Some dates require no explanation. September 11. October 7. And to the subject of today’s column, January 6. Mention the calendar number and the images flood to mind, still vivid and raw.

The fifth anniversary of that dark, dismal day is now upon us. In some respects, it seems like an eternity has elapsed since then. In other ways, precious little has changed.

The leader on whose behalf the Capitol was attacked is back on the throne. His administration is manned by those who justify or minimize the offense. The Republican caucuses on both ends of Capitol Hill are dominated by deniers, meaning those who refute the validity of the 2020 election and who play down or write off the ransacking of the seat of American democracy.

The Republican Party is thoroughly, unquestionably Donald Trump’s machine. With stunningly few exceptions, to be a cog in that engine is to dismiss January 6, 2021, with an attitude of nothing to see here, move along.

For those with foggy memories or overly forgiving dispositions, let’s recount the magnitude of what transpired.

Long before the 2020 election, Donald Trump, then in his first presidential term, previewed his intention to claim the election was illegitimate if he lost. In August of that year, he commented, “The only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.”

This was utterly in character, following similar assertions he had made in advance on the 2016 election he won and leading up to the 2018 mid-term vote. In Trump’s psyche, elections are only valid when he wins.

Indeed, the 2020 election took place in unusual circumstances amidst a global pandemic. Mail balloting, long an accepted and secure practice in Colorado, became the default process in many places.

When the votes were counted that November, Joe Biden triumphed with over 81 million votes compared to Trump’s tally of just north of 74 million, on the scorecard that matters, Biden accumulated 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

Every reputable news source called the election for Biden, with FOX News being among the first to do so.

Election officials across the country confirmed Biden’s victory. Trump’s own Attorney General, William Barr, did so as well. The Trump campaign and its allies filed 62 lawsuits all of which were dismissed or denied, including by Trump-appointed judges in several cases. The Supreme Court, with one-third of its roster having been nominated by Trump, twice rejected his pleadings.

The Associated Press reviewed Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the six contested states and found fewer than 475 potential instances. That number pales to insignificance given that Biden won Arizona and Georgia, the two states with the narrowest margin, each by well over 10,000 votes.

But facts and legal losses be damned, not to mention the hallowed tradition of the peaceful transfer of power. Day after day, Trump and his “Stop the Steal” acolytes fanned the flames of denial. That flame became a fire which became an inferno on Jan. 6, fueled that morning by Trump’s incitement to “fight like hell.”

Some of the damage of Jan. 6 can be measured. Over 140 law enforcement officers were injured. One officer died of strokes suffered the next day, a fatality the U.S. Capitol Police determined to be in the line of duty. Four other officers committed suicide in the months that followed. The property damage to the Capitol was massive.

Yet, while Trump sad idly in the White House, it could have been so much worse. A noose was prepared for Trump’s own Vice President who had the temerity to respect the Constitution. Absent some quick thinking and much bravery, many officials could have been murdered.

The civic scars cut far deeper. America’s ideals and its democratic beacon for the world dimmed that day. A bridge was crossed and the previously sacrosanct was violated.

At this five-year mark, some 1,500 people who had been convicted of Jan. 6 offenses were granted full pardons by the very president for whom they rampaged. 14 individuals had their sentences commuted, including some convicted of the rare charge of seditious conspiracy.

That latter group included the founder of the so-called Oath Keepers whom a judge had sentenced to 18 years in prison, finding that he constituted “an ongoing threat and peril to this country.”

A disturbed young woman, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot trying to breach the Capitol is considered by some zealots to be a hero.

The lead instigator, President Trump, is back in office with the country having concluded that the election denialism culminating in Jan. 6^th was a blemish, but not a disqualification.

Most of all, one major political party is in thrall to the big lie about the 2020 election or, more conveniently, to some copout of “we just don’t know” as to its validity. Acceptance of this fact-free fiction is a prerequisite for viability or advancement within Trump’s GOP.

Clearly, five years have not been sufficient. A longer interim will be necessary to pursue historical perspective and accuracy, even as accountability seems a lost cause.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann