1/ As a Washington, DC resident for the better part of two decades, I experienced a visceral reaction to the events of January 6. Here's my attempt in @htTweets to make sense of them hindustantimes.com/opinion/americ…
2/ I think there are, for me, 4 big takeaways. First, the Trump era serves as a vivid illustration that institutions are ultimately only as strong as the social norms that underpin them, and the individuals who mobilise to support them hindustantimes.com/opinion/americ…
3/ Second, democratic accountability cannot be limited to the ballot box alone. Desperate talk of the need to protect the country from Trump to avoid further chaos in his final days only underlines the series of missed opportunities to hold him to account. hindustantimes.com/opinion/americ…
4/ Third, cults of personality that place a single exalted leader above party, country, and constitutional office, rarely end well. As the author Maya Angelou famously said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” hindustantimes.com/opinion/americ…
5/ Jan 6th is, in part, the product of a broken global information ecosystem. America’s toxic political climate is not simply about two sides talking past each other, it is that one side is engaging with reality while the other is trafficking in fantasy. hindustantimes.com/opinion/americ…
6/ We are reminded that the greatest threat to democracy comes not from foreign meddlers or external crises; rather it emanates from within. For decades, Americans have told themselves “it cannot happen here”. Until, on a blustery January afternoon in Washington, it did just that
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