Commemorations of the capture of the Capitol: irreconcilable stories
Pro-Trump activists stormed the Capitol on the sidelines of a demonstration to protest the results of the US presidential election.
Photo taken January 6, 2021 in Washington.
REUTERS - STRINGER
By: Sophie Malibeaux
4 min
A year after the events that led hundreds of demonstrators to invade the Capitol in Washington, American society continues to be divided over what really happened on January 6, 2020. Beyond a difference in perception on the intentions of the crowd that day, the most unconditional supporters of Donald Trump perpetuate a narrative totally disconnected from reality.
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Even if a majority of citizens disapproved of the assault on the Capitol, some still refuse to admit what the images have shown: an insurrectionary attempt turning into a riot. The American press released
a series of polls
this week . According to one of these surveys, nearly one in five Americans clings to the false flag attack scenario. In other words, according to them, the violence was not committed by supporters of Trump, but by antifa activists infiltrated in the march which aimed to prevent the certification of the election results by Congress.
Some denounce a plot by the FBI, conspiratorial sites like the Gateway Pundit have circulated the story that the FBI had planned everything to give Congress a pretext to ban the carrying of firearms, a real obsession of ultra conservatives .
Online investigations
In reality, there is nothing to corroborate these allegations about the involvement of the antifa movement on that day.
There is no shortage of evidence on the internet regarding the role played by Trump's most determined supporters.
Journalists, investigators, intelligence services were able to get their hands on a lot of elements that remained available on the networks, because many rioters boasted of having participated in the attack on the Capitol.
Several research centers or
think tanks
have examined and analyzed this abundant material. Like the Atlantic Council, whose DFRLab (Digital Forensic Research Lab) mission is to identify the sources of digital disinformation. The report "
After the insurrection, how domestic extremists adapted and evolved after the january 6 US Capitol Attack
Signed Jared Holt, lists the work of influencers upstream of the attack and studies how they evolved afterward, developing and disseminating an alternate version of reality.
The report reviews in detail the establishment of a “revisionist” narrative on these events.
A story relayed by many elected Republicans, such as Paul Gosar, Ron Johnson, Thomas Massie, or even Senator Andrew Clyde who declared during a hearing in May, that there had been no riot , that we had rather attended a tourist walk.
However, no one disputes the toll of 5 dead and hundreds of injured and the fact that the Capitol, the beating heart of American democracy, was ransacked that day.
Donald Trump's responsibility
What comforts Donald Trump's supporters in this conspiratorial delirium is that the former president continues to propagate the thesis of the stolen election. Its strategy of regaining power consists of instilling doubt with regard to the institutions: elections, and justice. Since all the appeals filed to contest the outcome of the vote were rejected by the judges, some of whom were appointed by Donald Trump himself.
Faced with the crowd on January 6, 2020, the former president had encouraged the march on the Capitol, adding "
you cannot take back your country by being weak
", then it took hours before asking them to return home .
So much so that today, many of them believe that they were within their rights in seeking to interrupt the electoral process by force.
No wonder they are trying to rewrite history today.
Democracy in danger
Failure to come to an agreement on even the account of what happened on January 6, 2022 continues to heighten the polarization of American society.
With a few exceptions, the two camps no longer speak to each other.
Including on social networks, because those that large platforms like Twitter have excluded, find themselves on other networks where they maintain the story of an alternate reality and the delirium of persecution.
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