More Republicans Than Ever Think Jan. 6 Was Instigated by the Government
By: Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (The New Republic)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A chilling new poll shows Republicans are more conspiracy-crazed than ever before.
GOP loyalty to Donald Trump is morphing into total blinders to the former president's violent politics.
A new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll illustrates that Republicans are now, more than ever, more likely to believe baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from their front-runner, that January 6 rioters were not violent, and that the insurrection was instigated by law enforcement. The results are the latest follow-up to another round of GOP interviews conducted by TheWashington Post in December 2021.
"From a historical perspective, these results would be chilling to many analysts," Michael J. Hanmer, director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland, told the Post.
Americans of every political demographic seemingly have more doubts about President Joe Biden's legitimate ascent to the White House. According to the poll, just 62 percent of Americans, including Democrats and independents, believe the 2020 election was legitimate—down from 69 percent in 2021. Republican belief dropped the most, though, falling by eight points in the last three years to just 31 percent in the most recent survey.
"There were so many people that felt the election was rigged. It was not right for them to break in like that, but they were fed up and frustrated and they were whipped into a frenzy by the FBI and others," said Colleen Michaels, 59, of Woodsfield, Ohio, who told the Post that she would have attended Trump's protest at the U.S. Capitol herself if not for a medical emergency.
In defending their turned perspectives, interviewed Republicans cited debunked claims of voter fraud in Georgia, pointing toward a video of election workers allegedly placing fake ballots into the tally. That same claim, advertised by Rudy Giuliani, recently earned the Trump fixer a $148 million judgment for defamation.
And while the majority of Americans believe that the events of January 6 threatened U.S. democracy, Republicans seem to feel otherwise, differing wildly from their recorded opinions in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
More than seven in 10 Republicans say the attack has been overinflated and feel it is "time to move on," reported the Post. Republicans seem to believe less and less that the attack was violent, with 18 percent believing the rioters were "mostly violent," a statistic that has dropped from 26 percent in 2021. That's compared to 77 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents who also reported that the attempted insurrectionists were violent.
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Trump was always going to claim voter fraud, if he lost. The same thing was suggested in 2016. He will do it again in 2024.
Why people dont understand the meaning and importance of this is beyond me.
Trump is a malignant narcissist - mentally ill. He lives in a magical world.
More republicans than ever lack the ability to think.
Sub 90 IQ folk should not be able to vote.
They are just not capable of rational thought.
That's why Murdoch and Fox gave them a voice.
The deluded condition of sizeable swaths of the American population is certainly a big problem for our country.
And it is terrible to watch and will be interesting to play itself out. It is strange to see countrymen and countrywomen fall apart (make-shift divorce over irreconcilable differences) without being able to separate and move away from each other.
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Didn’t the South try that 100 years ago?
I've been saying this for years.
I'm glad you agree with me that the vast majority of the left should not be voting.
It is clear to me that MAGAs and others of the conservative mindset believe all assortments of 'bad-terrible' things about liberals, but then. . . they gaslight themselves. Well, let them. This is going to get worse before it gets better.
Far right-wing fascism will be the death of democracy.
I hope the country can weather this moment, because we are not going to be the world leader of practically anything if the nation breaks into segmented countries. BTW, Russia and China and Iran would love to see and hear the symbolic CRASH this nation makes as it comes CRASHING DOWN!!!
Well, let's run on and see what the 'end' of this scene will be for the nation!
That would make a great bumper sticker
Indeed. “President Joe Biden heads into the election year showing alarming weakness among stalwarts of the Democratic base, with Donald Trump leading among Hispanic voters and young people. One in 5 Black voters now say they'll support a third-party candidate in November.
In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, Biden's failure to consolidate support in key parts of the coalition that elected him in 2020 has left him narrowly trailing Trump, the likely Republican nominee, 39%-37%; 17% support an unnamed third-party candidate.”
You should know damn well by now that these are early polls and that voters are not paying attention. By the way, some or many of the polls are push-polls and they are manipulated to get desired results and carry little weigh. Therefore, I see no true value in early polls. In fact, nor does the republican candidates running in GOP primaries. They are not "defaulting" to the top candidate based on his high poll numbers.
Anyway, poll results are not what I meant by things getting worse before they get better. This nation is suffering from its own success and has turned its good world fortune into squandered and wasted opportunities for its people. That 'strand' has not run its course yet.
LOL! No they don't.
Republicans seem to believe less and less that the attack was violent, with 18 percent believing the rioters were "mostly violent," a statistic that has dropped from 26 percent in 2021. That's compared to 77 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents who also reported that the attempted insurrectionists were violent.
Based on how many people were marching that day and how many were violent it is safe to say it was a mostly peaceful demonstration.
Exactly, and compare that to the 2020 "Summer of Love" where almost all of the rioters around blue cities were being violent in one way or another, the ll-left deemed those events "mostly peaceful".
There were millions more 2020 rioters than there were violent idiots on Jan 6.
And while the summer of love terrorized and looted cities for a summer J6 shut down a totally ineffective congress for 2 hours. Just think of all they would have accomplished in the 2 hours they could not work.
The left should be rejoicing that Congress could not do anything destructive for at lest 2-3 hours.
However, they probably think Congress could have used that time for funding more useless blue city projects.
More than seven in 10 Republicans say the attack has been overinflated and feel it is "time to move on," reported the Post.
Please don't move on. I am afraid of what will happen to the LWNJ's if they don't have Jan 6th to talk about
“I am afraid of what will happen to the LWNJ's if they don't have Jan 6th to talk about.”
No need to fear.
January 6th is a date that will live in infamy long past our time. The events that led up to it and the ramifications that still have yet to be determined will be studied, discussed, and debated for years.
Suffice it to say, it is unique in that it was self inflicted. A blatant attempt to satisfy the most selfish of motivations, in direct opposition to our Constitutional ideals.
A dark, dark moment that is inexplicably excused in our partisan dysfunction, which will preface any attempt in understanding the consequences and hopefully avoid its reoccurrence.
Live in infamy? Yea, ranks right up there with Pearl Harbor.
Yes, tragically.
The former being a bold faced act of war against our sovereignty. An act which united us to share our ultimate triumph.
The latter being an even more insidious act waged against our own constitutional system of governance. An act that has divided us to the extent potential internal violence looms.
So yes, a day that will live in infamy… until another one breaks us forever.
You are completely correct.
I thought that was hilarious until I realized you might be serious. I guess the left got tired of saying it was worse than Watergate.
It is a conspiracy theory worthy of Q Anon
Now you think J6 was a conspiracy theory ? Lol.
Didn't say that but the idea of it being a day of infamy as bad as Pearl Harbor is just as crazy a statement.
Not sure they realize they are comparing what trump did in a month to what the Japanese needed 3 years and hundreds of people to plan. They must think trump is brilliant
J6 will live in infamy. No question about it. Whether it was equal to Pearl Harbor is immaterial.
The attack on Pearl Harbor lasted a couple hours, as did the assault on the US Capitol building. How long it took to plan is irrelevant to the comment that was made.
That is what afrayedknot said. Dont see anything in there about Pearl Harbor. Or do you think there is only one day of infamy in history ?
Not off topic at all, if the topic includes a presidential loser ‘s reaction to his loss and the circumstances of it.
It sure wasn’t a “Seven Days in May” plan.
You telling me "date that will live in infamy" didn't make you think of Franklins quote. And when I brought up Pearl Harbor to the person that wrote it specifically said why it was like Pearl Harbor and you agreed. You backing down now?
You mean the comment that compared the two?
Until the dems can stop juicing it anyway
Actually it probably should have been in quotes