THE BELIEVERS

A lot of Americans believe in conspiracy theories, including those put forth by QAnon: that leaders of the Democratic party practice child pornography, and Donald Trump was sent to get rid of those awful people. Further, Donald Trump would have been reelected had it not been for numerous irregularities in the vote. Voting machines had somehow turned votes for Trump into votes for Biden, and election officials had thrown out vast numbers of Trump votes.

What would lead large numbers of people to believe things that others see as irrational and obviously ridiculous? Studies have shown that people who believe such lies have some personality traits in common that lead them to accept these theories. They believe that nothing happens by coincidence. Everything is controlled by secret cabals that permeate all levels of society. These cabals might be Jews or Catholics or liberals or just the rich people who control everything. Believers tend to have feelings of anxiety and uncertainty because they feel they are not in control of their own lives.

Thousands of believers descended on Washington on January 6 to prevent the Congress from formally certifying the Electoral College vote that named Joe Biden president. Many of the rioters were professional people, business owners, off-duty police officers, and even one state legislator. Yet many of these middle class people had reason to feel that their lives were out of control. Sixty percent of them had a history of financial problems. Sixty percent!

One of these, for example, was Jenna Ryan, a real estate agent from Texas. She was paying a $37,000 lien on unpaid federal taxes. She had nearly lost her home to foreclosure, and filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and had faced an IRS lien in 2010.

Jacob Chansley, the man who called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” is another whose life seemed out of control. He has been described as a failed actor. He’s 32-years old, and he lives with his mother.

Both Ryan and Chansley expressed regret for their actions and disillusion with the conspiracy theories had bought them to Washington. Ryan said, “I bought into a lie...and it’s embarrassing. I regret everything.” Chansley said, “I am sorry for raising fear in the hearts of others. That was wrong. Period.” He also said he was “deeply disappointed in former President Trump. He was not honorable.”

Roy Watkins, founder of 8chan, a website that has been linked to white supremacy, Neo-Nazism, and antisemitism, told his supporters, “to go back to their own lives.” One of the followers said, “We all got played.”

Many believers thought that on January 20, Trump would somehow ride to the rescue and arrest members of the “deep state.” Instead they saw Biden get inaugurated. As one of the former believers said, “He [Trump] sold us out.”

One false story that is floating around the internet is that on March 4, Trump will be inaugurated. (Inauguration Day used to be on March 4, but the last time it was on that date was 1933.) When the inauguration of Donald Trump doesn’t happen on March 4, more of the believers will lose their delusions.

The attack on The Capitol on January 6 occurred because thousands of people believed the lies about the government. We cannot allow this to happen again. Even without the attack on the attack on the Capitol, misinformation that has spread through the internet has done terrible damage to the country. People who are willing to lie to move people to illegal action must be made to pay for spreading false information through the internet. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects web sites from paying for damage caused by anything posted on their sites by a third party. Section 230 must be repealed. If someone posts a dangerous message on the internet, the website where it was posted as well as the poster must be held responsible. If someone is damaged by an irresponsible statement on the internet or anyplace else, the person making the statement must be subject to suit for damages. The web site that posts the misinformation must be held responsible too.

Voting machine companies sued those who had made false statements about them. Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were sued. So was Fox News and news personnel who told lies about the voting machines. Lou Dobbs lost his job. We must see more of this. Liars who damage others must be made to pay for their lies.

THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

The riot at the Capitol building on January 6 damaged many elements of American life. Perhaps the greatest damage was to the Republican party itself. In every state of the union, horrified by the attack on Congress, tens of thousands of Republicans have withdrawn from the party.

Prominent individual Republicans have been hurt by their own actions in recent months. Rudy Giuliani, dubbed “America’s mayor” after 9/11, has since made a fool of himself. No one takes him seriously any more. He has been sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion Voting Systems. Giuliani’s colleague in lying about the election, Sidney Powell, has also been sued.

Fox news commentator Lou Dobbs, under threat of a suit, was forced to make an on-air retraction of some of the lies he had made about the election. Now he and the network are being sued by another company. The network fired him.

CEO of My Pillow Mike Lindell has been a rabid supporter of Donald Trump and made numerous false statements about the election, insisting that Biden won only because of voter fraud. His statements were so extreme that an anchor on conservative Newsmax walked out of an interview with Lindell. Twitter closed his account. A boycott My Pillow has been started, and major retailers have stopped selling the product.

Businesses that have long contributed to Republican campaigns in the past are now saying that they will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against accepting the Electoral College votes electing Joe Biden to the Presidency.

Large numbers of the Capitol rioters have been arrested and charged with various crimes. It seems likely that many of these people will get some jail time.

Trump himself has threatened to start a new political party. Perhaps he recognizes that the traditional Republican party would never nominate him again, and if nominated, he could not win the election. If he goes ahead with his threat, what effect would a third party have on the Republicans? Democrats must be hoping that Trump will form his Patriot party. It would mean a sure win for the Democrats. There is a split in the party over the impeachment. When Congresswoman Liz Cheney voted for impeachment, some Republicans wanted to remove her from her leadership position in the party. Her colleagues voted to keep her leadership role, but the Republican party in her home state of Oklahoma censured her action.

Typically in the election after the presidential election, the party in power loses seats in Congress. In 2022 it seems highly likely that the Democrats will increase their numbers in Congress.

LYING LAWYERS

In trying to support the outrageous claim that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump, lawyer Rudy Giuliani made some charges against voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems. He claimed that they were manufactured in Venezuela. Since Venezuela has a Socialist government, the place of manufacture would make them seem less trustworthy. Actually, the machines were made in Canada. Trump also claimed that the machines had been programmed to flip votes. Not only that, but according to Giuliani, in one Michigan county, they had flipped 6,000 votes from Trump to Biden. The charges had been backed up by an expert. As it turned out, Giuliani’s “expert” had a grave misunderstanding of the county’s voting system and a lack of knowledge of election technology.

Everything about Giuliani’s charge was false, but the lies were harmful to Dominion Voting Systems, so they sued the lawyer for $1.3 billion. Another lawyer, Sydney Powell, worked with Giuliani. She made essentially the same false charges against Dominion Voting Systems. The company sued her too, also for $1.3 billion. Lies create damage, so it is appropriate that liars pay for the damage they create.

Suing merchants of misinformation seems a better way to deal with them than passing laws. Unfortunately governments can’t be trusted. For the past four years Republican politicians have gone along with Trump’s lies, either through fear or cynical desire to use him to accomplish their goals at any cost. A few good lawsuits would make these people stop and think before they spout their poison.

Still more needs to be done. A lot of political misstatements have ben published in the social media. Apple CEO Tim Cook referred to the social media as “Purveyors of fake news.” These purveyors of fake news don’t have to worry because they are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Act. Section 230 protects media from damages caused by misinformation posted by users on their sites.

It is time to end that protection. If social media sites were held responsible for toxic posts that they allow on their sites, there would not be so many venomous lies spread over the internet.