The first week of 2021 was one of the darkest periods the US has seen since the Civil War

• The first week of 2021 was incredibly chaotic in the US.
• President Donald Trump provoked a violent insurrection at the US Capitol that led to five deaths and delayed for hours the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's win as rioters terrified the lawmakers and staff sheltering in place.
• Meanwhile, the US broke another grim record in COVID-19 deaths as the pandemic surges.
• The first seven days of the year were among the darkest the US has seen since the Civil War, provoking feelings not unlike those from Pearl Harbor and 9/11.

The US is in shock after one of the most tumultuous weeks in its history. Just seven days in, 2021 is already rivaling 2020 in terms of sheer chaos.

What's transpired since the calendar changed could fill an entire chapter in the history books and studies of democratic systems.

America's democracy is limping forward in the final days of the Trump era, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the country and the US struggles with its vaccine rollout.

Here's a quick recap of the biggest events and developments in the US in 2021's first week:

• Congress delivered the first successful veto override of President Donald Trump's presidency on the National Defense Authorization Act, a $741 billion defense bill that the president vetoed largely for reasons unrelated to national defense.
• Trump called Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and pressured him to "find" 11,780 votes in order to overturn the election. The call, which was recorded and leaked, was a stunningly anti-democratic move from a sitting US president.
• Democratic candidates Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff made history by defeating incumbent GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the Georgia Senate runoff, giving Democrats a majority in the Senate for the first time in six years. Warnock is the first Black Democrat to be elected in former Confederate state, and will be the first Black senator from Georgia. Ossoff will be the first Jewish senator from Georgia and at 33 will be the youngest sitting senator.
• Trump provoked an attempted coup at the US Capitol. A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol building, destroying property and assaulting police officers along the way. The chaos delayed, but did not ultimately prevent, the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. Five people died, including a police officer. The country and much of the wider world looked on in horror.
• The president's incitement of a violent insurrection prompted calls from congressional Democrats and two Republicans for Trump to be removed via the 25th Amendment or impeachment, despite the fact he has less than two weeks left as president.
• The US recorded more than 4,000 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, the highest number of single-day fatalities the country has recorded since the pandemic began.
• After the violent insurrection he provoked at the Capitol, Trump on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that there will be a new administration, but stopped short of congratulating Biden or explicitly admitting defeat.
• Trump on Friday announced he would not attend Biden's inauguration on January 20. He'll be the first outgoing president since 1869 to skip the inauguration of their successor.