans called into TV channels to condemn the violence. And yet, for the last four years, these were the same people who stood guard in defence of the indefensible. On FOX, through Twitter, across airwaves dominated by alt-right mouthpieces, Trump's yes-men echoed the president's message—telling white America that they were under attack. When the president fraudulently claimed victory on election night, Republican lawmakers largely remained mum. When Trump continued to lie brazenly, and his legal team suffered ignominy after ignominy, the likes of Ted Cruz continued to stand behind him. The result? When polled, almost 62 percent of Republicans said they did not believe Joe Biden won the elections.

Let us not mistake necessity for courage. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attempting to put the genie back in the bottle does not negate his mollycoddling of autocracy. At best, this is a Republican party that has located the remnants of a backbone it lost a long time ago.

There are some who are comparing the events in Washington, D.C. to conflicts in the Middle East, or political upheavals in the Global South. They are wrong. Unlike in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Venezuela (the list is endless), there are no foreign forces instigating violence in Washington, D.C. This is all our doing. This—this terror marinated in that great national tradition of structural racism—is as American as it gets.

For proof, we need only look at how insurrectionists were treated. There are videos of law enforcement officials taking selfies with rioters. There is footage of them escorting crowds into the building. Where were these niceties during the anti-racist protests this summer?

And if we must look for individual perpetrators, we need not look far. The main instigator of this senseless, completely unnecessary chain of events, during which four people died, has a verified Twitter account. He lives on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. He thinks the mob that has overrun the Capitol is "very special."

In D.C., as night set in, a curfew was imposed. There were still rioters out, but the crowd seemed to be dispersing. Lawmakers stuck inside the Capitol Building expressed their wish to return to certify results once the building was cleared (and they did). The National Guard has been mobilised. When the dust settles, Democrats will control the House, the Senate , and barring a power grab, the Presidency.

But for now, all is uncertain. Across the District, there is an eerie sense that the Pandora's box is open. In the US, democracy is now a negotiation with chance.

Imrul Islam works for the Bridge Initiative, a research project on Islamophobia in Washington, D.C.