Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images/VCG

It has been almost a year since the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Over the year, the US has launched new policies and engaged in diplomatic maneuvers, but they either were clichés or winded up hastily. People only saw the endless bipartisan war of rhetoric after the dramatic Capitol riot, like a soap opera that had no happy ending. Politicians have gradually transformed it into a real life version of the House of Cards, not only incredibly dramatic, but also with the protagonists cast portraying the great come-back of Trumpism.

The current master of the Oval Office is also ambiguous about the riot, in order to boost his power and fame using the event. The selfishness of US politicians not only brings damage to the credibility of the so-called US democratic system, but also further tears the US society apart.  
The US Capitol riot has become a swamp of US politics. This sort of chaos had been a fear come-to-life for the nation's founding fathers who worried that democracy, easy to degenerate into anarchy and tyranny, was a bad form of government. Due to their worries about the chaos brought by democracy, the US political system was designed as a representative democracy, including the famed Electoral College, federalism, separation of powers, judicial review, and the Bill of Rights, to guard against the possible excesses of direct democracy. 

Despite the seemingly normal running of American political system a year after the Capitol riot, the system still fails to give a legal and just verdict of the violence. The chaos continues as the criminals profit from it, further driving the decline of the US. 

The Capitol riot and its subsequent events is a mirror reflecting the ills of national interests coming second to partisan interests. According to Diao Daming, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, the partisan fight is creating a "tribal" US society. Many pro-Americans praised the US for its separation of powers, but they forget that the US' political effectiveness and its hegemony lie in the "compromise" found among political parties and interest groups. 

"Compromise" is a reflection of the American characteristics under the American context, which is also a major principle that unites the American society. However, under the Trump and Biden administrations, the partisan fight gradually evolved into "identity politics." Two major US parties have morphed into two irreconcilable primitive tribes, respectively describing the nation they understand and fighting against each other. 

The US society is under a "state of nature" and is involved in a war of "all Democrats against all Republicans." Each party has a dramatically different conclusion about the Capitol riot and even claims their own president as victor of the 2020 presidential election. This rare blip in US history, as well as the US-led "summit for democracy," has made the US a joke in the world. 

The unstoppable tear and political polarization of US society revealed by the swamp of the Capitol riot is like a chronic disease. Although scores of people have died from COVID-19 due to the failure of epidemic prevention, selfish US politicians continue to ignore lives and public interests for the sake of their own parties. Traditional values that worked in the past have been destroyed by political polarization. It can be said that the real enemy of the US is itself, rather than China or Russia. 

A year after the US Capitol riot, it's worth grieving the death of the credibility of US democracy when we mourn the dead. Uncle Sam has been unable to get out of the swamp relying on the wisdom of donkeys and elephants. The US, caught in the swamp, should focus on its internal affairs, instead of judging other countries with its discredited democratic standard, or excluding countries it dislikes from the US-led international system in the name of preserving democracy, which is a historical irony. 

The author is an associate professor at the School of International Relations at Beijing International Studies University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn