In a hallmark of the time, it determines what many Americans are willing to believe about January 6, a day fully documented in real time by journalists, participants and cable television, and reconstructed in the hundreds of cases that are being assembled by federal prosecutors. by its policy, not by the facts. And amid a seemingly endless pandemic punctuated by confusing public health messages and government mandates, these fictional and conspiratorial accounts of the unrest have obvious appeal, especially to Trump supporters alienated from mainstream institutions after his tumultuous presidency and loss. electoral.
“When I talk to people on my side of the aisle, they will have a litany that says, ‘They lied to us here and changed this,'” said Sean Spicer, a former Trump press secretary, who is now hosting a show on Newsmax. “There is a belief that the mainstream media and most of our main institutions no longer care about people.” He added: “So when someone launches a conspiracy it’s, ‘Why not? That’s equally plausible. ‘
Supporters have created characters to back up their claims that antifa infiltrators or federal agents were the ones who whipped up the mob, in some cases doing so as events unfolded in Washington. One is a man named Ray Epps, a Trump supporter who was captured on video the night of January 5 urging his countrymen to “go to the Capitol” the next day.
Some in the crowd responded approvingly, “Come on!” an answer sounds.
“Peacefully,” Epps said, just before others started yelling “Fed, Fed, Fed!” in the man, who at age 60 stood out from the much younger crowd.
Epps, who lives in Queen Creek, Arizona, where he owns Rocking R Farms and Knotty Barn, a wedding and event venue, according to PolitiFact, appears in another video taken the next day. He is seen shouting to a crowd: “Okay folks, spread the word! As soon as the president finishes speaking, we go to the Capitol. The Capitol is at this address. “