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The Big Lie is Becoming the Great Paradox
How Trump’s contradictory statements about January 6th can appease both factions of the Republican party
During the afternoon of January 6th, Fox News pundits were quick to blame the Capitol riot on Antifa and BLM, even as they were begging Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to talk sense into the former president. It didn’t take long for Republican politicians to disassociate Trump from any wrongdoing, and swiftly whitewash the event as a “tourist visit” or “false flag.” Even this past week, Trump went on Hannity to blame Nancy Pelosi for the Capitol siege, while simultaneously boasting about the crowd size.
The amount of cognitive dissonance which is needed to both commend and denounce the violence of that day at the same time is startling. Sometimes Trump and his acolytes are able to contradict themselves within the same sentence, when talking about January 6th. He also has repeatedly described the crowd as “peaceful protesters” but at the same time, he has condemned the violence, largely blaming BLM, the CIA, and Antifa, who were not there, of course. Trump is aware there are two factions of the Republican party: those who truly believe this was a peaceful protest and those who recognize it for what it was: a violent insurrection. Like a masterful cult leader, he is able to skillfully peddle to these two distinct types of Republicans in one Sean…
