Unfortunately I don’t think the mental gymnastics they’re doing amounts to that. It’s a way of divorcing themselves from the bad acts (all the violence, vandalism, cops getting beaten and killed) while supporting all the people who… actually did those things. It’s all the fault of antifa, who were secretly, invisibly there, pushing Trump supporters to do bad things that they’d never, ever do on their own! (Never mind that none of that crowd could have been there if they’d been unwilling to smash down doors and beat up cops, with the intent of killing members of congress.) Sure, they might even throw the few individuals who get arrested, tried and convicted under the bus, while still being fine with all the rest of the rioters (and the movement to which they belong).
Yep. That claim was being made within days of the event.
Let’s just hope that Ron Johnson, Kevin McCarthy, and Louie Gohmert are never in the same room together. The critical mass of delusional stupidity would cause a singularity of anti-intellect that might destroy the entire planet.
Citation desperately needed. Those morons gobble this shit up with the fervor of a Pentecostal congregation.
You cannot apply logic to arguments with people who have forsaken reality for religious belief. You cannot lead them through a rational argument, because they have been told you’re lying. It doesn’t matter if you have proof that their argument is invalid. It doesn’t matter if you have proof their authority is lying to them. They won’t change.
Once you realize you’re arguing with a True Believer, it’s time to walk away. You’re wrestling with a pig in the mud, and you need to understand that the pig enjoys it.
Oh yeah, I agree. It just seems like Trump supporters don’t believe in free-will and think that one person with questionable political affiliations (i.e. not an obvious die-hard Trumper) who encouraged people to do what they were doing, is somehow singularly responsible for everyone’s actions.
The funny thing is: even though they “know” the rioters were not Trump supporters, at base, the rioters intentions were “good.”
Reminiscent of whenever they ask a neo-Nazi about the Holocaust. To a person, they spout the line: oh, yeah, it’s all fake, but it wouldn’t have been a bad thing if it had happened.
Discussing whether these people “really believe” these things is not going to give coherent answers because they aren’t interested in what is true. They are interested in what justifies them. And if that ends up being entirely contradictory things from one moment to the next, well then, they will believe entirely contradictory things, what Orwell called doublethink.
I’m going to quote Sartre about the anti-Semites again:
I think we need to look at a person’s individual behavior in the world, as well as the theology or lack thereof in question. I’m of the mind that anything that asks you to accept or reject something without question, no matter the specific circumstances, isn’t helpful.
