Preparing for the Jan. 6 Hearings

Propaganda points to look for, and a compendium of my writings on Jan. 6

Welcome back to Lucid! And a big hello to new subscribers. Mark your calendars for our next Q&A, this Friday, June 10, 1-2pmET. You'll receive a link to register for the Zoom gathering on Friday morning. Registration is free. We'll talk about the Jan. 6 hearings (the initial presentation is scheduled for 8pm on June 9), and anything else you'd like to discuss regarding threats to democracy in the US and worldwide. I look forward to seeing you there.

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Among the aims of Lucid is to make us aware of propaganda that is meant to fog our brains, distract us from the real story, and elicit feelings of anger at the designated enemy du jour.

As we near the hearings, the enemies for the Republican conspirators and their allies are the Biden administration, Democrats, and the bipartisan House investigation.

And so, on cue, we are seeing Fox News reports of the return of caravans of migrants trying to cross the border, and Antifa and Hunter Biden were trending yesterday on Twitter. Propaganda is most effective when it builds on existing reference points and triggers like these that depict Democrats --and democracy-- as producing anarchy, chaos, and crime.

And watch for the Jan. 6 committee to be cast as a Communist/Socialist inquisition force. That's why far-right ideologue Nick Short tweeted about "show trials." This goes with the "phony talking point," as I call it in my September 2021 essay, of Biden as a incipient leftist dictator.

If you see other tired propaganda points being used as the hearings start, feel free to leave a comment about them - or identify new talking points. There will be many.

Nothing is more threatening to criminals than an investigation.

Here, for your convenience, are some of my writings about Jan. 6, starting with my CNN op-ed written the night of Jan. 6, 2021, which concludes: "Today the mask is finally off and Americans can see the true ideology of Trump and his allies: power, to be held onto any at cost."

My piece on shock events and coup attempts: where will Jan. 6 lead America?

How jailing investigators is a time-tested authoritarian strategy.

Where Jan. 6 fits into the GOP and Trump's right-wing counterrevolutionary plan.

What happens when coups fail and coup planning becomes public.

My interview with counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance about Jan. 6 as a White insurgency.

And my interview with Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell, who worries that the pace of DOJ justice may be too slow.  

Stay well, and stay lucid.

Ruth