People living in “democratic” societies have a strong sense nowadays that the world they live in is not of their own making and that someone else is pulling the strings. Many have lost faith in basic institutions like the legal system and news media and distrust their political leaders. In their work lives, they are disillusioned and coerced and only feel themselves when they are not working. When they go to the polls, if they even do, they feel that the outcome has already been decided and that things are not likely to change, at least not for them.

Many of the tens of thousands at the “Save America” rally on January 6 were driven by this general sense, and the belief — perpetrated by political and media elites and spread through social media algorithmically designed to churn rage into profits — that the presidential election had been stolen and their democracy was at stake. Like gas on a fire, President Trump incited those gathered to march down Pennsylvania Avenue, confront lawmakers, and “fight like hell” or “you won’t have a country anymore.” Then, at the Capitol, a menacing crowd broke barricades, attacked police, and marauded through the halls of Congress, some waving Confederate flags and donning militia and conspiracy group garb, as Senators and Congressmen hid in closets and under their desks.

Composite sketches of January 6 rioters present a familiar picture of anomie and manipulation, the kind that shows itself when people become aware of their own powerlessness and individual conscience is swept aside in the jouissance of mass defiance. Some were there to harm, even kill, legislators. But most were regular, previously law-abiding people, radicalized in a context of chronic alienation and government corruption, egged on by right-wing media and a president who played to their fears and sense of betrayal. Liberals helped fan the flames of resentment by relentlessly painting Trump voters as losers and lowlifes.