Just because Republicans choose unreality doesn’t mean the media should ignore the facts of January 6.
On January 6, 2021, I watched CNN as thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. As someone well-versed in watching tragedy on television, I was struck by just how indisputable the facts were at the time: violent, red-hat-clad MAGA rioters, followed by Republicans in Congress, tried to stop democracy in its tracks. Trump had told his followers that the protest in Washington, DC, “will be wild,” and in the assault that followed his speech, some rioters smeared feces on the walls of the Capitol. Hundreds of them have since been convicted on charges ranging from assault on federal officers to seditious conspiracy. These are stubborn facts, the kind that do not care about your feelings. These facts include the inalienable truth that Trump is the first president in American history to reject the peaceful transfer of power.
It never occurred to me that these facts could somehow be perverted by partisanship. But three years later, we are seeing just that, as Republicans cling to the lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” by Joe Biden and are poised to make Trump their 2024 nominee. And perhaps even more dangerous than the GOP ditching reality is the news media’s inability to cover Trumpism as the threat to democracy that it very much is.
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But the problem is, when all you have is conventional political framing, everything looks like politics as usual. One candidate makes a claim; the other disputes it. Two sides are divided, etc. This framing only works if both parties operate within the frameworks of a shared reality. But Trumpism doesn’t allow for the reality the rest of us inhabit. Trump’s supporters believe their leader’s reality and not, say, the reality the rest of us see with our eyes. As Trump once told a crowd: “Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
Journalists may be well-intentioned in trying to be “objective,” or they’re simply afraid of being labeled partisan. Either way, coverage of January 6 that gives equal weight to both sides—one based in reality, one not—is helping pave the road for authoritarianism.
If trump wins you will be responsible. Full stop.
Interesting you dodged my question since you know it exposes how wrong you are
Nope, Biden and the Democratic party will.
It won't matter what I do. You are justifying your backing of genocide as being 'pragmatic' to stop Trump, but it won't even work.
There is now a large enough Muslim population in the midwest swing states to be a requisite component of a winning democratic coalition.
Do you hear that?
Muslim people are required in the mid-west swing states to win the presidency for the Democratic party.
Support within that community dropped from in the 60's to single digit support for Biden because they correctly see him as backing a genocide of a group they identify as their people. I won't begrudge them their lack of willingness to vote for someone genociding a group they identify with. Do you?
The people responsible for getting Trump re-elected are the people who did something that they KNEW BEFOREHAND would tank their eligibility, and yet refuse to hold a primary to try and pick someone electable.
You're not pragmatic, you're just a fan-boi.
To answer your bad faith question: No I don't think things will be better under Trump. I think it start the slow slide to civil war.
I'm pissed at the people who are undemocratically stopping the democratic process of the primary to select someone WHO CAN'T WIN.