Donald Trump discussion Thread IX (threadbanned users listed in OP)

Whatabout?

As has already been said, none of those examples came with an attempted storming of the Capitol, spurred on by a President refusing to concede, while the Dems conceded the prior losses. Many GOP members openly questioned, and continue to question, the 2020 election in a dangerous escalation of anti- democratic rhetoric.

You can talk about "Fake News Mafia" or orthodoxies all day long but the fact is, 2020 was not stolen and the persistence with this narrative a dangerous Conspiracy Theory that's attempting to undermine democracy. Pleading victimisation doesn't wash.

Why do you wish to question that which has been proven legitimate, even by those who intentionally tried to find irregularities (in fact IIRC GOP enacted recounts only surfaced MORE votes for Biden in some situations)

Again. The 2020 election conspiracy has precipitated an actual attempt to storm the Capitol building, has seen armed militia Weekend Warriors appear at FBI offices just recently - and a continued narrative from GOP members attempting to claim Donald Trump the true president.

If you can't understand why this is a dangerous precipice for a country to find itself - a country with noted scars from a brutal civil war, a war where the seditionist flag is still flown by Trumpists among others - then I'm not sure what the point of this conversation is. Bar some wink and nodding towards liberal conspiracy, and attempted self-victimisation.

This isn't The Moon Landing "just asking questions", this is part of a grouping too disorganised to stage a proper coup, but trying to all the same. These are terrorists, operating under the guise of civility.

Exactly. Claiming equivalence is a thin attempt to Both Sides the situation. Social media manipulation is a known quantity, not just from 2016 but across the spectrum of life now; but nobody ever said the Russians had a hand in the 2016 voting, counting, or certification process - or as you say Podge - having the election result plain overturned.

2020 was an attempted coup - unless of course one believes the idea all those around on Jan 6th were simply tourists with a love of tactical gear and cable-ties. Or that those in the GOP refusing to concede were deeply concerned about democracy. Trump actively sought advise to just ignore or overturn the result. It's not even subtle.

And when even GOP or GOP adjacent recounts & investigations couldn't find discrepancies, or proof of bamboo in the paper fibres & all that bullshít? That we're still here discussing the issue speaks volumes about how much of a cult Trumpism has become.

But the theorist isn't capable of processing evidence; by design they must refuse it as an instinct. By the very nature of the Conspiracy Theory, it says "everyone else is in on it". So even if you come along with facts, data and proof the Theory's bullshít - or dangerous bullshít in this instance - wellllll. You're just a sheep aren't you? Look at you, believing what Big Tech or the Fake News Mafia want you to believe. Only the theorist knows the truth.

All the Bad Science, discredited facts and other ammunition will be clung onto with the devotion of the religious zealot; I'd not be surprised if psychologically they're cut from the same cloth. Emotional investment; in the case of the theorist, depends on a central pillar that says everyone else is a fool.