With the country polarised and Republicans embracing authoritarianism, some experts fear a Northern Ireland-style insurgency but others say armed conflict remains improbable

David Smithin Washington@smithinamericaSun 9 Jan 2022 02.00 EST

Joe Biden had spent a year in the hope that America could go back to normal. But last Thursday, the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, the president finallyrecognised the full scaleof the current threat to American democracy.

“At this moment, we must decide,”Biden saidin Statuary Hall, where rioters had swarmed a year earlier. “What kind of nation are we going to be? Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm?”

Trump has birthed a…