If the January 6th assault on the US Capitol had a face, it would probably be that of the horned and shirtless “Q-Anon Shaman.” He was one of many weirdos, along with right-wing extremists and militia members who assaulted Congress that day. But there were also many ordinary Americans — imagine your neighbor calling to hang Mike Pence.

A democracy dies when regular people choose violence over votes, and we can no longer agree on objective reality.

But the historical whitewashing from the likes of Fox News and others seems to be working. A year later, two-thirds of Republicans still want a twice-impeached Donald Trump to keep dominating US politics — 10 percentage points more than on January 6, 2021. And even more GOP voters still believe Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election.

This November, though, it's the Democrats who're in danger in the midterm elections — as is US democracy itself. Perhaps America is not back, as Biden says, but has its back against the wall.

What this means for Dems is that they're in for a midterm shellacking like the one that 12 years ago humbled Biden's old boss, Barack Obama.