I have family who are lifelong Republicans but soured on Trump. Because, for all of their faults and their media bubbles, willing to endure Trump's stupidity in exchange for the idea that he was just a tool for the GOP, they do still believe in democracy, and Jan 6 was too blatant for even their favorite news sources to spin positively.
I wish I knew Republicans like that. All the ones I know literally would never change their mind about him no matter what. And this sadly includes my own family.
The ones I know who eventually changed their were never all-in on him, they were the "He's our Cyrus" types who recognized he was a shitty human being and, more important to them, a pathetic excuse of a con man only wearing a Christian's clothing, but thought the GOP could effectively use him for long-standing policy goals. They were willing to buy into "The border in crisis!", "LAGGING DEMOCRAT SOCIALIST ECONOMY", and "Transgender litterboxes in public schools", but "Time to overthrow democracy" was too much for them. For their faults and delusions, they genuinely buy into the US as a bastion of freedom and democracy, and anti-democratic moves evoke genuine revulsion from them.
It's small, and if they weren't family, it wouldn't be enough for me to keep enduring such nonsense - but as they are family, I'm just thankful that they aren't outright fascists, just rubes. Though, as long as the fascists hide the exact level of fascism they're going for, the practical effect is the same. Trump's incompetence is, in a strange way, a saving grace here.
That all makes sense. I wish my family wasn't so garbagey about trump. I lost a ton of respect for them because they literally can't be bothered to care about anything besides abortion being evil. When confronted with Jan 6, trump is magically the only person on earth for them who isn't guilty by association, because clearly the traitors did this very much against Trump's wishes 🤮
Up to this point, I had more or less given Trump the benefit of doubt. I had figured that riling up a base telling them it's not over is the kind of thing that could lead to violence. However, nothing so far linked directly to Trump against the most charitable interpretation of events that Trump had just let it happen with no knowledge of a plan to overthrow government, and for all intents he would have wanted to peacefully transfer power to the rightful winner of the election. The evidence here disproves that, he wanted to stay president by any means possible, was warned by Mike Pence and told repeatedly to step down. He was aware of potential consequences and when the events of Jan 6 transpired he wilfully withheld taking any action, and his "so what?" comment tells me his inaction wasn't due to shock or surprise.
I wish the facts mattered to my family but they just don't. They're convinced anything they don't already believe about trump is a lie unless it makes him look good.
The reality is they're just too mentally lazy and fragile to rethink anything. You should've heard the conversation I recently had with them about capital punishment. It was deflating to say the least