# January 6th Hearing-Adjacent Discussion Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 12, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829 "2022-07-12T16:20:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/61 "2022-07-13T18:45:16Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Only if a straight woman questions him. Careful. Could be a queer woman out there willing to take one for the team. What’s he gonna do then? Better to play it safe. > [@SunUp](#): > > A half-assed coup attempt is still a coup attempt. Reminds me of a sign posted at one place I worked: _Don’t start vast projects with half-vast ideas_ Disassembling 200+ years of American government traditions would strike me as a vast project. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/62 "2022-07-13T18:57:43Z")
> [@Temporary\_Name](#): > > (he used to like Rusty Bowers) Bowers is catching a _lot_ of flak in the Republican primary with ads – confessing in the fine print they’re entirely funded by sources outside Arizona – saying, “He is no longer right for Mesa,” which is weird because his district is entirely within Pima county, unless they redid the lines or something. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/63 "2022-07-13T19:53:14Z")
> **[Why They Still Support Trump](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/trump-supporters-january-6-hearing/670508/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share)** > > What began as a reluctant willingness to defend the former president soon became an ingrained habit. > … > But something else, something even more powerful, was going on. **Many Trump supporters grew to hate his critics even more than they came to love Trump.** For them, Trump’s detractors were not just wrong but wicked, obsessed with getting Trump, and hell-bent on destroying America. Former Republicans who turned against Trump—“Never Trumpers,” as we became known—were particularly loathed. We were viewed as disloyal, even traitorous, having turned on Trump to win the praise of the liberal elite. For Trump supporters to admit that they were wrong about him—and especially to admit that Trump’s critics had been right about him—would blow their circuits. If they ever do turn on Trump, they will admit it only to themselves and maybe a few close intimates. I’ve said before that asking Trump supporters to focus on his moral turpitude is like asking them to stare into the sun. They can do it for a split second, and then they have to look away. The Trump years have been all about looking away. > … My bold. We’ve seen plenty of this. No matter how bad trump is (and some Republicans can see this and admit it), Hillary, Obama, Joe, Nancy are all worse. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/64 "2022-07-13T20:02:51Z")
That would be the great thing about Trump getting indicted and tried – it ought to put an end to this “both-sides-ism” when it’s clear to even the most jaded Republicans that their orange hero is not just maybe a little bit flawed, he’s a convicted criminal serving time. It won’t happen but it should, and I can dream. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/65 "2022-07-13T20:23:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > when it’s clear to even the most jaded Republicans that their orange hero is not just maybe a little bit flawed He could be convicted of shooting someone on Fifth Avenue and the most jaded Republicans would still not think he was even a little bit flawed. Convict him of witness tampering and attempting to overthrow the election and you’ll get nary a shrug. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/66 "2022-07-13T21:58:56Z")
YeahIdunno. The last time one of their Most Admired got himself up on the cross … well … you know the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/67 "2022-07-13T22:01:32Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > That would be the great thing about Trump getting indicted and tried – it ought to put an end to this “both-sides-ism” when it’s clear to even the most jaded Republicans that their orange hero is not just maybe a little bit flawed, he’s a convicted criminal serving time. > [@Procrustus](#): > > Convict him of witness tampering and attempting to overthrow the election and you’ll get nary a shrug. His conviction for any and all crimes will not change the MAGATs’ minds one iota. They’ll believe he was railroaded by a deep state conspiracy that would have been thwarted had Pence simply done the right thing on Jan. 6. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/68 "2022-07-13T22:15:27Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > > [@Temporary\_Name](#): > > > > So the most reasonable Republican I know will not even bother to watch the damn things. > > Of course he won’t watch them. He’s terrified that he might be exposed to factual information, and this will solidify the obvious conclusion that he was sucked in by a con man, and has been a sucker. > > Nobody wants to learn that they are a sucker and voted in an insane mob boss who tried to overthrow the government; the obvious solution to this is to bury his head in the sand and ignore the facts. Honestly, as much as I hate to say it, @Euphonious_Polemic’s take matches 100% with mine. We’ve had many, many threads including posters who previously identified as Republican, but got left behind as the party drifted ever further right / crazy during the Obama years. Those that truly looked for good governance, but who (as an example) wanted smaller government have found themselves as ‘conservative’ Democrats, or left leaning independents. In 2016, there were plenty of Republicans who voted for Trump because party, because they felt the ‘establishment’ would control him, and were otherwise personally repelled by the man. If they voted Trump and still support them after 2020, and _especially_ after 1/6 (back to this thread), they are too invested to ever back out short of a massive, personal, and immediate loss to themselves, such as those who are currently testifying about their role in those 1/6 events. People who have lost spouses, jobs, and homes. And even THEN, they like a losing gambler, have to keep doubling down, because the next time they’ll be winners. They’ve invested too much to ever give up. I’m not blaming @Temporary_Name, I have plenty of family that I _cannot_ discuss Trump with, mostly the Israeli side of the family who are the traditional single-issue voters, and who care little for what happens here as long as they get the support they want/need. T\_N’s friends sounds like this, their piety has made them utterly inflexible in their approach, so they block out everything else in favor of the special interest. And thus, the 1/6 hearings IMHO are attempting to make sure that everyone who isn’t closed realize how darn close we came to a coup. It’s about getting people who agree, but aren’t _motivated_ to get out and vote in the coming elections, both state and federal. Because the fanatics will absolutely vote, and, like many democracies and republics before us, their last step is electing their new dictator. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/69 "2022-07-13T22:15:34Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > when it’s clear to even the most jaded Republicans that their orange hero is not just maybe a little bit flawed > > He could be convicted of shooting someone on Fifth Avenue and the most jaded Republicans would still not think he was even a little bit flawed. Convict him of witness tampering and attempting to overthrow the election and you’ll get nary a shrug. I’m afraid you may be right. I was going to try to refute that by pointing out that, in the face of overwhelming evidence, almost no one believes the 2020 election was “stolen”. Then I found this (bolding mine): > Everyone who lives in objective reality understands that Donald Trump did not win the 2020 presidential election. He lost by 7 million actual votes and 74 electoral votes. His claim that the election was rigged has been debunked by numerous Republican state elections officials, and rejected by judges in both state and federal courts in more than 70 lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and its proxies. Trump’s own Justice Department as well as his former attorney general, William Barr, found no evidence of widespread fraud. > > **Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, two-thirds of GOP voters and just over one-third of all voters, now believe the 2020 election was stolen.** I give up! The quote was from here: [https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3263802-why-do-so-many-still-believe-the-2020-election-was-stolen/](https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3263802-why-do-so-many-still-believe-the-2020-election-was-stolen/) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/70 "2022-07-13T22:26:38Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > in the face of overwhelming evidence Evidence is irrelevant. The grand unifying principle behind the modern Right is “my inferiors cannot tell me what to do.” They won’t accept police reform because it’s promoted by Blacks and liberals. They won’t accept pronoun preference and alternative gender expression because it’s the agenda of those pervert weirdos. They won’t accept masks and vaccines because they come from overeducated ivory-tower types who choose science over God. And on and on, all down the line. “_Those people_ want me to do something, and I refuse to allow them to have power over me.” It’s that simple. The stolen election story is just more of the same, with the stubbornness cranked so hard to 11 that the dial gets torn off. “The damn left-wing media tells me to accept their version of the vote count and its integrity, and I just _won’t do it._ My refusal to surrender to people I don’t believe I should surrender to is a matter of absolute fervent faith, and my embrace of a fully wacko alternative reality is absolutely preferable to letting them impose their will on me.” It’s demented. But I’m confident that’s what it all boils down to. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/71 "2022-07-13T22:39:49Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > People who have lost spouses, jobs, and homes. And even THEN, they like a losing gambler, have to keep doubling down, because the next time they’ll be winners. They’ve invested too much to ever give up. Yup. Bears repeating. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > In 2016, there were plenty of Republicans who voted for Trump because party, because they felt the ‘establishment’ would control him, and were otherwise personally repelled by the man. Yep, I know one such person. “I hate him as a person but like his policies” And there is no way in hell he would vote for a democrat. He thinks Joe Biden is OK though. So… why didn’t you vote for him? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/72 "2022-07-13T22:50:49Z")
The Hill article cited by @wolfpup asks “why do so many still…?” The “still” utterly is misplaced. It’s “still” believed because it’s still being sold daily by all the forces of highly profitable RW nutbaggery. They’re still shouting from the rooftops about it. All day every day. And they will not quit. Because it’s profitable not to. And because it ensures that every election for significant office into the future can be declared to be tainted on no evidence and that claim WILL be believed by the faithful. In the total absence of evidence, and in fact in the face of considerable affirmative evidence of absence. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/73 "2022-07-13T22:59:26Z")
2nd set of hearings likely: > ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/74 "2022-07-13T23:08:13Z")
Good news. Sounds like there is more and more evidence emerging. And in reference to the above commentary (which I agree with) that right-wing nutbars don’t care about evidence, in the final analysis it doesn’t matter because in the real world, there are real consequences for criminal behaviour. What the extreme right-wing nutbars think becomes irrelevant when they become increasingly marginalized. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/75 "2022-07-13T23:21:27Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > … > And in reference to the above commentary (which I agree with) that right-wing nutbars don’t care about evidence, in the final analysis it doesn’t matter because in the real world, there are real consequences for criminal behaviour. What the extreme right-wing nutbars think becomes irrelevant when they become increasingly marginalized. Kinda. The gravity of the current situation makes it a little more like this IMO: > [@](#): > > … > And in reference to the above commentary (which I agree with) that right-wing nutbars don’t care about evidence, in the final analysis it doesn’t matter because in the ~~real~~ non-partisan non-corrupt world, there are real consequences for criminal behaviour. What the extreme right-wing nutbars think ~~becomes~~ remains irrelevant ~~when they become increasingly marginalized.~~ only so long as we can prevent partisan takeover of the election system, the courts, and the prosecutors. By and large we’ve already lost the courts at the Federal level and the election systems and courts and most legislatures at the state level. In that world, the extreme rightwing nutbars are more properly called: “the next government.” I wish like hell we were in the world you so calmly describe. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/76 "2022-07-13T23:22:06Z")
They redid the lines. Bowers is running for the LD10 Senate seat - LD10 used to be in Pima county but most of it is now LD18. LD10 is now in the East Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/77 "2022-07-13T23:26:15Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > That would be the great thing about Trump getting indicted and tried – it ought to put an end to this “both-sides-ism” when it’s clear to even the most jaded Republicans that their orange hero is not just maybe a little bit flawed, he’s a convicted criminal serving time. Unfortunately, even a criminal conviction won’t persuade Trump fans. “Show trial! Fake evidence! False charges! He was innocent and wrongly convicted. Corrupt Biden socialist Marxist railroaded him. Release innocent Trump now!” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/78 "2022-07-13T23:31:54Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > The grand unifying principle behind the modern Right is “my inferiors cannot tell me what to do.” They won’t accept police reform because it’s promoted by Blacks and liberals. They won’t accept pronoun preference and alternative gender expression because it’s the agenda of those pervert weirdos. They won’t accept masks and vaccines because they come from overeducated ivory-tower types who choose science over God. And on and on, all down the line. “_Those people_ want me to do something, and I refuse to allow them to have power over me.” It’s that simple. Excellent observation. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/79 "2022-07-14T00:02:52Z")
The only one who CAN tell them what to do is Jebus, and it is amazing just how often Republican Jebus’™ interests align with theirs. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829/80 "2022-07-14T00:50:13Z")
When the talking heads on TV tell them what their interests are loudly enough and often enough, they quickly grow to believe them. Yep, a free-fire zone for billionaire oligarchs is gonna work out just great for Joe Rural Sixpack. He’s been told it, he believes it, and that settles it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-6th-hearing-adjacent-discussion-thread/967829.md?page=5)