\n<\/p>\n
On January 6, 2021, I watched CNN as thousands of Donald Trump<\/strong> 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<\/a> Republicans in Congress, tried to stop democracy in its tracks. Trump had told<\/a> his followers that the protest in Washington, DC, \u201cwill be wild,\u201d and in the assault that followed his speech, some rioters smeared feces<\/a> on the walls of the Capitol. Hundreds of them have since been convicted on charges ranging from assault<\/a> on federal officers to seditious conspiracy<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> that the 2020 election was \u201cstolen\u201d by Joe Biden<\/strong> and are poised to make Trump their 2024 nominee. And perhaps even more dangerous than the GOP ditching reality is the news media\u2019s inability to cover Trumpism as the threat to democracy that it very much is.<\/p>\n I had to read this headline<\/a> last week from the Associated Press several times because I was sure I\u2019d had it wrong: \u201cOne attack, two interpretations: Biden and Trump both make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry.\u201d Later in the piece appeared the line: Biden has \u201crepeatedly characterized Trump as a threat to democracy.\u201d Biden had characterized Trump that way? Well, there\u2019s a reason for that! It\u2019s because Trump is<\/em> a threat to democracy. Meanwhile, The New York Times<\/em> offered<\/a> this headline:<\/a> \u201cTrump Responds to Biden\u2019s Speech Calling Him a Threat to Democracy,\u201d which was apparently changed<\/a>\u2014though not for the better\u2014to \u201cTrump Accuses Biden of \u2018Fearmongering\u2019 After Speech About Democracy.\u201d And perhaps the most offensive headline<\/a> both-sidesing reality was from USA Today:<\/em> \u201cBiden and Trump\u2019s split over Jan. 6 is as divisive as it is for voters.\u201d<\/p>\n The facts of January 6 and its aftermath should be clear to any journalist who simply watched the events that day\u2014and especially if they watched the damning House committee hearings<\/a> or followed the exhaustive reporting since. It\u2019s not Biden\u2019s opinion that Trump is a threat. It\u2019s not my opinion. It\u2019s a fact. The guy who told Sean Hannity<\/strong> he wanted to be a \u201cdictator\u201d<\/a> for his first day in office is, in fact, a threat to democracy. Liz Cheney<\/strong> warned that electing Trump again would be \u201csleepwalking into dictatorship<\/a>,\u201d and Chris Christie<\/strong> said<\/a> that Trump \u201cacts like someone who wants to be a dictator\u201d because he \u201cdoesn’t care about our democracy,\u201d adding: \u201cHe acts like someone who wants to be a dictator. He acts like someone who doesn\u2019t care for the Constitution.”<\/p>\n 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\u2019t allow for the reality the rest of us inhabit. Trump\u2019s supporters believe their leader\u2019s reality and not, say, the reality the rest of us see with our eyes. As Trump once told<\/a> a crowd: \u201cDon\u2019t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. What you\u2019re seeing and what you\u2019re reading is not what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Journalists may be well-intentioned in trying to be \u201cobjective,\u201d or they\u2019re simply afraid of being labeled partisan. Either way, coverage of January 6 that gives equal weight to both sides\u2014one based in reality, one not\u2014is helping pave the road for authoritarianism.<\/p>\n History shows us that conventional framing enables extremism by making it seem like politics as usual; the Times<\/em> infamously once ran this headline<\/a>: \u201cHitler Tamed by Prison; Released on Parole, He Is Expected to Return to Austria.\u201d Jason Stanley,<\/strong> a Yale professor and author of How Fascism Works,<\/em> texted me: \u201cConventional political framing is by definition conventional. It is therefore totally inadequate for unconventional times. It makes a false presupposition of normality, that its audience is therefore invited to accept.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump is such a powerful figure in the Republican Party that he\u2019s all but flattened his political rivals. Perhaps motivated by Trump\u2019s popularity in polls, these political rivals have accepted Trump\u2019s version of reality; with the notable exception of Christie, they have largely gone along with his lie that the election was stolen. The fact that so few of Trump\u2019s primary challengers condemned his lies has created an entire ecosystem of Republican candidates occupying Trump\u2019s bizarro Earth Two, all in the slim hope of lulling away Trump\u2019s primary voters with their own muted version of Trump\u2019s own autocratic impulses. I wondered<\/a> months back if the 2024 pack would ever really take on Trump, and now a week before Iowa, it looks like that\u2019ll never happen.<\/p>\n In Iowa on Saturday, Trump said that the rioters acted \u201cpatriotically and peacefully<\/a>\u201d on January 6, and those in jail are \u201chostages.<\/a>\u201d He added, \u201cThey ought to release the J6 hostages. They\u2019ve suffered.\u201d I\u2019m no criminal lawyer, but isn\u2019t going to prison for crimes generally how all this works? Describing such people as \u201chostages\u201d is the latest example of Trump pushing a version of events divorced from reality\u2014one that some in his party were quick to promote. Like clockwork, Republican congresswoman (and veep contender<\/a>) Elise Stefanik<\/strong> told<\/a> NBC\u2019s Kristen Welker,<\/strong> \u201cI have concerns about the treatment of January 6 hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n Every time elected Republicans repeat a Trump lie, the schism between reality and Trumpian reality grows. By endorsing Trump\u2019s unreality, Republicans are effectively endorsing Trump\u2019s autocratic nature in which everything he says is to be believed, no matter how baseless or just plain bonkers. But of all Trump\u2019s many lies<\/a>, his bogus claims about the 2020 election and the events of January 6 are the most dangerous for the future of democracy.<\/p>\n The current president, meanwhile, remains clear-eyed about this tragic day.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw with our own eyes the violent mob storm the United States Capitol,\u201d Biden said<\/a> in a Friday speech pegged to the three-year anniversary. \u201cIt was almost in disbelief as you first turned on the television. For the first time in our history, insurrectionists had come to stop the peaceful transfer, transfer of power, in America. First time. Smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking the police. Outside, gallows were erected as the MAGA crowd chanted, \u2018Hang Mike Pence.<\/strong>\u2019 Inside, they hunted for Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi.<\/strong> The House was chanting as they marched through and smashed windows, \u2018Where\u2019s Nancy?\u2019 Over 140 police officers were injured.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t Biden\u2019s opinion, or his side. It\u2019s what happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n