Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, puzzled observers have often wondered: How is it that the Democratic Party, which regularly accuses Trump of being a dangerous authoritarian plotting a dictatorial takeover, nevertheless works again and again to extend and enhance his spying powers? The past week of protests and riots sparked by the seemingly never-ending contagion of racist police violence should offer a clue.

The shock and mental injury that understandably came with Trump’s victory led many to look abroad to explain what they still find incomprehensible. It was Russian villainy, went the refrain, responsible not just for the wannabe strongman in the White House, but for all manner of “divisive” disruptions to peace and order in American life, from anti-fracking activism to, yes, protests against police brutality.

Now, the world has been stunned by the inexhaustible flood of videos and images of this brutality that’s streamed into our retinas via social media, laying bare the far more disturbing truth: the authoritarian instinct in the United States is vaster and deeper than just the man in the White House, running top to bottom, liberal to conservative.