Gaslighting

So the term Gaslighting comes from the 1944 film, Gaslight. In it, Charles Boyer tries to make his wife Ingrid Bergman "mad" (olden term for a raft of psychological problems) by saying things that are untrue. And he says them enough to make her think she is mad. And she is not remembering or acting correctly.

And with this background we turn to the contortions that Republicans displayed this week. The Republicans are hell bent on censuring and driving out Mary Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. These two VERY CONSERVATIVE House members find themselves on the shit side of the Republican anger machine. The reason, they have not lied for Donald Trump. The two do not parrot the talking points that Trump won. These two are on the bipartisan January 6th committee. In fact, they are the reason it is bipartisan. 

And therefore to appease Donald Trump, the Republican caucus has voted to censure them. Not out of the party, but wrong and liars and participants in a sham investigation of a "legitimate political discourse".

As one Twitter user noted, the GOP's definition of "legitimate political discourse" includes "5 Dead. 140 officers injured. $30 million in damages. Feces smeared on the wall."

It defies belief, except that we have heard them heading in this way for months. Of course the position is incoherent. They believe that it was an inside job, a legitimate political discourse, overblown and a patriots' rebellion, even though these positions are internally inconsistent.