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u.s. news Dialuna 20 Juni 2022

Jan. 6 witnesses push Trump stalwarts back to rabbit hole

(AP) - One by one, several a Syracuse University pro- and “idiotic.”
of Donald Trump’s for- fessor who has studied how
mer top advisers have told Trump used social media Barr told the committee
a special House commit- and advertising to mobilize when he talked with Trump,
tee investigating his role his base. “If you believe what “there was never an indica-
in the Jan. 6 insurrection Trump says, and now Bill Barr tion of interest in what the
that they didn’t believe his and Trump’s own daughter actual facts were.”
lies about the 2020 elec- are saying these other things,
tion, and that the former it creates a crack, and people “He’s become detached from
president knew he lost to have to fill it.” reality if he really believes
Joe Biden. this stuff,” Barr said.
The lawmakers leading the
But instead of convincing hearings into the deadly at- Following his testimony,
Trump’s most stalwart sup- tack on the U.S. Capitol said many Trump supporters us-
porters, testimony from for- one of their goals is to show ing sites like Reddit, GETTR
mer attorney general Bill how Trump repeatedly lied to and Telegram blasted Barr as
Barr and Trump’s daughter his supporters in an effort to a turncoat and noted that he’s confusing Congress and the
Ivanka about the election and hold onto power and subvert disputed Trump’s election Wrong Dominion. Barr was American public.
the attack on the U.S. Capitol American democracy. claims before. paid by Dominion Energy,
is prompting many of them a publicly traded company “I can just imagine Donald
to simply reassert their views “President Trump invest- But many others began headquartered in Richmond, Trump telling Ivanka: ’Hey,
that the former president was ed millions of dollars of grasping for alternative ex- Virginia, that provides power go to this hearing, say these
correct in his false claim of campaign funds purposely planations for this testimony. and heat to customers in sev- things. Screw with their
victory. spreading false information, eral mid-Atlantic states. heads,’” Sather said last week
running ads he knew were “I’m still hoping Barr is play- on his online show.
Barr’s testimony that Trump false, and convincing mil- ing a role,” one poster said on Unlike Barr, Ivanka Trump
was repeatedly told there was lions of Americans that the a Telegram channel popular has remained intensely pop- Some Trump supporters dis-
no election fraud? He was election was corrupt and he with Trump supporters. ular with many Trump sup- missed Ivanka Trump’s testi-
paid off by a voting machine was the true president,” said porters and is seen by many mony entirely by questioning
company, according to one Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., One post that spread widely as her father’s potential suc- whether any of it was real.
false claim that went viral the panel’s vice chair. “As you this week suggested Barr was cessor. That may be why so That’s another common re-
this week. Ivanka Trump say- will see, this misinformation paid by Dominion Voting many had to find an an alter- frain seen on far-right mes-
ing she didn’t believe Trump campaign provoked the vio- Systems, a company targeted native explanation for why sage boards. Many posters
either? It’s all part of Trump’s lence on January 6th.” by Trump and his support- she told Congress she didn’t say they don’t even believe
grand plan to confuse his en- ers with baseless claims of accept her father’s claims. the hearings are happening,
emies and save America. For those who accept vote rigging. “From 2009 to but are a Hollywood produc-
Trump’s baseless claims, 2018, DOMINION PAID Jordan Sather, a leading pro- tion starring stand-ins for the
The claims again demon- Barr’s testimony was espe- BARR $1.2 million in cash ponent of the QAnon theory, former president’s daughter
strate how deeply rooted cially jarring. In his interview and granted him another $1.1 claims both Barr and Ivanka and others.
Trump’s false narrative about with investigators, he de- million in stock awards, ac- Trump lied during their tes-
the election has become. tailed Trump’s many absurd cording to SEC filings. (No timony on Trump’s orders, “She looks different in a big
“It’s cognitive dissonance,” allegations about the election wonder Barr can’t find any part of an elaborate scheme way,” one poster asked on
said Jennifer Stromer-Galley, 2020, calling them “bogus” voter fraud!),” the post read. to defeat Trump’s enemies by Telegram. “CGI?”

Biden’s optimism collides with mounting political challenges

(AP) — Democrats are going to with a country that he acknowledged visers are as bullish about the party’s
hold onto the House after No- As the challenges confronting Presi- this week was “really, really down,” prospects as the president. In inter-
vember’s midterm elections. dent Joe Biden intensify, his predic- burdened by a pandemic, surging gas views with a half-dozen people in and
They will pick up as many as four tions of a rosy political future for the prices and spiking inflation. close to the White House, there is a
seats in the Senate, expanding Democratic Party are growing bolder. broad sense that Democrats will lose
their majority and overcoming The assessments, delivered in speech- Biden’s hopeful outlook tracks with control of Congress and that many
internal dissent that has helped es, fundraisers and conversations a sense of optimism that has coursed of the party’s leading candidates in
stifle their agenda. with friends and allies, seem at odds through his nearly five-decade ca- down-ballot races and contests for
reer and was at the center of his 2020 governor will be defeated, with Biden
presidential campaign, which he said unable to offer much help.
was built around restoring the “soul
of America.” In a lengthy Oval Office The seeming disconnect between
interview with The Associated Press Biden’s view and the political real-
on Thursday, Biden said part of his ity has some in the party worried the
job as president is to “be confident.” White House has not fully grasped
just how bad this election year may
“Because I am confident,” he said. be for Democrats.
“We are better positioned than any
country in the world to own the “I don’t expect any president to go
second quarter of the 21st century. out and say, ’You know what, ‘We’re
That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact.” going to lose the next election,’” said
Will Marshall, president and founder
While presidents often try to empha- of the Progressive Policy Institute,
size the positive, there is a risk in this which is in regular contact with the
moment that Biden contributes to a White House’s policy team. What
dissonance between Washington and might serve Biden well instead, Mar-
people across the country who are shall said, would be “a sober sense of,
confronting genuine and growing ’Look, we’re probably in for a rough
economic pain. night in November and our strat-
egy should be to remind the country
Few of Biden’s closest political ad- what’s at stake.’”