Replacing history with a lie is not an easy task. To convince millions that the Confederacy was a noble cause or that the Holocaust never happened requires an extraordinary effort, one that will fail more often than it succeeds.
There is a similar effort unfolding before us right now and every American who cares about maintaining our democracy has an obligation to resist it. I speak of the attempt to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021, to convince America that the attempt by Donald Trump and his fanatical supporters to overthrow the U.S. government was, in fact, a principled protest undertaken by virtuous patriots.
Just as Trump pardoned a bevy of his miscreant cronies on his way out of the White House, he now pledges to release those who overran the Capitol.
The lie of the righteous insurrection has become central to Trump’s effort to return to the White House. It’s not just that Trump repeats endlessly that the 2020 election was stolen and that he was its true victor, though he does. He has made his campaign into an extension of the insurrection itself.
Earlier this week, Trump promised on his social media platform that “My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!” Just as he pardoned a bevy of his miscreant cronies on his way out of the White House, he now pledges to release those who overran the Capitol. And this priority is so important that it must be accomplished on his first day, he says.
Spreading the lie that Jan. 6 convicted criminals are not who they are — members of a violent group who assaulted law enforcement officers, smashed windows and doors, pursued lawmakers with bloodthirsty intent, and ransacked the place where our laws are made — but are instead unjustly imprisoned “hostages” has become the ultimate test for Republicans seeking to prove their loyalty to Trump. It’s no surprise then that Elise Stefanik, Trump lickspittle par excellence, went on “Meet the Press” to say, “I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages.”
This “hostages” lie is something Trump repeats seemingly at every opportunity. “They ought to release the J6 hostages. They’ve suffered,” he recently said. “I call them hostages. Some people call them prisoners. I call them hostages. Release the J6 hostages, Joe.”
Since Trump’s rallies do not receive the same coverage they once did, it may not be as widely known that the events now often feature the playing of a recording of a group of Jan. 6 rioters singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in jail. The honoring of Jan. 6 becomes a kind of sacred ritual within what was already a quasi-religious gathering.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are ramping up new bogus “investigations” of the previous Jan. 6 investigation. The purpose, as House Speaker Mike Johnson puts it, is “to correct the incomplete narrative” of the select committee that examined the insurrection. You can trust Johnson on this subject, since he played a key role in Trump’s coup attempt, spearheading an effort to invalidate the votes of states won by Biden. The result will no doubt be a parade of conspiracy theories and efforts to exonerate Trump of any wrongdoing.
A reminder of the facts: The Justice Department has charged more than 1,200 people with federal crimes related to that day; about 730 have pled guilty, while another 170 were convicted at trial. They’ve received sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years in prison.
Trump may not yet have convinced his entire party to view those criminals as warriors for justice, but he doesn’t have far to go. YouGov polls, for instance, have consistently shown at least a quarter of Republicans saying that they approve of “Trump supporters taking over the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.” on Jan. 6; at one point, it was more than a third. By a year after the insurrection, three-quarters of Republicans said they didn’t consider the events of that day “a threat to democracy.” One year ago — the last time YouGov asked this question — 60% of those who voted for Trump in 2020 said they considered the insurrection “legitimate political discourse.” Nine months ago, Monmouth University found that 51% of Republicans said Jan. 6 was “a legitimate protest.”
And in the most recent poll on these questions, CBS News found that 30% of Republicans and 43% of those who identify with the MAGA movement approved of “the actions of those who forced their way into the Capitol.” A full 66% of Republicans favored pardons for these people explicitly identified by their violent acts. One can only imagine what will happen if Trump wins the White House in November. One of the reasons the lie of the Lost Cause was so successful while Holocaust denial has largely (though by no means entirely) failed is that the former had power on its side. There were political leaders in a position to erect Confederate monuments in town squares and require that pro-Confederacy textbooks fill the schools of the South. There were federal officials ready to rename military bases across the country in honor of Confederate traitors. There were books written, movies produced and well-funded organizations established to promote the lie. The Jan. 6 revisionism effort is not so organized — at least not yet. But it may have the power of the federal government behind it next year, trying to convince us all that the insurrectionists’ crimes were heroism, their treason was patriotism and their assault on our democratic system a day to be celebrated. This effort is not incidental to Trump’s plans to dismantle our democracy; it is at the very center. Trump wants us to believe that there is no accountability for crimes against America; there is only power, and once Trump and his allies seize it they can do whatever they like. If the public becomes convinced of that, we’re all in deep trouble.
Paul Waldman is a journalist and author focused on politics and culture. 
