At the time, Fox News was in a commercial break from regular programming. This only encouraged the viewers to stay up to date with a section on educators that Dr. Seuss ‘cancels’.
And so America’s most popular right-wing television network once again missed an opportunity – or, perhaps, once again missed an opportunity – to confront its viewers with the disillusionment of a lie that has become a widespread belief among right-wing Americans.
Partly because of Fox, the conspiracy theory has become widespread in conservative circles. Opinion polls suggest that a large percentage of Republicans unjustifiably think that Antifa was primarily responsible for the uprising actually perpetrated by supporters of former President Donald Trump, some of whom allegedly expressed irritation that Antifa got the credit for their own behavior.
In a poll by the conservative American Enterprise Institute in January, 50% of Republicans said Antifa was mostly responsible for the violence at the Capitol. A NBC poll in January found that 48% of Republican-registered voters believe Antifa is solely or primarily responsible for the riot in the Capitol.
The problem is bigger than Fox
Fox News deserves some of the blame for this worrying state of affairs. Some of the most prominent personalities have fueled the lie. Other Fox personalities have joined Trump in overshadowing the danger posed by Antifa – a far-left, sometimes violent collection of self-described anti-fascists – thus predicting viewers to see a movement that was far less deadly than ver- right-wing extremism as a major threat to the nation.
But the problem here is bigger than any media. The lie about Antifa and the Capitol was promoted by a large list of right-wing people and entities.
These include right-wing television networks Newsmax and One America News; Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Trump indictment attorney Michael van der Veen; Republican lawmakers like Rep. Mo Brooks, Representative Matt Gaetz and Senator Ron Johnson; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican lawmakers; former Alaska Gov. and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin; right-wing conspiracy sites such as The Gateway Pundit; and popular right-wing commentators on social media and radio.
The hawkers of the lie found a little bit of truth to help their cause. Of more than 260 Capitol defendants revealed so far by the Justice Department, one of them, John Sullivan, is a political stranger who used the hashtag #antifa on social media. But left-wing activists have previously expressed suspicion about him, the FBI has never claimed to be a real Antifa activist, and regardless of the list of people charged with the riot, it consists overwhelmingly of Trump supporters – including , as Wray testified Tuesday. , militia members and white supremacists.
A history of blaming Antifa
In a well-reported report this week, The New York Times identified a false article published by the conservative Washington Times on the day of the uprising as particularly influential in spreading the lie that Antifa was responsible. The article, which was later corrected by the Washington Times, incorrectly claimed that a face recognition company had identified two Antifa members at the Capitol.
There is no doubt that the inaccurate version of the article on social media has gone viral. However, if it were not so, another lie related to Antifa would be almost certain.
Joan Donovan, research director of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy, noted that right-wing media has found a way to falsely blame Antifa for everything from mass shootings to wildfires. The lie about Antifa orchestrating the attack on the Capitol is, according to Donovan, part of a ‘very long disinformation campaign against the left’ by a ‘right-wing media ecosystem that wants to shift the blame for anything bad that happens in our society. ‘
And many of the ecosystem of right-wing media users are willing to eat it up.
Just as impossible as it seems that Fox News and other lucrative right-wing platforms need to act more responsibly in providing information, it seems just as difficult to address the demand-side issue. Between the popularity of absurd lies about the birthplace of former President Barack Obama, the rise of the bonkers QAnon movement, the popularity of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and now the popularity of this lie about Antifa and the Capitol, it seems Clearly, millions of right-wing Americans are eager to believe in strange conspiracy theories about their political opponents.
Fact checkers will continue to expose the nonsense. But we know that in the short term, there are no fact-checks or statements by the FBI that can convince millions of Americans that they are wrong.