Let the delusions begin
Are Republicans living in a dream world?
I hope not.
But there’s growing evidence “The Big Lie” is sprouting wings.
According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, 53% of Republicans still believe Donald Trump is their true president.
HE’S NOT!
That same poll reveals that 56% of Republicans still believe that the November election was tainted by illegal voting.
IT WAS NOT!
It’s been seven months since the election, and there’s never been a shred of evidence that illegal voting took place.
Republicans make up 29% of the registered voters in this country. So, it’s certainly worth noting that 73% of those Republicans pin some or a great deal of responsibility on “left-wing protesters trying to make Donald Trump look bad” during the insurrection of Jan. 6.
THAT’S NOT TRUE!
But that’s the findings of a recent Yahoo/YouGov survey of 1,588 U.S. adults.
It’s as if reality is no longer important to a large number of Republicans.
A similar YAHOO/YouGov poll indicates that 20% of Republicans believe the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol was justified.
IT WAS NOT!
To many Republicans, up is really down; on is really off; over there is really over here; but more importantly, 81,268,924 is less than 74,216,154.
All of this speaks to the long and twisted reach of a certain one-term, twice impeached ex-president who promotes “The Big Lie” whenever he pokes his head out of Mar-A-Lago.
NPR keeps an online database of the 473 (and counting) arrested and charged culprits of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
It’s startling to read how some of Trump’s most brazen devotees functioned as if he’d personally given them permission to take down the government.
Sixty-six-year-old Paul Spigelmyer of Lewistown, Pa., seemingly tipped himself off to the FBI with his Facebook posts. “What happened at the capital (sic) yesterday should and must continue till this election fraud is stopped,” and “The capital (sic) building needs to be burnt down it doesn’t belong to the people that work there,” he wrote.
Mr. Spigelmyer was spotted on a surveillance camera inside the Capitol building. It’s a certainty Mr. Trump won’t be around when he’s brought to trial on a series of charges.
It appears obvious that there are two distinct American perspectives these days. There’s the one that’s an adherent to reality. Then, there’s the other one that clings close to Donald Trump’s wishes.
And even when he hasn’t said a thing, there are some Republicans who follow what they believe he’s thinking.
According to a recent PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist Poll, 41% of Republicans say they won’t get a vaccination. That’s compared to only 4% of Democrats who say they won’t get one.
There are other polls that show there’s a much starker difference between Republicans and Democrats.
In an Axios-Ipsos poll taken to mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, 79% of white Republicans say America has done enough to ensure racial equality, compared to only 12% of white Democrats who feel that way.
It’s no wonder that a post-November election (AP VoteCast) study indicates that only 8% of Black voters supported Trump, while 90% voted for Biden.
People don’t go where they aren’t wanted.
Telling them they don’t have legitimate grievances will ensure they won’t support you every time you ask them to.
There’s a new poll that’s, perhaps, more troubling than most.
Research from The Public Religion Research Institute indicates “that 23% of Republicans believe that the government, the media and financial worlds in the United States are controlled by Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation.”
THERE IS NO SUCH CHILD SEX OPERATION!
That’s the crackpot QAnon movement in a nutshell.
There are people who live among us who believe that nonsense.
And it gets even nuttier.
According to that research, “28% of Republicans believe things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence so they can save our country.”
THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
I hope not.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.