"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth"
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The conspiracy theory, which has been debunked repeatedly by the FBI and in evidence presented in court cases against rioters charged and convicted for the attacks, has been spread by some right-wing media figures and Donald Trump himself.
In the hours and days after the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, there appeared to be a broad, bipartisan consensus that what had just occurred was a flagrant assault on democracy and the peaceful transition of power.
Republicans who had been loyal to then-president Donald Trump acknowledged he was responsible for sowing the seeds of discontent that led to the violence that day, in a desperate attempt to overturn an election he had lost, and many supported his impeachment.
Three years later, that consensus has evaporated and warped into something more dangerous. [...]
