There are whole industries in the cable news business, in book publishing, in political fundraising, that are based on exaggerating and profiting from political discord.

Commercialized contempt. This is Nurdcast. I'm Scott Bland. There's huge

incentives to move away from a conception of politics is about solving problems

and finding a workable center for the country and moving it to the extremes.

This week we saw extremes.

Extremes of rhetoric, extremes of ideology, extremes of tactics.

As rioters breached the capital,

and brought the government to a halt.

Going through a barricade,

we don't know what we're looking at you.

All of a sudden. Now, look at what you've got now.

Is this the end of something or the beginning of something?

We also saw fundraising messages from several Republican senators, like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley who were raising money on the back of their objections to the electoral college certification.

At the same exact time that the capital was being stormed by a mob.

Perfect illustration of what I'm talking about.

I think Trump represented and he's extremely skillful that this

politics of contempt, this industry of commercialized contempt.

John Harris is political's founding editor and on this historic news week he was trying to make sense of the

scene that we saw play out on Wednesday.

It's the kind of vivid scene that I think lodges in the mind and in memory and has an enduring meaning.

That image of guns drawn and a standoff in the United States Capitol is powerful.

John, you've been in the news business and in Washington for a long time.

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