On January 6, 2021, hundreds of hostile right-wing extremists invaded the United States Congress in an attempt to violently obstruct the constitutionally mandated certification of the 2020 presidential election. They were sent by their faux messiah, Donald Trump, who insisted that the election was "stolen" in a fearmongering and reckless rant, saying that "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
Three months later a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos has documented what common sense had already confirmed: That the glassy-eyed disciples of the Cult of Trump are a bastion of delusional cretins who are willingly deceived and certifiably insane:
"Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened. [...]"
"[A]bout half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists 'trying to make Trump look bad,' a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found. Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that Novemberโs presidential election 'was stolen' from him due to widespread voter fraud."
Seriously? Half of Republicans, who presumably saw the videos of hundreds of StormTrumpers assaulting the seat of American democracy, climbing walls, busting down doors, breaking windows, vandalizing property, chanting death threats, and physically attacking (and killing) police officers, now believe the violent insurrection was "mostly peaceful"? What kind of brain damage is present for that conclusion to even be considered in passing?
There's a reason that so much mass hysteria could be evident in this group of Trumpian criminals. They were lied to by both Trump and a deliberately dishonest propaganda disseminator posing as a "news" network: Fox News. Virtually every mention of the attack on Fox News excused Trump and included allusions to the mythical Antifa as the "real" perpetrators of the violence. Never mind that there was no evidence of that whatsoever and, of course, there was abundant video of what actually happened. There was, however, evidence of Trump's collusion and planning of the Capitol melee.
For his part, Trump repeatedly incited this aberrant behavior by his cult followers, telling them just prior to the attack that "The Radical Left will destroy our Country if we let them." During the assault Trump confessed his affection for the mob saying that "We love you." And more recently, Trump visited with Laura Ingraham of Fox News for a bit of flagrant gaslighting wherein he claimed that "Right from the start it was zero threat [and all] hugging and kissing"
See? it was a Love-In! And except for the dead, and more than a hundred injured police officers, and the destruction of property, and the defiling of a democratic institution, it was celebratory occasion that Trump's Klan will long recall with pride.
Fortunately, the Reuters poll also found that 59% of all Americans hold trump responsible. And eight in 10 Democrats and six in 10 independents "reject the false claims that the Capitol siege was 'mostly peaceful' or it was staged by left-wing protestors." Nevertheless, the psychotically delusional beliefs of the GOP and the Trumpsters is a worrisome trend. And we must remain vigilant to prevent future episodes of violence and rightist mob offensives. No doubt Trump and Fox News are already plotting them.
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