Three years after Jan. 6, Republicans have really gaslit themselves – By Kerry Eleveld (Daily Kos) / Jan 6, 2024
Three years after the spectacle of rioters storming the Capitol played out on television screens across America, the events of Jan. 6 are now highly open to interpretation depending on one’s partisan lean.
For Democrats, it’s generally clear that a mass of MAGA supporters, provoked by Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election, launched a violent attack on the Capitol in an effort to interrupt certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power. That, of course, is what happened, as has been proven by the sweeping Jan. 6 congressional investigation and hundreds of convictions.
Republicans, who have had to gaslight their way to an acceptable narrative, appear to believe some combination of the following fabrications: 1) the Jan. 6 violence was justified because Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate (i.e. Democrats stole the election); 2) Jan. 6 was mostly a peaceful protest (a narrative driven by right-wing talker Tucker Carlson, among others); and 3) the Jan. 6 violence was organized and instigated by FBI plants.
