Few Republicans Understand The Difference Between Truth And Lies
I doubt many Republican voters are catching on, although… his fund-raising hauls— nearly the entire reason he’s in this charade— have begun drying up a little. As part of the most recent Morning Consult poll, Republican voters were asked if Trump should run for president again. The results were not nearly as definitively in favor as they once were:
Yes, definitely- 50%
Yes, probably- 16%
No, probably not- 17%
No, definitely not- 13%
Among independent voters, Trump’s favorable score was 37% compared to 59% unfavorable. But among Republicans, his favorables are still sky high— 82% compared to 16% unfavorable. When asked how much responsibility Trump bears for for the J-6 insurrection, independents say 58% but among Republicans, it’s only 31%. (45% blame Biden!) It’s like they’re on another planet. Like these guys:
Republican voters were also asked if Trump misled Americans about the outcome of the 2020 election. Only 30% of Republicans have that figured out yet, which is even odder when you consider that 45% of Republicans agree that he tried to overturn the election results. And meanwhile, you have Trumpist candidates all over the country, claiming— like him, without any evidence— that their losses in GOP primaries were fraudulent. The Republican Party is mired in a swamp of conspiracy theories, deceptions and alternative reality.
Other than the Republican base, I doubt many people were surprised when AP’s survey of election officials across parties and across the country found that the expanded use of drop boxes for mailed ballots did not lead to any widespread problems. “Drop boxes,” wrote Anthony Izaguirre and Christina Cassidy, “are considered by many election officials to be safe and secure, and have been used to varying degrees by states across the political spectrum. Yet conspiracy theories and efforts by Republicans to eliminate or restrict them since the 2020 election persist. This month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that drop boxes are not allowed under state law and can no longer be widely used… Starting months before the 2020 presidential election, Trump and his allies have made a series of unfounded claims suggesting that drop boxes open the door to voter fraud. Republican state lawmakers, as part of their push to add new voting restrictions, have in turn placed rules around when and where the boxes could be accessed.”
On Face the Nation yesterday, Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one Republican member of Congress who has figured Trump out, told the viewers that it made no sense to call Trump as a Select Committee witness. “Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t mind not telling the truth. Let’s just put that mildly. He lies all the time. I wouldn’t put it past him to even lie under oath, so I’m not sure what the value is there.”
The Guardian published an interesting book review over the weekend of Jonathan Lemire’s The Big Lie— Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, And The State Of American Politics After 2020, which is due out next week. Martin Pengelly wrote that Bannon “has publicly claimed Donald Trump does not lie. But according to sources quoted in a new book, Bannon told aides: ‘Trump would say anything, he would lie about anything.’ The former president lies ‘to win whatever exchange he [is] having at that moment,’ Bannon said.”
A far-right gadfly and provocateur, Bannon managed Trump’s winning campaign in 2016 then spent less than a year in the White House before being fired.
A source for numerous books about Trump– even saying he believed Trump had early stage dementia– he returned to the 45th president’s inner circle to play a central role in his attempt to stay in power.
This week, Mother Jones published audio recorded three days before polling day in which Bannon told associates Trump planned to “just declare victory” on election night.
Trump did not do so but Bannon continued to work to keep the president in power.
Lemire reports that Bannon promised January 6, the day when congress certifies electoral college results and therefore “an obscure date, known only by a few political junkies… would [come to] be ‘known the world over’.”
…As president, Trump was famously happy to lie. One count from the Washington Post found he did so 30,573 times in his time in power.
Bannon’s trial— jury selection— starts today.