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The slow-burning crisis that sparked the Capitol violence was right before our eyes
For months, photographer Louie Palu has chronicled Washington as the capital weathered a deadly pandemic, protests against racial injustice, unfounded claims of election fraud and an insurrection.
At this moment, our constitutional system is imperiled. When and how this crisis ends is anything but clear.
As I write this, law enforcement officials and the U.S. military leaders are braced for a reprise of violent uprising in the nation’s capital. Extremists and armed militia—inflamed by President Donald Trump’s disproven claims of election fraud and his encouragement to “fight like hell”—are threatening to attack state capitol buildings and disrupt the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20. Right-wing chat groups teem with vows to kill Democrats (labeled by Trump as “human scum”) and members of the media (described by the president as “enemies of the American people”). We are living in history, and not in a good way.
The storming of
