I have a very simple question

[malthaussen]

22. Short answer: because people failed.

There is no such thing as a perfect system, and any engineer knows that if you try to make a system foolproof, you'll soon discover that the number of fools is greater than you had thought.

In this case, the failure goes back to letting DJT get off scot-free after his attempted coup. Everything else follows from that. Not just because the system failed to defend us from a single individual, but also because that failure undermined faith in the system itself. I doubt there are many people (except the odd Pollyanna) who think the US Justice system comes close to working these days.

-- Mal