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I hope people connect the dots between the YEARS of lies, disinformation and conspiracies that Republicans have been spewing and how it has infected and warped the minds of their followers until they were radicalized and felt justified to terrorize the Capitol. 1/14
Think back to last month when @SpeakerVos and @Ron_Tusler held a hearing at the behest of the Trump campaign to look into alleged systemic voter fraud despite the recently completed recount that confirmed Biden's win without even a hint of impropriety. 2/14
Republicans restricted the speakers to mostly crackpots and fabricators like @DanODonnellShow who made anonymous claims of voter fraud with no evidence. These partisan hacks used this platform to delude their audience who was already politically primed to absorb their lies. 3/14
Or just this week, Republicans @repsteffen and Rep Mursau had their lawsuit, which was seeking to overturn the election, laughed out of court for being riddled with errors and brought in bad faith. 4/14
Time and again, we see Republicans and their professional liars in conservative media lending credence to these conspiracies about voter fraud to claim that the election was stolen, many while knowing that they are spreading lies and disinformation. 5/14
All of this, the pointless hearings, the phony lawsuits, the misinformation, leaves their followers distrustful. They can feel confused about the lack of outcomes. They cannot fathom that their elected leaders would lie so boldly, so it must be the system letting them down. 6/14
And so they become frustrated. They become angry. They want to drain the swamp. They want to throw the bums out or toss a grenade into the system. Ultimately, they become radicalized. And while this anger can be harnessed by opportunists, it can never be fully controlled. 7/14
Some Republicans are a victim of this radicalization effort, others are perpetrators. It is easy to see how Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley are cynically leaning into the nihilism as they knowingly spread lies. Or how Louie Gohmert is just an imbecilic fool. 8/14
Ultimately, whether through malicious intent or willful ignorance, modern conservativism has fostered this unreality that many Americans now live in. These followers genuinely believe that the election was stolen because the people they trust keep telling them so. 9/14
This has been going on for awhile. Look at the fight over Voter ID laws. Republicans claimed there was mass voter fraud despite having scant evidence of individual cases, let alone of a systemic issue. This led to widespread mistrust in our elections amongst conservatives. 10/14
It is easy to see the line from Voter ID in 2011 to the sham hearing held last month and understand how consumers of conservative media and those following Republican leaders would believe that the election was stolen and feel justified in storming the Capitol building. 11/4
So while I'm angry, I can't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for these misled people. And truly, shouldn't we be directing our fury at those who have knowingly radicalized these people with a steady diet of lies? Isn't Fox News and Donald Trump and Robin Vos more culpable? 12/14
Ultimately, Republicans and conservative media have created something beyond their control. It is conspiratorial, dangerously apocalyptic, unable to be reasoned with, immune to facts, attracted to authoritarians, and as we have seen, prone to violence. 13/14
The scariest thing is that the only ones who can undo the damage are those most incentivized to continue whipping up the mob. And given the number of Republicans who opposed the election even after the insurrection, I don't see things getting better anytime soon. 14/14
