Just because Republicans choose unreality doesn’t mean the media should ignore the facts of January 6.
On January 6, 2021, I watched CNN as thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. As someone well-versed in watching tragedy on television, I was struck by just how indisputable the facts were at the time: violent, red-hat-clad MAGA rioters, followed by Republicans in Congress, tried to stop democracy in its tracks. Trump had told his followers that the protest in Washington, DC, “will be wild,” and in the assault that followed his speech, some rioters smeared feces on the walls of the Capitol. Hundreds of them have since been convicted on charges ranging from assault on federal officers to seditious conspiracy. These are stubborn facts, the kind that do not care about your feelings. These facts include the inalienable truth that Trump is the first president in American history to reject the peaceful transfer of power.
It never occurred to me that these facts could somehow be perverted by partisanship. But three years later, we are seeing just that, as Republicans cling to the lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” by Joe Biden and are poised to make Trump their 2024 nominee. And perhaps even more dangerous than the GOP ditching reality is the news media’s inability to cover Trumpism as the threat to democracy that it very much is.
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But the problem is, when all you have is conventional political framing, everything looks like politics as usual. One candidate makes a claim; the other disputes it. Two sides are divided, etc. This framing only works if both parties operate within the frameworks of a shared reality. But Trumpism doesn’t allow for the reality the rest of us inhabit. Trump’s supporters believe their leader’s reality and not, say, the reality the rest of us see with our eyes. As Trump once told a crowd: “Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
Journalists may be well-intentioned in trying to be “objective,” or they’re simply afraid of being labeled partisan. Either way, coverage of January 6 that gives equal weight to both sides—one based in reality, one not—is helping pave the road for authoritarianism.
Hunter S. Thompson reflected on the problems with Objective Journalism throughout his career: summarized well in a section of his obituary for Nixon.
Oh God.. even back then it was called out jfc we're doomed
On the other hand, that was a while ago, and we are still going…
While dealing with the same fucks that were behind Reagan
That doesn't mean much. It took centuries for Rome to fall, and all the while they spoke as if they were the greatest civilization to ever exist.
I see it clearly in this country too. The performative fealty to patriotism - God Bless America, USA! USA! USA!, Greatest Country on Earth, and so on... it's the same as the Romans who thought their empire would carry on into eternity as the columns crumbled around them.
We are all frogs in a pot of tepid water, slowly being brought to a boil.
But that's fine, embrace the end! Rome was a slave society with incredible wealth disparity. They massacred people for entertainment. They conscripted guys for like 20 years to plunder and collect taxes that went mostly to the very top, the richest of families. Good riddance.
My point was more about how a great empire can fall without the common people ever realizing it because they are blinded by hubris, not really an endorsement of the Romans and their society.