For people who are trying to understand things in historical terms and to find a frame of reference for what's happening, let me stress that while there are truly unique moments in time, this is not exactly unprecedented; US politics has always had violence of different doses +

involved, we just got used to the facade of civility in relatively recent times. Once the dust settles, we'll see what's unique about this moment, but it is not unprecedented in the big picture of US history; this doesn't mean that the "exact same" thing happened before.+

This is why historical thinking is so important, and so relevant in understanding what is happening in our lifetime. Without it, everything becomes scary, unprecedented, unpredictable, unfathomable, etc. With it, the scariness remains perhaps, but for different reasons.