Going deeper on the storming of the Capitol – Politics Weekly

+ Trump's term will end on Jan. 20 US Edition - Today's top story: Was it a coup? No, but siege on US Capitol was the election violence of a fragile democracy [View in browser]( US Edition | 7 January 2021 [The Conversation]( Academic rigor, journalistic flair About a week ago, I told a scholar that I wouldn’t set his deadline for a story before the inauguration on Jan. 20, because “you never know what could happen with the president between now and then.” That was either a brilliantly perceptive act of fortune-telling or a statement of the obvious. While reporters were providing up-to-the-minute coverage of the protest that turned into an assault on the nation’s Capitol building yesterday, we sought to quickly provide you with stories that could provide context and analysis to help you understand the events at a deeper level. So there’s a story about the history of [the Gadsden flag](, the bright yellow banner held aloft by many protesters. We also have an [interview with a scholar of political violence]( and an analysis of whether [what happened at the Capitol was a “coup](.” And finally, we provide you with an elegant explanation of the one thing in today’s ever-shifting politics that’s set in stone: “[President Donald Trump’s term will end at noon on Jan. 20, 2021](.” Naomi Schalit Senior Editor, Politics + Society Insurrection at the US Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images [Was it a coup? No, but siege on US Capitol was the election violence of a fragile democracy]( Clayton Besaw, University of Central Florida; Matthew Frank, University of Denver Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, disrupting Congress's certification of Joe Biden as president-elect. Coup experts explain this violent insurrection wasn't technically a coup. Protesters forcing their way into the Capitol. Win McNamee/Getty Images News via Getty Images [‘Once you engage in political violence, it becomes easier to do it again’ – an expert on political violence reflects on events at the Capitol]( Naomi Schalit, The Conversation A conflict scholar calls events at the U.S. Capitol 'a messy riot where people lashed out at the heart of American democracy.' - [US Capitol protesters, egged on by Trump, are part of a long history of white supremacists hearing politicians’ words as encouragement]( - [Yellow Gadsden flag, prominent in Capitol takeover, carries a long and shifting history]( - [President Trump’s term ends on Jan. 20 – the Constitution is clear]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe](. 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451