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A few years back, I was walking onto the Saint Anselm College campus on Manchester, N.H.,’s western edge for a presidential primary debate when I spotted in the crowd of demonstrators a very loud and organized group standing on the side of the road. Only when I got closer than I should have been did I realize their chants were not for a presidential candidate but for a dangerous and debunked idea: “Nine-Eleven was an inside job,” they shouted relentlessly, many holding banners from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Infowars.
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Seldom have I been so comforted to have read the then-relatively new release of the 9/11 Commission’s report, probably the most important government audit since the Warren Commission convened to study the Kennedy assassination.
Well, a new style of such garbage has since made its way into the ether, but this time there may never be a widely-accepted accounting of that seismic event that shook America’s footing on Jan. 6 of last year. In fact, polls indicate there is now a deep and partisan misunderstanding of the events that took place leading up to the melee here in Washington one year ago today at the Capitol. And with just two public exceptions—and exemplars—in Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, most Republicans in power are actively choosing ignorance and denial about that day.
Such an approach is taking a toll on the nation’s grasp on reality. ABC News polling finds a full 52% of Republicans viewed the riot as merely an attempt “protecting democracy,” 71% of them believe Trump was the legitimate winner and 78% of them believing Trump carries “just some” or no responsibility for the mob he riled up and sent to the Capitol to push lawmakers to ignore the election results. This is what happens when leaders—namely Republicans here—push such narratives without…
Source : time
