Commentary: The crisis of democracy is a media crisis. And the mainstream press is losing

This time last year, there was a cruel joke in circulation: The most spiteful year in recent memory would reset itself at midnight on Dec. 31, and we'd be forced to relive 2020 from the beginning.

Funny, right? Not really. But we could tell the joke then because we finally had some hope. The worst 12 months ever were behind us, with their burnt offerings of deadly pandemic, political race-baiting, violent uprisings, QAnon absurdity and toilet paper hoarders. We had a new president-elect, access to life-saving vaccines, a peaceful election and a rebounding Charmin supply.

Little did we know that and the rise of the delta variant. Its closing salvo? Omicron and congressional hearings that have revealed that the calls to overturn the election results were indeed .