Merrick Garland's 'flawless' work in Oklahoma City crucial in white supremacy fight

Those who know the attorney general nominee from the 1995 case say the US could have no better ally in the battle against extremism

The message was a stark one. America is in serious decline," the person wrote. Is a civil war imminent? Do we have to shed blood to reform the current system? I hope it doesn't come to that! But it might."

It reads like an entry on a message board popular with the insurrectionists who broke into the US Capitol on 6 January - expressing a sentiment at once shocking and shockingly routine in 2021 America.