As reported by the Times’ Patrick Healy and Adrian J. Rivera, the group’s small size (12) is worth noting, but we can fairly assume that their views are hardly unique among Republicans as a whole.
Granted, this was just a handful of Republicans; there are countless other opinions out there. But these 12 Republicans, at least, were emphatic and unanimous: None of the hearings or testimonies changed how they thought about Jan. 6.
Indeed, the committee’s intense focus on Mr. Trump left some of them feeling sympathetic for him, and 10 of the 12 said they were glad he was running for president again. Several of the focus group participants argued that the committee was biased against Mr. Trump from the get-go and that the testimonies — even from former close aides like Cassidy Hutchinson — were more about currying favor with the Washington establishment than about bringing truths to light.
That defensive sense of cynicism and grievance is pervasive throughout the responses by the Times’ focus group. For them, the hearings were largely perceived as a personal affront, as simply another attack on their choices from a liberal media establishment they find suspect and aligned against them. The Times’ interview veers off into several subtopics that allow these voters to mouth platitudes about their own supposed feelings of national unity and goodwill toward their fellow citizens (one of them cites the recent outpouring of support for the injured NFL player Damar Hamlin as an example of Americans “coming together”), but the overall tenor of their responses is lifted directly from the words they hear on Fox News:
“I think America is the land of opportunity to a degree, but every day we’re losing more and more freedoms, the freedoms to do what we want to do.”
“You can’t even tell anybody if you’re Republican anymore because if you are, they chastise you like you’re a flipping idiot.”
“I think freedom of speech doesn’t exist anymore.”
Grievance and perceived affront to their self-interests aside, the overarching theme from this group’s responses is a reflexive, instinctual denial. Asked why she still believes the 2020 election was fraudulently decided, one respondent points to the size of Trump’s rallies, concluding they were indicative of a massive groundswell of support. Others cite conspiracy theories: “proof” of election fraud such as “truckloads of ballots showing up in the middle of the night” and “so many things that didn’t add up, didn’t make sense.” Most found ways to excuse Trump’s responsibility for the Jan. 6 insurrection, with some taking particular umbrage at the fact that others in their social circles blamed Trump directly.Â
The Jan. 6 hearings effectively did nothing to change these people’s minds. Reactions such as “That’s their way of playing the game in politics,” and “They [members of the committee] knew what they were going to do” were characteristic. Apparently, most of this group didn’t watch the hearings at all, while others who claim to have watched parts of them expressed frustration that “they didn’t cover Black Lives matter [and] antifa.“ One took comfort in the self-assurance that “a lot of that stuff [was] fabricated in the first place.” One person who watched none of the hearings live declared them a “waste of $3 million,” a sentiment echoed by several of the respondents. Some suggested that the witnesses who testified were motivated purely by self-interest, “mak[ing] up stories” that were “bull” and geared to “cover themselves.”
For example, here’s “Barney,” a 72-year-old white male from Delaware:
Well, that statement of him getting in a physical altercation with Secret Service is pure bull. The guy’s 70-some years old. He got in a physical altercation with a Secret Service agent? Please.
I’d be willing to bet you that former aide works for a Democrat right now. That’s how Washington works. I lived there my whole life. I know how the game is played.    Â
What these interviews clearly illustrate is that is practically impossible for most Trump supporters to think critically about the choice they made. In supporting Trump they staked their personal identity on the correctness of their decision, and they are now unwilling to budge—even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary—because that would imply they made a bad choice. They would have to admit to a personal failure, and that is simply intolerable. There is no doubt that the vast majority of these respondents (and by extrapolation, likely the vast majority of Republicans) will go to their graves totally convinced that Trump had nothing to do with the Jan. 6 attacks, and that both Trump and themselves are victims of a malevolent “conspiracy” to distort the truth. Although several claim to have some interest in Ron DeSantis (who they seem to admire), and some profess a rather dim view of the current Republican House of Representatives, the reality is that they would march into the voting booth and vote for Trump again in a heartbeat, regardless of anything that occurred on Jan. 6, and regardless of anything else he did.
This should surprise no one, of course. When faced with the unsettling prospect of having their core values challenged, people naturally become defensive and look for any means—including embracing conspiracy theories and outright denial—to avoid that discomfort. Fox News, YouTube charlatans, and right-wing media offer the most accessible means to do this by exploiting peoples’ innate “fight or flight” impulse, while providing their audience soothing assurance that they alone are the smart ones, they alone are privy to the truth, and they alone “know how the game is played.” If these folks’ susceptibility to such persuasion weren’t so dangerous for the rest of us, we could all sit back, chalk it up as yet another pathetic, sad commentary on the human condition, and spend the rest of our lives patiently navigating around them and their delusions.
Unfortunately, we just don’t have that luxury.
