Regarding the latest GOP attack on Democracy

“Intolerance is almost inevitably accompanied by a natural and true inability to comprehend or make allowance for opposite points of view. .... We find here with significant uniformity what one psychologist has called ‘logic-proof compartments.’ The logic-proof compartment has always been with us. .... The public and the press, or for that matter, the public and any force that modifies public opinion, interact. . . . . The truth is that while it appears to be forming public opinion on fundamental matters, the press is often conforming to it. .... Proof that the public and the institutions that make public opinion interact is shown in instances in which books were stifled because of popular disapproval at one time and then brought forward by popular demand at a later time when public opinion had altered. Religious and very early scientific works are among such books.” -- Edward Bernays, Crystallizing Public Opinion, 1923

An article in the New York Times today, G.O.P. Declares Jan. 6 Attack ‘Legitimate Political Discourse’[1], is solid evidence of how autocratic and anti-democratic the GOP has become. The NYT writes:

The Republican Party on Friday officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it “legitimate political discourse,” and rebuked two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it.

The Republican National Committee’s voice vote to censure Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois at its winter meeting in Salt Lake City culminated more than a year of vacillation, which started with party leaders condemning the Capitol attack and Mr. Trump’s conduct, then shifted to downplaying and denying it.

On Friday, the party went further in a resolution slamming Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger for taking part in the House investigation of the assault, saying they were participating in “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”  

“Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line,” Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said in a statement. “They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.”  

.... It was the latest and most forceful effort by the Republican Party to minimize what happened and the broader attempt by Mr. Trump and his allies to invalidate the results of the 2020 election. In approving it and opting to punish two of its own, Republicans seemed to embrace a position that many of them have only hinted at: that the assault and the actions that preceded it were acceptable.

It came days after Mr. Trump suggested that, if re-elected in 2024, he would consider pardons for those convicted in the Jan. 6 attack and for the first time described his goal that day as subverting the election results, saying in a statement that Vice President Mike Pence “could have overturned the election.” (emphasis added)

For conservatives, what is there to worry about? The GOP leadership justifies the 1/6 coup attempt as legitimate discourse and the ex-president would pardon the 1/6 insurrectionists because they did nothing wrong. That is why most rank and file Republicans are unconcerned.  

After news of its vote got out, the RNC realized how bad it looked. The leadership then tried to deflect from the stark reality that the GOP is autocratic and anti-democratic. Party leaders feebly said that calling the 1/6 coup attempt legitimate discourse did not apply to the people who tried to overthrow the government on 1/6. Well, if the actual rioters did nothing wrong, then the people who planned the 1/6 event must have done something bad. Of course, that won't do for the GOP because it will never discipline its elites, not even for trying to overthrow the government. 

So, what the hell was the RNC even talking about? The answer is simple and frightening: It does not matter what the RNC was referring to or whether it makes any sense or not. What counts in tribal politics is the leadership says something, even if it is sheer nonsense. The rank and file need something to cling to, even if it is clearly and directly contradicted by evidence and/or sound reasoning.

Because of ruthless propaganda like this, most conservatives in America today (~95% ?) see no cause for concern about Republican attacks on democracy, elections, the rule of law or civil liberties. In their minds, the cause for worry about such things is the Democrats. The Dems are democracy attacking socialist tyrants, kleptocrats, thugs and liars, not the GOP. According to the GOP leadership's deceit, lies and slanders, Republicans are the ones valiantly and righteously defending what is good and decent, contrary evidence be damned. 

In fact, decades of ruthless GOP propaganda has been teaching, among other anti-democratic things, (i) distrust of democracy, experts, truth, a free press, and (ii) intolerance and fear of political opposition and dissenting opinions.[1] That distrust and intolerance has created in the minds of most rank and file conservatives a huge logic-proof compartment[2] about what the GOP actually stands for and why and how it relies so heavily on deceit, lies and social division. 

Building those logic-proof compartments via decades of propaganda makes the GOP leadership's current claim ring true. In those trapped minds, the 1/6 coup attempt really was innocent and legitimate political discourse. Contrary evidence just does not matter.

Footnotes: 

1. Dissenting opinions in the GOP leadership are RINO hunted out. Experts bearing inconvenient news, e.g., climate science experts, public health experts, etc., are dismissed as liars, with every honest mistake being irrefutable evidence of a massive socialist conspiracy and/or lies. 

2. The logic-proof compartment here constitutes mostly sacrosanct political beliefs and tribal loyalty that contrary evidence cannot reach. Belief that the 1/6 coup attempt was not a serious attack on democracy or that the ex-president did anything wrong are two of those beliefs.