The United States' battered democracy is stumbling into a new era strewn with the wreckage left by the previous administration. The various certifications of Joe Biden's election victory, which have long been pro-forma affairs, were challenged in unprecedented ways by Donald Trump and his enablers, culminating in his mob's shocking invasion of the halls of Congress on January 6; many ongoing questions remain as to how the components of the protest were organized, who paid for them, and what they planned to achieve. While some of the protesters have presented themselves as ingenuous fools on the Hill, there is ample footage of others snaking up the Capitol steps in paramilitary gear and brandishing plastic handcuffs in the Senate.

Some protesters carried signs reading "Jesus Saves"; others bore the blue-and-red evangelical Christian flag. Most of the rioters were maskless in a week when the US reached a new height in daily Covid-19 cases. At least five members of Congress tested positive for Covid following the invasion, and five people died amid the violence, but the biggest casualty may be faith in American democracy itself. While polls in the aftermath showed that even a majority of Republicans disapproved of the violence, a sizeable and growing number of voters now doubt the integrity of the electoral process itself, poisoned by the unceasing diet of lies and misinformation.

This is just the democratic wreckage. The Trump administration not only attacked the foundations of the American political system, it crippled the government's ability to respond to a deadly crisis, and the damage won't end with his departure from office. The US will be burying the mass casualties of an erratic Covid-19 policy for months, if not years. In the final months of his presidency, Trump hosted super-spreader campaign rallies, censored public health information and mocked the efforts of Dr Anthony Fauci, his own appointee on the Coronavirus Task Force, to promote safety measures. US deaths approached 400,000 on the eve of the inauguration, and experts believe the toll will easily reach 600,000 before the vaccines take effect. Moreover, Trump's assault on the country's institutions runs far deeper than his recent attempts to overturn the election and undermine the medical establishment. No other American president has approached his record of attacks on federal agencies.

Now comes a period of national reflection: how could this happen--and, more importantly, could it happen again? Joe Biden won the popular vote by some 7 million, but his electoral college victory rested on a mere 45,000 votes spread across Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia. Trump won the votes of more than 74 million Americans, the majority of whom still believe he was cheated of his victory. The Democrats badly miscalculated their chances in the House and the Senate, and, notwithstanding their recent run-off victories in Georgia, they will face headwinds in the 2022 midterms.

Before then, they will need to address the essential question of the dominant organizing principle of their opposition. Was it the Republican party, Trumpism, or the underlying network...