But it was the grandest, most subversive victory of the former President whose false empire is sure to endure after new revelations reveal his own abuse of power and institutional fraud. mock voters of his political activists and media.
While there has been a steady accumulation of shocking evidence about Trump’s January 6 coup plot and the emptiness of his election fraud claims, recent days have brought this story to light. cast a terrifying new light. They have provided the clearest indicators yet that the entire Make America Great Again infrastructure and potential next Trump White House campaign rests on the cleansing and bleaching of history.
This week will be remembered for Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, vice chair of the House committee, delivering receipts that expose hypocrisy in Trump’s expanding orbit.
Messages from Republican lawmakers, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News sent messages to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows indicating that they knew the attack on the Capitol was a disaster and wanted it to stop.
Yet those same conservative heroes have been part of an 11-month-long political media operation to obscure what really happened, in many cases denying the truth of the election victory. of Biden and promoting lies about voter fraud that feeds anti-democratic extremism. All to preserve a meal ticket named Trump.
The scale of evidence that has come to light this week is remarkable. But the daily bombardment of what happened on January 6 often has the effect of undermining the shocking value of Trump-related insults. And voters have pressing concerns like the rising cost of living and a pandemic that will soon drag into its third year. However, this week’s developments are important not only because they represent the astonishing breadth of Trump’s campaign plot. They are also exposing the lies on which his future political prospects are built – and on which many Republican-run states have passed legislation that makes voting harder and easier to beat. steal future elections.
Trump’s biggest confidence secret
It is now clear that his big lie that “to put it bluntly we won this election” was the most daring and damaging confidence trick of his career.
Several Trump supporters are seeing the light, including Dustin Stockton, one of the organizers of the January 6 rally before the uprising, who found himself subpoenaed by the House committee – and lacking means to wage a legal battle like wealthy Trump politician guru Steve Bannon.
“He basically dumps everybody when the situation gets tough for everybody. And, you know, in some ways, it’s a shame to think that in so many ways we’ve bought into stuff. which basically turned out to be just a hoax or a scam,” Stockton told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.
However, Stockton is an exception. Trump’s popularity among Republican voters makes him the front favorite for the GOP’s 2024 nomination. He has the power to shape the political careers of those willing to embrace his extremism – as the range of midterm election candidates, nationally and in the states, shows. Meanwhile, the Trump story has drawn millions to conservative media and stars – giving them the impetus to promote a false alternative reality that has won over many viewers. .
The opacity of conservative media propaganda was exposed when Cheney read aloud texts sent to Meadows by several Fox News leaders, including Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, begging Meadows to let Trump intervene. card on January 6.
“Mark, the president needs to tell everyone at the Capitol to go home,” Ingraham texted. “This is hurting us all. He is destroying his legacy.” Hannity asked the then chief of staff if Trump could issue a statement asking those on Capitol Hill to leave.
Both men later condemned the violence on January 6. But they were among Fox News personalities who attacked the investigation as a political ploy against Trump rather than an investigation. about one of the worst attacks on democracy in American political history. And misinformation on television is only a small part of the problem; Social media is rife with misinformation about the election and promotes Trump’s lies in a near-zero area of truth.
Trump’s Orwellian Method
Trump supporters have reacted to the revelations in recent days by passing a move signed by their leader – twisting a false reality to justify his behavior and strike a blow. tricked his supporters into what really happened.
For instance, Meadows appeared on Hannity’s show on Monday and fabricated a story that contradicted reports that the former President had cooled off and watched on TV as his riot supporters walked through the Palace. Capitol.
“At the end of the day, they’ll see that not only did the President act, but he acted quickly,” Meadows said. The former chief of staff has been charged with contempt by the House of Representatives for refusing to subpoena to testify for the committee. His tactics are familiar from previous Trump scandals, as he veered away from the truth to create a more palatable narrative for Trump supporters that exempted the former President from crime. sin.
This week’s revelations have hurt Trump, his former aides and conservative media propagandists who have backed him.
But if history is any guide, the truth won’t knock him down.
