This Period in U.S. History

Excellent question.  It all depends on how and if we get through this disaster with the Trump supporters, the stolen election narrative, and all the anti-science garbage that is currently making it difficult if not impossible to control the pandemic.

This could turn out to be just a tragic but short-term event like the Salem Witch Trials.  Of course, the genie we have let out of the bottle here is far larger in scope: an entire country rather than an isolated area, and tens of millions of people, rather than residents of a small town.  Yet it is possible that somehow we’ll come to our senses, get our educational system back on track, and pull ourselves out of this mess. Finding Trump guilty of multiple felonies like election tampering and inciting a riot will be an important start.

On the other hand, this could be remembered as the definitive start of the demolition of American democracy, and the United States as a superpower.  For many decades, people have been saying that the “American Empire” is in the process of falling.  Perhaps the events of the last five years will be remembered as the time at which this slow erosion reached critical mass and the implosion occurred in very short order.