Insurrection Archives - Public Seminar

Democracy

Hannah Arendt: Insurrection and Constitutionalism

The democratic project is both unfinished and unstable

January 31, 2023 • by James Miller

Even though the post-war consensus over the meaning and value of specifically liberal democratic institutions seems more fragile than ever—polls show that trust in government experts and elected representatives has rarely been lower—democracy as furious dissent flourishes as rarely before, in vivid and vehement outbursts of anger at remote elites ...

Hannah Arendt: Insurrection and Constitutionalism

Politics

Are Republicans Sobering Up?

Trump’s star appears to be dimming, and there are more clouds on the horizon

July 26, 2022 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Trump’s star appears to be dimming, and there are more clouds on the horizon...

North America

Everything Associated with January 6 Is a Performance

Televised government hearings are political theater: make Americans watch by assembling a star-studded cast

January 6, 2022 • by Peter Nohrnberg

January 6 was broadcast on live TV, bringing the performativity of Trump partisans to many Americans who had never experienced their theatrical quality. The costumes, the flags, the signage, and the face-paint compelled and stunned many viewers....

Everything Associated with January 6 Is a Performance

The Internet

The Fall of Facebook

Plus the insurrection subcommittee prepares to confront Trump and the debt ceiling fight continues

October 5, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

“hello literally everyone,” the official account of Twitter tweeted on Monday afternoon, after Facebook and its affiliated platforms Instagram and WhatsApp went dark at about 11:40 this morning. The Facebook outage lasted for more than six hours and appears to have been caused by an internal error. But the void ...

North America

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol begins its work, the Department of Justice invites Republican politicians who supported the insurrection to defend themselves

July 30, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

The ripples of the explosive Tuesday testimony that four police officers gave before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol continue to spread. Committee members are meeting this week to decide how they will proceed. Congress goes on recess during August, but ...

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

Columnists

How Trump’s Big Lie Fuels Voter Suppression and Republican Authoritarianism

In American history, the attempt to overturn our election procedures for one man, based on a conspiracy theory, is unprecedented

July 7, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ Six months ago this week, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, intending to stop the counting of the certified ballots that would make Joseph R. Biden president and Kamala Harris vice president. This attack was unprecedented. It broke our nation’s long history of the peaceful transfer of power. You know the story ...

How Trump’s Big Lie Fuels Voter Suppression and Republican Authoritarianism

Columnists

We Still Need to Understand the Insurrection

As disinformation continues to disrupt political life, a Congressional commission could reveal and disable the perpetrators

April 29, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ More than 140 military leaders, former national security officials, and elected officials from both parties have asked Congress to establish a commission to investigate what led to the January 6 insurrection, when rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol. The commission would also study how to prevent a similar coup attempt in ...

We Still Need to Understand the Insurrection

History

We Lionize Abraham Lincoln – But John Wilkes Booth Still Embodies a Part of America’s Soul

How the insurrection on January 6th brought a legendary assassin back to life

March 18, 2021 • by Bennett Parten

"But if January 6 should tell us anything, it’s that his cause is far from lost. Like Lincoln, the ghost of John Wilkes Booth still haunts us from the grave." - Bennett Parten ...

We Lionize Abraham Lincoln – But John Wilkes Booth Still Embodies a Part of America’s Soul

Democracy

The United States Is in Recovery

What Texas, white supremacy and coronavirus can teach us about American history

February 18, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

"In the exchange, Americans saw a president who cared, and a government that finally, after its previous leaders had told them to get out of a terrible catastrophe on their own, responded to their needs."...

Democracy

Embracing Democracy: The Storming of the US Capitol and the Mixed Lessons of Weimar Germany

An assassination that took place almost one hundred years ago echoes today

January 21, 2021 • by Andrew I. Port

——— For the past four years, many have wondered when Donald Trump would finally have his “Have-you-no-sense-of-decency?” moment. That was, of course, the memorable rebuke uttered by attorney Joseph Welch on June 9, 1954, just after Joseph McCarthy’s insinuation that one of Welch’s colleagues had ties to a Communist organization. The ...

Insurrection

Hannah Arendt: Insurrection and Constitutionalism

The democratic project is both unfinished and unstable

Are Republicans Sobering Up?

Trump’s star appears to be dimming, and there are more clouds on the horizon

Everything Associated with January 6 Is a Performance

Televised government hearings are political theater: make Americans watch by assembling a star-studded cast

The Fall of Facebook

Plus the insurrection subcommittee prepares to confront Trump and the debt ceiling fight continues

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol begins its work, the Department of Justice invites Republican politicians who supported the insurrection to defend themselves

How Trump’s Big Lie Fuels Voter Suppression and Republican Authoritarianism

In American history, the attempt to overturn our election procedures for one man, based on a conspiracy theory, is unprecedented

We Still Need to Understand the Insurrection

As disinformation continues to disrupt political life, a Congressional commission could reveal and disable the perpetrators

We Lionize Abraham Lincoln – But John Wilkes Booth Still Embodies a Part of America’s Soul

How the insurrection on January 6th brought a legendary assassin back to life

The United States Is in Recovery

What Texas, white supremacy and coronavirus can teach us about American history

Embracing Democracy: The Storming of the US Capitol and the Mixed Lessons of Weimar Germany

An assassination that took place almost one hundred years ago echoes today

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