The scene outside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Tyler Merbler, CC-BY)
Following the midterm elections on November 8, headlines focused on the defeat of Republican candidates in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada who made denial of the 2020 presidential election results a centerpiece of their campaigns—even as some of those candidates were running for offices that oversee elections.
“Election Deniers Fall Short in Key States” was the banner headline on the front page of the New York Times two days after the election.
But the overall picture was more mixed. More than 150 Republicans who supported former President Donald Trump’s false claim that he defeated Joe Biden two years ago were elected to the United States House of Representatives—a chamber that will be controlled, albeit narrowly, by the GOP starting in January 2023. They include two new members who were at the January 6, 2021 rally on the Ellipse that preceded the attack on the Capitol. Election-denying candidates were also elected to the United States Senate and to state offices, including governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. A week after the elections, CBS News projected that “at least 60% of the Republican candidates who raised unfounded doubts about the validity or integrity of the 2020 election results” would win their races. That’s 185 of 308.
Before, during, and after Election Day, politicians echoed Trump’s message, and the internet was awash in false...
Veteran Bollywood actor Shakti Kapoor has strongly rejected false reports circulating on social media claiming his death, calling the rumours “completely fake” and confirming that he is “healthy an...