MSNBC host Joy Reid and Officer Fanone tore into Republicans over the news that instead of holding rioters more accountable, they’ve become more sympathetic to the lawbreakers during the last few years after the appalling attack on our Capitol. A new poll states that Republicans are more likely to absolve Donald Trump of responsibility for the attack than they were in 2021. Meaning they’ve learned nothing, and the public has been gaslit by Republican leadership as they pass down that task to Fox News, ultimately ending with Republicans not giving a shit over the worst attack on American soil in recent history.
After playing clips of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tucker Carlson denying the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6, Joy Reid called them out.
“Certain Republicans and members of the conservative media have gone overboard this year in downplaying the insurrection and Trump’s role in it,” she said. “So it’s no surprise that now a significant number of Americans do not even think it was his fault. A new poll from the Washington Post and the University of Maryland found that only 53% of Americans and just 14% of Republicans, one-fourth, think Trump bears a great deal or a good deal of responsibility for Jan. 6.
Those numbers are down significantly from the last time the poll was conducted in 2021.”
“Yeah, I mean, listen, it pisses me off to no end,” Officer Fanone said. “But I also, I understand, you know, when you have people like, you know, presidential candidates, Republican presidential candidates, governors, members of Congress, elected leaders, you know, people that hold positions of authority in this country telling their constituents lies and BS like you just heard, you know, then that’s gonna be the end result.”
“People are not gonna know the truth about Jan. 6, the reality of that day, the experience that so many police officers like myself had battling with these violent insurrectionists at the Capitol,” he continued.
“Let me let you listen to some young Republican voters,” Reid said, then played a clip of young voters buying into the bullshit talking point of Jan. 6 being an inside job.
“You were not a Capitol police officer,” Reid said to Fanone. “You were called in because they were being overwhelmed. Where do you think this idea comes from, that this was somehow done by the feds? You were there, and I think it’s pretty clear to you that this was done by civilians or, in some cases, people who were actual law enforcement or military, but not doing it for officials.”
“Those idiots that you just played are just repeating the lies that they’ve heard their masters within the Republican Party echo for the past three years.
And we’re gonna keep on doing that,” Fanone said.
He’s not wrong. Republicans, including the leadership going all the way to the newly minted House Speaker, have spoon-fed false information to their base about Jan. 6 for three years now. If you’ve ever been gaslit, you know the drill. And this started at the top with Donald Trump. You see, trickle-down does work.