The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.

Just three years ago, most of the country watched with dismay and horror as a violent MAGA mob beat back authorities and stormed the country’s citadel of democracy. The Donald Trump-incited crush of disillusioned rioters, fueled by a stream of fantastical lies, believed that the 2020 election had been stolen by sinister forces working to undermine the democratic election.

Of course, not only was their belief flatly incorrect, but evidence later emerged indicating that it was Trump who, in fact, had tried to subvert democracy.

Facts, however, have little bearing on the sentiment inside the Republican Party, which has been fed a steady diet of lies and half-truths by Fox News and the rest of the sprawling right-wing media machine. To wit, the false notion that Joe Biden nefariously stole the 2020 election is now widely shared inside the GOP. A CNN poll conducted over the summer found that nearly 70% of Republicans believe Biden’s win was not legitimate, a number that has continued to tick up.

  • @GroundedGator
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    2110 months ago

    If that has happened, I doubt we would have a president Biden or an upcoming election.

    • FlashMobOfOne
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      10 months ago

      I don’t think that’s accurate.

      Every other aspect of the attack was unsuccessful, and not only that, but pathetically so. But if they’d manage to assassinate a VP, Biden and his administration would not have been able to simply ignore it. They would have had to act, even if it pisses off the billionaires.

      • @LifeInMultipleChoice
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        10 months ago

        Pence stopped Trump’s group delivering the fake electors to steal the election. If Pence disappeared Trump would have never left office.

        Pence made the the last minute stand to save our country. Terrible viewpoints and politics, but at the end he did his job

        • Uglyhead
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          10 months ago

          Because Dan “Potatoe” Quayle told him to not go along with the coup.

          Mike fucking Pence and Dan fucking Potatoe Quayle saved our Democracy and the US Democratic Republic.

          What a timeline.

          Still,… there are many many timelines where it worked, Trump is the Orange King, and I’m dead now from being put up against a wall; so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

      • @GroundedGator
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        1110 months ago

        If they would have assassinated Pence on J6, before the certification, someone else would have stepped in, most likely Grassley. He would have accepted the alternate slate of electors and Biden would not be president.

        • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】
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          110 months ago

          I guess the law says the senate is supposed to choose someone if the vice president is unavailable to access president of the senate.