This Is Us: Why the Trump Era Ended in Violence
The Capitol insurrection was born of a violent minoritarian tradition that is as American as apple pie—and it isn’t done yet.
Illustration by Chloe Cushman
The Trump era begins and ends with stories of capitol buildings and Confederate flags. On July 10, 2015, the emblem was taken down once and for all from its former proud perch over the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. The news was greeted with overjoyed reports in the mainstream media as a milepost in America’s long struggle to overcome racism—oblivious to the import of Donald Trump, three weeks earlier, opening his presidential campaign with the promise to vanquish the hordes of rapists that Mexico and “probably the Middle East” were sending into the United States.