The Republican Party's mission: whitewash the Trump presidency

[DonViejo]

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN

Updated 6:29 AM ET, Fri June 18, 2021

(CNN) - The Republican Party has turned to another page in the authoritarian playbook as it whitewashes the history of Donald Trump's presidency.

It's as if the fawning over Vladimir Putin never happened. Or Trump's assurance that Covid-19 would simply "go away" never passed his lips. Trump's acolytes have, meanwhile, rebranded the worst assault in American democracy in modern times into a January 6 tourist jaunt as they seek to cleanse the reputation of the former President who told rioters to "fight like Hell" and, months later, still holds enormous sway over the GOP.

Trump and conservative propaganda media are also assailing Dr. Anthony Fauci to expunge the ex-President's neglect of a pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans on his watch.

The attempt to reconfigure the often disastrous historical record of the Trump presidency comes as the former President eyes a political comeback ahead of a new round of political rallies this summer teeing up 2022 primaries. And it takes place as much of the Republican Party is engaged in a crusade built on the former President's lies about election fraud to make it harder for many Americans to vote and easier for GOP officials to interfere in free and fair elections. Since the truth is too painful for Republicans and is detrimental to their future political prospects, an alternative narrative must be constructed.

more
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/18/politics/republicans-trump-january-6-whitewashing/index.html

[mopinko]

1. well, it worked w st ronnie.

[Fullduplexxx]

2. It was a different world then

So many recordings with so many cell phones and an internet with a long memory

[Wounded Bear]

3. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

St Ronnie wasn't quite as bad as Trump, but he was a major stepping stone on the Repubs descent into fascism.

[mopinko]

4. he was a puppet well in the throes of dementia when he was re-elected.

it was an open secret all over washington.

my dearly departed bil was a dea lawyer after law school. turned criminal defense lawyer who wanted to legalize drugs. ended up on the other side of the table from his old colleagues.

he kept in touch w a lot of people. there were many stories.

[maxsolomon]

5. Into the Memory Hole. It's a time-honored tactic.

Their voters want to forget; they don't want to feel bad about how they were conned. They want to double down. They want to scapegoat.

Just like they don't want to hear how they've been part of Systemic Racism their whole lives.

Basic ego-preservation.