This study began by reflecting on the incidence of protests and demonstrations over the past two decades, with several of the chapters examining movements such as Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter and the 1999 Seattle WTO protests alongside historical examples of political activism including the civil rights movement, the New Left and ACT UP. Generally speaking, these protests (past and present) have been in opposition to government policies that have promoted economic and social inequality, failed to protect particular groups of people, or deprived citizens of their rights. But perhaps the most notorious protest in recent times was governed by an altogether different set of objectives. On 6 January 2021 a mob of angry Trump supporters, persuaded by repeated (and unfounded) claims that the 2020 election had been ‘stolen’, marched to the United States Capitol in a bid to stop Congress from formally certifying Biden’s victory. This anti-democratic protest turned violent during clashes with police on the steps of the Capitol and several hundred of the rioters then broke into the building, where they hunted down lawmakers, smashed up offices, occupied the Senate chamber and looted and destroyed artworks, statues and other public property. Their attempt to break into the House of Representatives chamber led to an armed standoff with police while members of Congress were escorted to safety, and in total more than a hundred police officers were injured during the riot, and five people died. Trump was impeached a week later for incitement of insurrection: for months he had refused to accept the election result, alleging widespread electoral fraud and filing dozens of lawsuits to challenge the result, even petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn the results in five states won by Biden. On the day of the riot Trump held a rally outside the White House where he had urged his supporters to ‘stop the steal’, telling them that ‘We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore’.

The chaotic scenes at the Capitol were televised live on all the major networks, with journalists and political commentators responding to the footage in real time.