As a longtime journalist, I've spent much of my career covering domestic violent extremism

and the dangers such violence poses.

It's my small contribution to building a better future and strengthening American democracy.

So it made perfect sense that I and my team

would tackle the insurrection at the Capitol

on January 6th, 2021.

It's what we've always done at our body politic.

Our work is also an American story.

Thank you. Our work is also an American story. Last year on the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, we spoke with Dr. Barbara

F. Walter. She's the author of How Civil Wars Start. When Walter uses the term civil war, she's not talking about

two armies facing off, but about insurgency. I don't believe we'll have a civil war in the

traditional sense, but I do believe our democracy stands on a dangerous precipice. During the

interview, Dr. Walter shed light on what helps

fuel the domestic violent extremist movement. The groups that tend to start these types of wars

are the groups that had been politically dominant but are in decline. So it was the sense of loss,

of status, of political power, of cultural dominance.

In the U.S., it's white people, particularly straight white men, who feel a loss of political dominance most acutely.

In our era, as in the past, the pursuit of white power in the face of backsliding cultural dominance

has led to violence.

If you think back to January 6th, one of the striking visuals for me as I was watching it happen

was to watch all of these white people, and they were predominantly men, all of these white men, marching down

the mall towards the Capitol.

...