On January 6, the world watched a far-right mob force the US Congress to temporarily halt its proceedings and flee for cover. The group had gathered outside the Capitol, egged on by President Trump and nurtured by deranged conspiracy theories, believing they could install the loser of an election as the winner. And on live television, they were able to enter one of the most secure buildings in the world, ransack it, threaten lawmakers, and temporarily halt the counting of electoral votes. The insurrectionists brought zip ties, planted improvised explosive devices, and beat, on camera, a police officer. Five people ended up dead.

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States has erected a vast security apparatus in the name of “national security.” Yet this security apparatus completely failed to thwart a plot carried out in plain sight.

On top of that, just last summer, demonstrations against police violence and racism were repeatedly met with militarized police and wanton repression. In a country where you can’t even take expired suntan lotion past airport security, where Quakers organizing against the death penalty are surveilled in the name of “counterterrorism,” and where police that resemble an occupying army — because they are literally equipped with gear from an occupying army — greet peaceful protests, it’s rational to wonder just how all of this could have happened.