IMO the Capitol riot (and arguably some other aspects of Trump's movement) are symptoms of underlying problems in addition to being standalone events. So while

IMO the Capitol riot (and arguably some other aspects of Trump's movement) are symptoms of underlying problems in addition to being standalone events. So while I agree it's possible to make too much of the danger posed by specific events (no, there was never a serious chance for them to overthrow the government), I think the case is much stronger for the symptom-of-underlying-problem part and it makes some of the alarmism seem more reasonable in that context. In this specific case, I think the major underlying thing is the narrative pushed by Trump that the Democrats have just overtly dumped millions of votes to steal the election, and the courts, the legislature, and even others in his own political faction have failed us (and so, democracy has just de-facto collapsed in the US). Now, Trump says a lot of stuff, and almost no one takes everything he says seriously, so it's worth looking at the data. But polls indicate that about 12% of Trump voters see Biden as the legitimate winner, and 73% view the election as stolen [1], so it's taken pretty well (in fact, so well that other Republicans can't effectively push back on it without jeopardizing their own political survival, but their equivocation just reinforces the narrative and causes them to lose further ground to the Trump faction). Of course, most people won't take any action even if they feel a sinister faction has undermined democracy is this country, but it wouldn't be totally surprising if a tiny percentage are thinking about it (which in this case could add up to a substantial number), so the idea that law enforcement is seeing info that leads them to be concerned seems at least plausible. I wouldn't automatically write it off as only political. As an anecdote I have a close relative in the midwest who is so polarized that they openly express desire for a right wing dictatorship (and they don't even view the election as stolen). Just one data point so not worth much, but I guess it makes the idea that extreme feelings are increasing and could boil over for a few people already on the edge feel more plausible to me. [1] https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/imdk8zumh5/econTabReport.pdf https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/imdk8zumh5/econTabReport.pdf