Republican Lies About What Happened During The Jan.6 Capitol Storming Win The Title, According To PolitiFact
In a year in which conspiracy theories abounded and false information about important things, such as the coronavirus and vaccines, was widely circulated, it is difficult to determine what was the biggest lie of 2021.
However, the political fact-checking site PolitiFact determined that the Lie of the Year was the series of falsehoods voiced by Republican leaders and supporters of former President Donald Trump about the Jan.6 assault on the Capitol to downplay the event.
“PolitiFact had many options to choose our Lie of the year: the claim that the 2020 elections were stolen, the claims that the covid-19 vaccine was not working and this one, the lies about the Capitol uprising,” says the site, an investigative journalism project of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a nonprofit organization.
“Efforts to downplay and deny what happened are an attempt to blatantly reformulate reality itself,” they added.
The organization explained that it chose the lies about the events of January 6 because of the importance of the attack, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to prevent Congress from continuing to verify the votes of the Electoral College of the presidential elections. November 2020, “turning the seat of American democracy into the scene of an unforgettable crime.”
It was also selected as Lie of the Year because the events of that day were widely publicized by the media and social networks, allowing the public to see for themselves exactly what happened.
Additionally, the body of evidence includes direct video documentation and many eyewitness accounts.
“So efforts to downplay and deny what happened are an attempt to blatantly reframe reality itself,” says PolitiFact.
THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
“It is intended to cast doubt and render us incapable of reacting in the way we need to react to what is actually a threat to democracy,” said Kate Starbird, associate professor and disinformation expert at the University of Washington.
PolitiFact classifies into 3 kinds of lies that have been expressed by Republicans since January 6
1. Change the evidence: “January 6 was a peaceful ‘tourist visit’.”
2. Discard it: “It wasn’t a big deal.”
3. Throw It All On The Wall: January 6 Conspiracy Theories.
4. Dismiss it: “No further investigation is necessary.”
“Almost a year later, there is no evidence to say that January 6 was an eye mask operation, a tourist visit, a false alarm or a day without incident to forget,” says PolitiFact.
“Until now, the consequences of what happened before, during and after January 6 have been limited to rioters like the” QAnon Shaman “who were charged or sentenced for storming the Capitol. Political leaders and pundits, on the other hand, are doing business as usual. Trump, acquitted in the Senate for the second time, could run again in 2024, “he added.
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