When we set out to write The Divider, we began with a simple premise, that Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat in the 2020 election, and the insurrection at the Capitol he summoned to overturn his loss, were no violent outliers but the inexorable culmination of a sustained four-year war on the institutions and traditions of American democracy. As the historian Michael Beschloss observed on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, while the pro-Trump mob surged through the halls of Congress, chanting “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!” and sending the vice president and lawmakers fleeing for their
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