The nature of state authority in the West more generally has crumbled. The state is great at enforcing trivial regulations, but was helpless in the face of this chaos and disorder. The FBI, which is supposed to keep a track of insurrectionary forces within the Republic, failed for the last four years to stem violence or use of social media indiscriminately by such fringe movements. Among the visible insurrectionists were normal people swayed by such criminal enterprises, a whole bunch of people who were never taught that choices have consequences, or who understand the depth of their actions. 

What does the FBI do if it didn’t know there were plans to storm the Capitol while it was in session? If the capital of the most powerful country fails to restore order in the state symbols, it affects perceptions globally. It has long-term ramifications for global order. In other major republics like France and India, there would be major beatings with batons, and possibly shootings on sight. In Britain, the army would have been called in. A visible aversion to use force to defend the seat of power and political legitimacy is observable in a law enforcement handicapped by politicians left and right. The two basic tenets of liberal democracy, that governments shouldn’t use disproportionate power to restore order and that liberal democracy will and can hold without state authority, were challenged. How will that affect a foreign policy based on “democracy promotion”?

Civil wars or revolutions do not happen without a divided elite. As the condemnations prove, the American elite is not divided, and therefore, the survival of the state will become paramount, and a crackdown will happen sooner or later. But the crackdown needs to be bipartisan. A Republic-wide bipartisan crackdown on all forms of insurrectionary forces within is of paramount importance because historically, more than any foreign enemy, domestic propaganda and insurrectionary forces can result in state collapse.