Yes, but only 5% said it was the work of patriots.
Seventy-nine percent of adults, including two-thirds of Republicans and Trump voters, described the participants as either “criminals” or “fools.” Nine percent saw them as “concerned citizens” and 5% called them “patriots.”
Remember, before this, trump had a ironclad solid 30% of voters as true MAGAites. This seems to have drastically decreased.
Without an apples-to-apples comparison, we have no idea whether Trump’s support has “drastically decreased.”
I did say “seems”. We shall see.
But I think idiots like Cruz and Garcia courting the MAGAs with their acts of sedition will find that support is weak.
What was the % after 2000? I would have thought it was close to that but I don’t recall.
Was there really a similarly delusional conspiracy theory widespread after the 2000 election? IIRC, it was generally understood that the vote was essentially a statistical tie, and the disagreements were about how the very small margin of victory should have been handled, legislatively and judicially.
I don’t recall any purely fictional conspiracy theory about “massive election fraud” being promoted in defiance of all known facts and evidence—and certainly not by the sitting President or prominent officials of his party.
I don’t think it’s appreciated enough that there is a big gap in how Republican “elites” are responding to the events of Wednesday versus the party regulars. Sure, many of the actual Republican Representatives and Senators who had to flee are reacting with genuine revulsion at what happened, and have become much more willing to call out the President.
But where are the resolutions of censure from state Republican parties? From county and precinct Republican officials? These are the true believers who organize and run the party, and they overwhelmingly have NOT expressed much outrage and certainly none toward Trump. Even after this, Trump will have a dedicated base of support in place within the Republican party from which to work his way back into the White House.
The issue was whether or not to recount by hand a tiny percentage of votes that the machines couldn’t read. SCOTUS ruled against a recount.
Many people were disappointed. Many said the decision was wrong, or unjust. But nobody significant claimed that the machines were rigged, or that the courts were corrupt.
One of the traitors was identified (and he apparantly admitted it) as a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. IIRC, one part of what’s next for him is he loses his retirement pay and benefits. Hopefully, he also loses his privilege to receive a military funeral when he finally kicks off.
I have a question. How could some of the insurrectionists be so stupid as to have their pictures taken? Like that guy with his feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk.
Criminals generally aren’t very bright. That’s why the prisons are full.
Seriously, though. They probably see themselves as some sort of heroes fighting to overthrow tyrant Biden. They took pictures to show that they were there that day, that they were part of the rebellion that restored justice to America.
Idiots.
I think it’s more accurate to say almost 1 out of 5 Republicans is willing to admit to a pollster that they support the insurrectionists.The cynic in me thinks the support is actually higher.
There’s a house I pass on my nightly evening walk. The car in front has had an “I support President Trump” decal on the rear window for years, and they have been flying a big-ass “Trump 2020 MAGA” flag since October. Both were gone Thursday night. (Don’t know about Wednesday as I skipped my walk that night). I have no way of knowing what type of Trumpers they were -whether they were “try to ignore the unsavory stuff as long as I get my tax cuts and judges” or full blown “Fuck your feelings I love libtard tears MAGA!!”, but given this neighborhood (lots of aerospace engineers - Space X, Boeing and Northrop are all nearby - so they support a big military and space budget out of self interest, but are smart enough to be literal rocket scientists and less likely to be full QAnon dipshits) I suspect they are the former. So no idea if Wednesday was a bridge too far for them or if they feel betrayed that Trump didn’t go far enough.
Too late to edit, but I’ll add that I’m sure the participants at the Boston Tea Party would have taken selfies, if the technology existed.
How sure are you about that? At very least some of them wore Mohawk warrior disguises. Wikipedia indicates that “disguising their individual faces was imperative.”
They thought their revolution was going to be successful, and if people knew who they were they would be praised as “Heroes Of The Revolution”.
I don’t disagree with your conclusion, but I still think the comparison with Weimar Germany is not apt. Germany had lost WWI without being conquered or invaded; the Kaiser was only deposed and allowed to retire, not jailed or executed; the victorious countries had imposed ruinous monetary penalties on Germany; they had a very new democracy which didn’t work very well; the new Soviet Union was perceived as a huge threat, practically on their doorstep. All of these factors and more, added to the horrors of mega-inflation, contributed to the feelings of betrayal and fears of foreign adversaries. As for social and political unrest, and industrial exploitation and corruption in the government, we’ve had that for years before Trump ever came along, and I don’t think they are any more dangerous to democracy now than they were 4 or 20 years ago (not to say corruption and exploitation aren’t dangerous to democracy, because they are; they’re just not new).
What worries me about the past four-plus years is that it’s revealed how many people in this country are willing to be swept away by feelings in defiance of reason and common sense. So yes, those people can easily turn into the base for a new, more competent demagogue, who could try to take advantage of the weaknesses highlighted by Trump’s administration.
Read an article today – but can’t find it! – by a QAnon researcher. QAnon and MAGA are in a way two faces of the same movement, both used by trump to elevate himself and escalate chaos. Lots of those traitors were QAnon believers, which this researcher believes is a more like a millenarian religion than a political movement. They believe trump is the Chosen One – not kidding about this. They think they are bringing about the Age To Come.
Exactly how they feel about him now is hard to say, but even if he is discarded, they will find someone else. Clearly, they have to.
The President of the United States sent them to the capitol to stop crooked politicians from stealing the election from those poor beleaguered patriots. Why would they fear having their photos taken while performing their righteous, patriotic duty?
Ugh. I’m depressed now. In the interest of Dope-calibre research, I decided to check the Facebook pages of a couple of Facebook Friends I’d unfollowed due to their consumption of political Kool-Aid. I wanted to see if they were appalled by what had happened. They’ve both moved to Parler because Facebook is a “corrupt platform.”
I’ve never been nearly this worried about my country, and I’ve been around awhile.
Stranger
Someone should start a rumor that their leader wants to call them home on Jan 19 (the old-fashioned Flavor-Aid way).