Trump supporters storm the Capitol Building

[inactive_user]

@KristiGaines

I hope use of force rules have changed there with law enforcement when it comes to protecting our law makers when they are doing their jobs

My understanding is that the general way the capitol and DC police go about their business isn’t the issue so much as the uniquely awful situation from 1/6 where you had civilian leadership actively abetting the seditionists and telling the cops to stand down.

I firmly believe we were much closer to the edge than anyone wants to admit.

[Dave_Perkins]

I’ll admit it.

[MikeOberly]

“Had a point”, eh? Yet they were mostly Antifa. Weird.

Will Saletan (saletan)

[Matt_W]

@MikeOberly

78% still say Biden did not legitimately win.

This is an astounding number. And 81% of 2020 Trump voters. What is happening? We need to herd all of these folks onto an island somewhere and make sure they can’t leave. There is no metric by which Biden did not legitimately and obviously win. He won by far bigger margins than Trump did in 2016. Republicans really are an entire party know-nothing idiots.

[Alistair]

@Matt_W

We need to herd all of these folks onto an island somewhere and make sure they can’t leave.

Believe we did old chap!

[KevinC]

It’s very very dangerous rhetoric the GOP has been playing with. Trump spent four years undermining the supports of our democracy and that work continues under the GOP. If people don’t believe elections are free and fair, people are going to start turning to the ammo box instead of the ballot box. It can be like it is now, where they think the election was stolen and therefore they are “freedom fighters” for trying to take out the illegitimate government, or they believe that since elections are all fraudulent they should engaging in fraud or just seize power themselves.

Democracy only works if everyone buys in. It seems like it’s going to be awfully hard to try to shovel this shit back into the horse if it gets out.

[legowarrior]

What is the percentage of people that report themselves as republicans?

Who is considered a republican by this survey?

[Timex]

@legowarrior

Who is considered a republican by this survey?

Looks like actual registered republicans, which is a fairly small number now, I think?

[antlers]

25% of voters self identify as Republicans according to similarly current polling.

I imagine lots of the answers to these and similar polls don’t reflect actual “beliefs” so much as people wanting to give the answer that reflects their tribe. Cognitive dissonance has become a core Republican value. In fact I think people have begun to value cognitive dissonance as a virtuous thing in itself: to be a virtuous person, you have to have it to accept the mystery of the Holy Trinity (for example), so accepting cognitive dissonance in other realms must similarly be a sign of virtue.

The embrace of cognitive dissonance of course boosts the effectiveness of Republican propaganda and goes hand-in-hand with the campaign against “elites.”

[legowarrior]

Okay. I wonder how much that differs from usual.

[scottagibson]

This is one of the polls linked in that story, from February:

February2021_HHP_Crosstabs_RV.pdf

Looking at it, it isn’t just registered Republicans who have crazy ideas about the election. On page 69, you’ll see that while 64% of Republicans believe Trump won the election, an astonishing 59% of self-described conservatives and another 25% of self-described moderates also believe that Trump won the election.

Similarly, 65% of conservatives and 29% of moderates believe the mail in ballot system was unfair. 72% of conservatives and 32% of moderates believe the vote counting involved significant fraud.

We’re not talking about the rump Republican Party here. We’re talking about a supermajority of conservatives and substantial minority of moderates. It’s a widely held view.

[inactive_user]

And this is why Fox, Sinclair, and Facebook at the very least should be burned to the ground, the earth salted, and left with no stone lying atop another.

[jpinard]

@inactive_user

And this is why Fox, Sinclair, and Facebook at the very least should be burned to the ground, the earth salted, and left with no stone lying atop another.

Yes, a million times.

[Calelari]

@Alistair

Believe we did old chap!

Canada has entered the chat.
Eh?

Mexico has entered the chat.
¿Que qué?

[Zylon]

@antlers

The embrace of cognitive dissonance of course boosts the effectiveness of Republican propaganda and goes hand-in-hand with the campaign against “elites.”

“Cognitive dissonance” doesn’t mean believing contradictory things, it means being bothered by it. Which these people clearly are not.

[abrandt]

Yes, but often people don’t realize it or care to confront it and it manifests as some form of additional bad behavior, often related to the source of the cognitive dissonance. I’ve always assumed that is the source of all the right-wing politicians who have extreme anti-gay stances and later turn out to be gay themselves.

[KevinC]

Armed ‘quick reaction force’ was waiting for order to storm Capitol, Justice...

“We believe that at least one quick reaction force location was here and that Mr. Harrelson and others had stashed a large amount of weapons there,” Nestler said. “People affiliated with this group were in Ballston, monitoring what was happening at the Capitol and prepared to come into D.C. and ferry these weapons into the ground team that Kenneth Harrelson was running at a moment’s notice, if anyone said the word.”

Nestler did not detail the number of guns the group is alleged to have stashed.

Judge Amit Mehta called the evidence among the “most troubling and most disconcerting” he has seen in nearly a dozen cases related to Oath Keepers.

[Woolen_Horde]

The Washington Post (washingtonpost)

[antlers]

Perhaps “doublethink” is the appropriate term.

[Thrag]

This guy was in the band Iced Earth. I saw a joke on this story that I wish I had thought of. That he’s been promoted to “lead singer”.