Danger lies ahead after violence in Washington | Letters

Readers react to the storming of the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters

Donald Trump tells the rioters: Remember this day forever!" (American carnage: how Trump's footsoldiers ran riot in the Capitol, 7 January). That's exactly the danger. America's 6 January 2021 recalls France's 6 February 1934. That day, rightwing crowds, fuelled by antisemitic fantasies and fascist myths, tried to storm the Assemblee Nationale and overthrow parliamentary democracy.

They were beaten off (16 people died), but they remembered that day as a moment of patriotic sacrifice, and the boast that I was there on 6 February" inspired the ultra-right collaborators in the murderous Milice, who hunted down resisters and Jews during the Nazi occupation a few years later. Now the veterans" of 6 January in Washington will treasure their memories and wait for their hour to return. Trumpism goes underground, distilling its venom.
Neal Ascherson
London