The storming of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was “a horrifying and shameful moment in American history,” our columnist Nicholas Kristof writes. Five people died and others were injured. Who is responsible?

The Times’s editorial board says that President Trump is to blame, but our columnist Ezra Klein argues that Republican elites helped. While what happened was shocking to some, “for close observers of the pro-Trump and far-right extremist movements, this dark moment has felt almost inevitable,” Charlie Warzel says. In the wake of the riot, Facebook blocked the president’s account and Twitter banned him permanently, but many are calling for even more severe action like invoking the 25th Amendment. Our columnists Bret Stephens and Jamelle Bouie argue that impeachment is the answer. A physical attack on Congress “demands a direct response from Congress itself. Impeachment and conviction is that response,” Bouie writes.

If any action is to be taken, it would need to happen soon; there is a week and a half left of Trump’s term. And while last week’s attack may be over, the question of consequences remains: What is standing in the way of this happening again? As Seyward Darby notes, “Just because a coup attempt fails doesn’t mean the next one will.”

— Alexandra March and Jennifer Brown The New York Times