'Trump's People Don't Act Like That': How Republican Voters See Jan. 6

[Nevilledog]

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Patrick Healy
@patrickhealynyt
Split-screen: ⁦@nytopinion⁩ put the same set of questions about democracy, Jan. 6, Trump & Biden to separate focus groups of Republicans and Democrats for a snapshot of how they see America & to dig beyond poll numbers. There were some surprises.

Opinion | ‘Trump’s People Don’t Act Like That’: How Republican Voters See Jan. 6
The Republicans aren’t apologists for Jan. 6 — some chastised President Trump and don’t want him to run again. They just want the country to move on.
nytimes.com
11:34 AM · Jan 7, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/opinion/republicans-focus-group.html

No paywall
https://archive.fo/nEL6s

Former President Donald Trump may be popular in the Republican Party, but his conduct during the attack on the Capitol last Jan. 6 earned poor marks and stood out as a troubling memory during a discussion among eight G.O.P. voters in a Times Opinion focus group this week.

This transcript of the discussion — part of a new series of Opinion focus groups exploring Americans’ views on issues facing the country — offers a more nuanced portrait of Republican voters and their concerns about American democracy than the typical image of the pro-Trump party base in lock step with the former president. The Times convened this focus group, as well as a separate focus group with Democrats, to pose the same questions in hopes of showing how different voters see the events of last year and where they disagree or overlap.

Some of the Republicans said Mr. Trump could have stopped the attack on Jan. 6 sooner and others blamed him for egging on his supporters. At the same time, several of the Republicans repeated Mr. Trump’s falsehoods about election fraud and traded in other unfounded claims, including about the Jan. 6 riot, news coverage and a Democratic push for Covid-related restrictions to supposedly ensure more mail-in balloting in future elections.

As is customary in focus groups, our role as moderators was not to argue with or fact-check the speakers. Listening to some of the Republicans rationalize their support for the president, and in some cases justify the mob violence at the Capitol, may offer insights into what makes them vote the way they do, and believe what they believe. It’s only by understanding that can we move toward a better, clearer understanding of our fellow citizens.

*snip*

[The Wizard]

1. They weren't acting;

that's who they are.

[Carlitos Brigante]

2. So they're not the "uber alpha, trigger happy, take no shit from any authority

tough guys" they've been telling us they are? I'd say I'm confused. But it's the other way around.

[Tatertot]

3. I'm for moving on too

Sentence the coup planners and the insurrectionists for their crimes and we can all move on.

[dalton99a]

4. The brainwashing started the next day

"How many times have we sat here over 30 years bemoaning the fact that this is not what Republicans do? That they’re either too busy working or they don’t know how or they’re waiting for somebody else to do it. But the fact remains they don’t do it. Republicans do not join protest mobs, they do not loot, and they don’t riot — to the grand disappointment of many people. But a tiny number of these protesters — and undoubtedly including some Antifa, Democrat-sponsored instigators — did decide to go to the Capitol to protest."
- Rush Limbaugh, Jan 7, 2021

[Achilleaze]

7. A deliberate Republican lie. Right off the bat.

The Republicans were ready with their lies.

Limbaugh must be roasting in eternal Hell for all his lies and twisting of information. So disloyal. So dishonorable.

[Volaris]

5. These people are fucking IDIOTS; they're now gaslighting THEMSELVES.

[fescuerescue]

6. I'm surprised at how many Republicans don't really seem to care at all

The response I get back on it tends to run along the lines "gosh wasn't that a awhile ago"? Some of them ask "why are you still talking about that"

or just shruggs.

They just don't seem to get it.