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WASHINGTON (AP) — The song is simple and tinny, but that hasn’t stopped it from being embraced by former President Donald Trump and his allies in their campaign to rewrite the history of the deadly Capitol riot.
The tune, “Justice for All,” is the Star-Spangled Banner, and it was sung by a group of defendants jailed over their alleged roles in the January 2021 insurrection. Recorded over a prison phone line, the national anthem sounds more like a dirge than celebration and is overlaid with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Despite its low fidelity, “Justice for All” has garnered a lot of fans. Trump, a Republican, played it at a recent rally in Waco, Texas, as images of Capitol rioters flashed behind him on a big screen, and the $1.29 song last month briefly vaulted to No. 1 on iTunes, supplanting such recording artists as Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift.
Experts on extremism and propaganda say the song is another example of how Trump and his most ardent allies are trying to gloss over an avalanche of evidence proving the Capitol riot was anything but an act of patriotic resistance.
And it shows how such revisionists have dug deep into authoritarian playbooks that rely heavily on the use of national identity to sway public opinion. In this case, Trump and his allies are ironically relying on America's most patriotic song in their efforts to whitewash an insurrection that contributed to five deaths and left more than 120 police offices injured, experts said.
“We should not be surprised that this propaganda is effective, but it is shocking to see this in this country," said Federico Finchelstein, chair of the history department at the New School for Social Research in New York, an expert in authoritarian disinformation. "What they are demanding is that reality be put aside for the loyalty of the leader. And that leader in this case is Donald Trump.”
Law enforcement officials who battled rioters are aghast, calling the song a cynical effort to mislead Americans about the truth of what transpired during the Jan. 6 attack.
“Some of these people are trying to get a rise out of people, and some of these people are just using it to make a buck,” said Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who received the Presidential Citizens Medal for his actions on Jan. 6. “People can believe whatever they want to believe, but this is real life.”
Polls show Americans remain divided by ideology when it comes to their views of Jan. 6. A survey last year from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about half believe Trump’s involvement warranted criminal charges. A second poll revealed that only about 4 in 10 Republicans recall the attack as very violent or extremely violent.
Those doubts have been fueled by cable television hosts and far-right podcasters who have spent two years pushing outlandish theories to mitigate the horror of that deadly day.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/music-trumps-ears-whitewashing-jan-095618298.html
The tune, “Justice for All,” is the Star-Spangled Banner, and it was sung by a group of defendants jailed over their alleged roles in the January 2021 insurrection. Recorded over a prison phone line, the national anthem sounds more like a dirge than celebration and is overlaid with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Despite its low fidelity, “Justice for All” has garnered a lot of fans. Trump, a Republican, played it at a recent rally in Waco, Texas, as images of Capitol rioters flashed behind him on a big screen, and the $1.29 song last month briefly vaulted to No. 1 on iTunes, supplanting such recording artists as Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift.
Experts on extremism and propaganda say the song is another example of how Trump and his most ardent allies are trying to gloss over an avalanche of evidence proving the Capitol riot was anything but an act of patriotic resistance.
And it shows how such revisionists have dug deep into authoritarian playbooks that rely heavily on the use of national identity to sway public opinion. In this case, Trump and his allies are ironically relying on America's most patriotic song in their efforts to whitewash an insurrection that contributed to five deaths and left more than 120 police offices injured, experts said.
“We should not be surprised that this propaganda is effective, but it is shocking to see this in this country," said Federico Finchelstein, chair of the history department at the New School for Social Research in New York, an expert in authoritarian disinformation. "What they are demanding is that reality be put aside for the loyalty of the leader. And that leader in this case is Donald Trump.”
Law enforcement officials who battled rioters are aghast, calling the song a cynical effort to mislead Americans about the truth of what transpired during the Jan. 6 attack.
“Some of these people are trying to get a rise out of people, and some of these people are just using it to make a buck,” said Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who received the Presidential Citizens Medal for his actions on Jan. 6. “People can believe whatever they want to believe, but this is real life.”
Polls show Americans remain divided by ideology when it comes to their views of Jan. 6. A survey last year from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about half believe Trump’s involvement warranted criminal charges. A second poll revealed that only about 4 in 10 Republicans recall the attack as very violent or extremely violent.
Those doubts have been fueled by cable television hosts and far-right podcasters who have spent two years pushing outlandish theories to mitigate the horror of that deadly day.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/music-trumps-ears-whitewashing-jan-095618298.html
