Our book, Divided We Stand, looks at the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection. Some Republican leaders -- and a measurable number of rank-and-file voters -- are open to violent rebellion, coups, and secession.
Devlin Barrett, Eugene Scott and Holly Bailey at WP:
The innuendo about the attack that billionaire Elon Musk and right-wing personalities spread on social media this past weekend showed no signs of abating Monday, as elected officials and other conservatives perpetuated wild theories.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) retweeted a thread from far-right activist Matt Walsh challenging the notion that the alleged assailant was a militant right-winger, despite his blog in which he appears to have been deeply drawn into election falsehoods and political conspiracy theories.
Cruz quoted the thread dismissing DePape as “a hippie nudist from Berkeley” with one word: “truth.”
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) tweeted and deleted a post Sunday that pushed a conspiracy theory about the violent attack and included a photo of Nancy Pelosi.
During a campaign event Monday, Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for Arizona governor who opposes most forms of gun control, was talking about how Democrats demand to protect children in schools.
“Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in D.C., but apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection,” Lake said, as some in the crowd and the man interviewing her laughed.
