USS Trump Is Now Rudderless

[Analytics]

I've been reading a few posts and comments on Parler, and it appears that a group of people who were so unified on Tuesday no longer know what to believe. This is severely exasperated without Trump tweeting the official narritive.

For example, Sean Hannity posted a video entitled, "HONAN: 'Street Thugs' in DC Attacked the TRUE PATRIOTS -Capitol Hill Police Officers | Sean Hannity." In this video, it shows an angry, violent mob attacking the capitol, and a small group of valiant cops defending it and ultimately succeeding at keeping the congressmen safe, although 60 cops got injured and one died.

A few people are following Hannity's lead:

Mooba51 says, "That is the right assessment. Thugs a.k.a. hired infiltrators/Antifa spearheaded the breach of the Capitol. Nothing new for them. Most Trump supporters where there for just htat to show support. Can't spin it."

Thetittyman05 says, "I don't really think Trump supporters attacked the police I think it was antifa. For those of you with a little faith there is a storm about to arrive."

Stephensprouse says, "Thank you hannity for finally posting something that shows that it was not Patriots that did it. Been trying to tell you conservative journalists since Wednesday that it was antifa."

However, a plurality of commentators aren't buying this and aren't willing to throw their fellow rebels under the bus. They proudly stand with their Trumpers who stormed Congress, and proudly stand with the people who stood against the cops:

Shawnelson646 says, "I think it's a misrepresentation to call them street thugs. They're Americans who are fed up, Americans who are tired of the government's overreaching powers. I don't condone their conduct, but Americans are fed up on both sides."

RayHarris9854 says, "And the veteran the police shot doesn't matter!?"

Curtisd1 agrees, "A death sentence for breaking the window out of a door is pretty harsh don't you think?"

Tennistom1 says, "Except who was the douche bag cop that killed the female vet? Is he in jail yet."

Drdaughdrill says, "Street thugs, I think not. Those were simply American citizens who are sick and tired of all these arrogant, traitorous, thieving politicians living high off the hog off the American peoples money....And if you think Wednesday was a riot, you're a real idiot. First off, that's the peoples house, that doesn't belong to Pelosi and Schumer, they're a lot of the reason it happened. That was just a fair warning. If the people want Washington, they can and will take it."

@signoftimes really gets to the point: "It was a well organized planned attack. Every Capitol Hill Police Officer needs to be thoroughly investigated. The murderous Bastard that killed an innocent Patriot should stand before a shooting squad. The praise was publicized for the corrupt, spineless Congress that had knifes in the back of election integrity. We sure as Hell have never been provided security for their attacks on citizens. All of them need their eyelids removed, they deserve no rest."

[Analytics]

There are two other patterns I've seen as I've been reading about how Trumpists have reacted to last week's events.

First, there was a ton of whataboutism. What about BLM "burning down" Minneapolis etc. They compare the best intentions of their fellow Trumpists to a caricature and general misrepresentation of what happened during the BLM protests and why.

The second pattern was more pronounced and more interesting. The Trumpists who thought storming the capital was a good thing thought Trump was in favor of it, while those who were against it thought Trump was against it. The Trumpists who thought that actual violence is a good thing thought Trump was in favor of violence, while those who are opposed to violence thought Trump was against it. Regardless of whether they thought the violence at the capital was good or bad, almost without exception they thought Trump was righteous and was on their side.

This is remarkable, and one can't help seeing the similarities with religion. Just as a Mormon won't admit Joseph Smith did anything wrong, a Trumpist won't admit Trump did anything wrong. Just as any religionist thinks God is on his side in whatever religious battle is being fought, Trumpists think Trump is on their side. What drives this?

[Meadowchik]

There are two other patterns I've seen as I've been reading about how Trumpists have reacted to last week's events.

First, there was a ton of whataboutism. What about BLM "burning down" Minneapolis etc. They compare the best intentions of their fellow Trumpists to a caricature and general misrepresentation of what happened during the BLM protests and why.

The second pattern was more pronounced and more interesting. The Trumpists who thought storming the capital was a good thing thought Trump was in favor of it, while those who were against it thought Trump was against it. The Trumpists who thought that actual violence is a good thing thought Trump was in favor of violence, while those who are opposed to violence thought Trump was against it. Regardless of whether they thought the violence at the capital was good or bad, almost without exception they thought Trump was righteous and was on their side.

This is remarkable, and one can't help seeing the similarities with religion. Just as a Mormon won't admit Joseph Smith did anything wrong, a Trumpist won't admit Trump did anything wrong. Just as any religionist thinks God is on his side in whatever religious battle is being fought, Trumpists think Trump is on their side. What drives this?

My comment on another post sets the stage for it:

Almost sounds like someone who believes they're LARPing instead. And this goes along with my theory about some of the right-wing. With Obama, we saw him become an object of pseudo-religious hope. I think there was some holy envy there from the right, from the party of family family values and religious fundamentalism. They wanted their own raison d'etre and took pride in finding it in a "deplorable" figurehead. They're not acting like serious grown-ups because this was always a fantasy. It never dawned on them that the people who loved Obama and invested so much hope in him had concrete reasons to do so; they did not bother to understand.

I am from Texas and know Trump-supporters there but also know of Trump-supporters in the Utah-Idaho end-of-times survivalist crowd. I do not think they necessarily understand each other. Generally, the former are maybe more cynical and Machiavellian about the current shitshow, the latter seem more like true-believers.

Listen to Trump speeches and read his tweets, he very frequently speaks contradictory messages. Oftentimes he gives enough for those who want to go nuts to feel encouraged and then he gives enough for those who don't to feel validated. He has adapted throughout his life as a disinformer, unfortunately a prime candidate for people looking for a demagogue.

[Moksha]

For example, Sean Hannity posted a video entitled, "HONAN: 'Street Thugs' in DC Attacked the TRUE PATRIOTS -Capitol Hill Police Officers | Sean Hannity."

Anyone remember when Sean Hannity did a segment about Obama using “fancy” mustard on his hot dog!