In Trump’s Capitol attack revisionism, his acolytes become martyrs, patriots
A cocktail of propaganda, conspiracy theory and disinformation — of the kind intoxicating to the masses in the darkest turns of history — is fuelling straight-up delusion over the agonies of Jan. 6.
Hate is “love.” Violence is “peace.” The pro-Donald Trump attackers are patriots.
Months after the then-U.S. president’s supporters stormed the Capitol that winter day, Trump and his acolytes are taking this revisionism to a new and dangerous place — one of martyrs and warlike heroes, and of revenge. It’s a place where cries of “blue lives matter” have transformed into shouts of “f- the blue.”
The fact inversion about the siege is the latest in Trump’s contorted oeuvre of the “big lie” compendium, the most specious of which is that the election was stolen from him, when it was not.
It is rooted in the basic formula of potent propaganda through the ages: say it loud, say it often, say it with the heft of political power behind you, and people will believe. Once spread by pamphlets, posters and word of mouth, now spread by swipe of finger, the result is the same: a passionate, unquestioning following.
Trump perfected the art of repetition — about the “election hoax,” the “rigged election” and ”massive voter fraud,” with none of those accusations substantiated, but ingrained nonetheless among his supporters.
Four years ago, Trump appeared to equate white supremacists and racial justice protesters in Charlottesville, Va., with his comment that there were “very fine people, on both sides.”
This time, in this telling, the very fine people on Jan. 6 were on one side: his.
For the other side — the police, overwhelmed for hours and beaten in the insurrection — Trump only has an in-your-face question that doubles as a fourword conspiracy theory: “Who killed Ashli Babbitt?”
Those words have become a viral mantra meant to elevate Babbitt as a righteous martyr. The woman died from a police officer’s bullet fired as she tried to climb through the jagged glass of a smashed window toward the House chamber.
Trump and many Republicans have cycled through various characterizations of the insurrection. The attackers were said to be leftist antifa followers in disguise. Then were said to be overexcited tourists. Now they are heralded as foot soldiers for freedom.