This Week’s Issue: The Storming of the Capitol

Luke Mogelson reports from inside the mob. Plus: the reality of DACA’s Dreamers; the pre-Civil War fight against white supremacy; and Fran Lebowitz. View in browser | Update your preferences Dear reader, Nine months ago, the editors of The New Yorker assigned one of its veteran war correspondents, Luke Mogelson, to cover the increasing tumult on the streets of America. Mogelson has produced a series of astonishing reports, culminating in his latest dispatch, “Among the Insurrectionists,” which vividly documents the attack on the U.S. Capitol and places it among a series of violent and racist rallies that have occurred in Washington, D.C., since the election. For a period of time on January 6th, Mogelson was the only journalist on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and his account of the conversations among the invaders is shocking and surreal. Among other things, he observed an adherent of the white-supremacist Web program “America First” sitting in the chair where, before the riot cleared the Senate chamber, Vice-President Mike Pence had been presiding over the certification of the Electoral College votes. “Donald Trump is the emperor of the United States,” the man declared. As insurrectionists rummaged through the mahogany desks of U.S. senators, one of them declared, of Senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, “Cruz would want us to do this.” It is well worth revisiting some of Mogelson’s other reports from the past year, among them “In the Streets with Antifa,” a clear-eyed dispatch from Portland, Oregon, that documents the battles between antifascists and such right-wing groups as the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer. “The Militias Against Masks” sheds light on the mind-set of Michiganders—many of them armed—who protested lockdown measures during the spring wave of the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re a trigger-pull away,” one protester warned Mogelson. “We’re getting to the point where people have had enough.” In April, 2020, right-wing groups rallied inside the Michigan state capitol, in Lansing. As Mogelson notes, “Dozens of men with assault rifles filled the rotunda and approached the barred doors of the legislature.” Although no one died, the incident can now be seen as a precursor to the U.S. Capitol assault. In “Among the Insurrectionists,” Mogelson writes that, for many Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, “the occupation of restricted government sanctums” had become “an affirmation of dominance so emotionally satisfying that it was an end in itself—proof to elected officials, to Biden voters, and also to the occupiers themselves that they were still in charge.” As one of them shouted through a megaphone, “We will not be denied.” —The Editors A Reporter at Large Among the Insurrectionists The Capitol was breached by Trump supporters who had been declaring, at rally after rally, that they would go to violent lengths to keep the President in power. A chronicle of an attack foretold. By Luke Mogelson Video Dept. A Reporter’s Footage from Inside the Capitol Siege Luke Mogelson followed Trump supporters as they forced their way into the Senate chamber, using his phone’s camera as a reporter’s notebook. By The New Yorker More from This Week’s Issue Personal History Waking Up from the American Dream Growing up undocumented, I learned that the price of my innocence was the guilt of my parents. By Karla Cornejo Villavicencio Annals of History The Pre-Civil War Fight Against White Supremacy In a country riven by racial politics, three women strove for a just society. By Dorothy Wickenden Comment Why Trump Must Go on Trial The insurrectionists whom the President directed to the Capitol have, in a sense, been redeployed in an effort to secure impunity for him. By Amy Davidson Sorkin Books Have We Already Been Visited by Aliens? An eminent astrophysicist argues that signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life have appeared in our skies. What’s the evidence for his claim? By Elizabeth Kolbert Books What Happens When You Breathe Our lungs sustain a delicate equilibrium in our bodies, while exposing us to a world that seems increasingly out of balance. By Brooke Jarvis Pop Music The Obsessive Beat-Making of Madlib The producer’s new album, “Sound Ancestors,” a collaboration with Four Tet, distills his eclectic, globe-trotting approach to sampling. By Hua Hsu On Television The Delights of New York, Fran Lebowitz, and Martin Scorsese’s Laugh The documentary series “Pretend It’s a City,” now streaming on Netflix, feels like a balm in a wildly shifting world. By Naomi Fry The Current Cinema “MLK/FBI” Forbids Us to Relax Sam Pollard’s documentary shows the vengeful extremes of J. Edgar Hoover’s campaign to spy on Martin Luther King. By Anthony Lane Humor from The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs Waiting for To-Go Gazing into phones. Waiting for food and packages. In the room of living. By Sam Lipsyte Cartoons From The Issue Cartoons from the Issue Drawings and drollery from this week’s magazine. This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To insure delivery, we recommend adding newyorker@newsletters.newyorker.com, to your contacts, while noting that it is a no-reply address. Please send all newsletter feedback to tnyinbox@newyorker.com. For more from The New Yorker, sign up for our newsletters, shop the store, and sign in to newyorker.com, where subscribers always have unlimited access. Contact us with questions. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.