A man holds a QAnon sign outside the White House. Even if most people don’t act on their conspiratorial beliefs, such theories can still pose very real dangers.
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Many of those who believe conspiracy theories do not necessarily act on those beliefs. Nevertheless, conspiracy theories can still spread dangerous misinformation that can cause harm.
Lies don’t have to spread far to cause problems.
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Other countries disqualify political officials and prevent them from holding office more often than the US does. There are benefits and potential risks to using this kind of legal tactic.
QAnon members participate in a protest against the counting of electoral votes in Washington, DC, which affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Thousands gathered to express their collective identity and desire to preserve the nation’s political and religious heritage – and to uphold what they saw as the rightful outcome of the 2020 election.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, second from right, ran the investigation that led to former President Donald Trump’s indictment.
AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura
Both sweeping immunity and overzealous prosecutions of former leaders can undermine democracy. But such prosecutions pose different risks for older democracies like the US than in younger ones.
Violent protesters, loyal to then-President Donald Trump, storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Liz Cheney has been a conservative GOP congressional policymaker since 2016. But when she turned against Donald Trump, GOP voters in Wyoming turned against her.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks at a news briefing at the Pentagon on July 20, 2022.
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A presidential scholar sets the history and context for the battle over President Trump’s official records – and says it isn’t the first records battle between the government and a former president.
While it is far from certain the former president will face legal consequences from the hearings, they may kill off any hope he holds of running in 2024.
An image of a mock gallows on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is shown as the House select committee holds hearings in June 2022 into the attack.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
It’s easy to consider the erosion of democratic norms in the U.S. as purely political, but it poses serious risks to the country’s economic order. Is democracy in the gallows?
White nationalist Dylann Roof appears in court on June 19, 2015, after his arrest in the mass shootings at a Black church in South Carolina.
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Since 2017, the FBI has warned US Congress that the rise of white nationalism and the violence of extremist militia groups is a dangerous domestic terrorism threat.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife, conservative activist Virginia Thomas, in October 2021.
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Lower federal court judges follow a formal code of ethics, but this does not apply to Supreme Court justices, leaving potential conflicts of interest unchecked.
Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, testified in late July before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Grand juries are meeting in Georgia and Washington, D.C., as part of investigations into attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. How do they work?
Pro-Trump protesters and police clash on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.
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Nationalist militia groups like the Oath Keepers have changed over the last several years – especially since the Capitol attack – in a few important ways, generally becoming more extreme.
In this photograph, former President Donald Trump appears on a video screen above members of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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Sara Kamali, University of California, Santa Barbara
A former Oath Keepers member testified during a congressional hearing that it was time to stop mincing words about the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol: ‘It was an armed revolution.’
Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola is filmed smashing Capitol building window on Jan. 6.
(U.S. Federal court documents)
Performance crime is the act of filming while engaging in criminal activity. During the Jan. 6 capitol riots, insurrectionists uploaded performance crime videos and photos, incriminating themselves.
The investigation into the January 6 Capitol riots asks: is the nation’s well-being ensured by allegiance to its laws or its leaders? The founding fathers chose the former – could we say the same for Trump’s inner circle?