Something I think so many people don’t get about the R’s who still back Trump, vs the ones who are now shocked, is that Rs have long shared an understanding that none of them believe their own rhetoric. 1/

I think this is why some of them seem suddenly shocked by the insurrection and by those who have not denounced it. I think many of them are not only genuinely horrified, they truly are just now realizing that some of their colleagues *believe* this stuff 2/

I remember many years ago, I think during the run-up to Obama’s election, I was asking my mom (who now votes D, but was an R all her life), how she remained friends with a lot of people who backed politicians who were so racist and hateful. 3/

She lives in a Republican stronghold, basically. And she chuckled and said “Well none of them actually *believe* that stuff. The politicians just get worked up trying to outdo each other and it gets blown out of proportion.” She truly believed that. 4/

And for her, and a few of her friends, it was true. When the rhetoric got really vile during Obama’s terms, they were appalled and started voting D because they started recognizing the dog whistles and seeing that there was an entire news channel devoted to this BS 5/

But I think cynicism in politicians runs deeper. I suspect a lot of Rs truly, truly didn’t believe their colleagues actually MEANT this stuff...until they realized how close they’d gotten to having the leopards eat their faces. 6/

(This doesn’t make it okay that they are just now seeing the truth, I just think this is why it took some of them this long to get there). In a weird way, their cynicism made them...naive. 7/

They were vulnerable to letting these people keep getting away with BS because, cynically, they believed these people were talking out of their asses. Because that was what they were doing themselves. Which is its own problem, of course. 8/

I think Dems are often frustrated by the fact that Rs assume WE are just like them—that we don’t believe our own rhetoric, and are playing their same game. It’s frustrating because by and large I think we do believe in our positions, as stated. Rather than 9/

doing what Rs tend to do, use a series of coded messages and dog whistles, like they all say “this estate tax reform benefits everybody!” when they known full well it only benefits a handful of rich people. Mostly rich white people. 10/

So when the more radical folks started taking over, they assumed it was just more of the same political theater. Just like they’ve always done. Because to actually believe the party lines isn’t part of their deal. 11/

I think for some of them—who were too cynical to believe that any politicians actually believed their own BS—they were truly shocked by the events of 1/6. Because it was supposed to *just* be rhetoric. 12/

Again, their cynicism made them naive, blinded them to the fact that some of their colleagues were and are in deadly earnest about wanting to overthrow the election and go full autogolpe even if that means spilling literal blood. 13/

So while I still don’t trust these sudden converts to reality, because after all they’ve made careers off lying and doing harm, I think I’m less cynical than most about why some of them are finally coming around. 14/

They’re still terrible people...but I think some of them are being genuine in this one thing, at least. They’re having an “oh shit” moment they should’ve had a decade or more ago. 15/15