Republicans and conservatives are rewriting history as it occurs and creating corollaries to the Big Lie. People like Lindsey Graham are calling for unity and healing after they split the country wide open by validating and repeating the lies of Donald Trump. Other conservative are trying to muddy the waters, comparing the attack on the Capitol and Members of Congress to the protests that rocked cities across the nation this summer. And they have pseudo-news organizations to amplify their misinformation. 

Instead of trying to right the wrongs they’ve promoted or tolerated, Republicans are doubling down. As the New York Times reports, “[A]ny window of reflection now seems to be closing as Republicans try to pass blame and to compare last summer’s lawlessness, which was condemned by Democrats, to an attack on Congress, which was inspired by Mr. Trump.” Rudi Giulliani and others are continuing to claim the attacks were orchestrated by the left in an “attempt to slander Trump.” It’s just another lie. 

In the Atlantic, McKay Coppins describes a party trying to bury the truth of the last four years with a “collective case of amnesia.” Republicans will do to themselves what they’ve done to their base: lie about it. In their retelling, the past four years will be a story of tax cuts, deregulation, and remaking the courts. Trump will be relegated to a minor role and his most egregious sins, including the Big Lie, will be dismissed as relatively harmless. It will be the culmination of alternative facts creating an alternative history.

Other conservatives are trying to bothsides the problem, claiming the attack was related to the violence associated with protests this summer. Here in North Carolina, John Hood, Chair of the conservative John Locke Foundation, wrote, “What happened on Jan. 6 was not an isolated incident. It was the latest in a series of punches to the gut of our body politic. Attempted assassinations and kidnappings of public officials. Riotous attacks on other public buildings, from state capitals to police stations. Property destruction and vandalism. Violence and threats of violence.” John’s prescription calls on “all of us, across the political spectrum” to denounce violence and to “make integrity our No. 1 criterion when choosing leaders.” 

The problem, though, is not across the political spectrum. It’s on the right and it’s fueled by a disinformation campaign. If the attack on the Capitol was not an isolated incident, it’s because it’s similar to the armed occupation of the state capitol in Michigan last spring, not the Black Lives Matter protests this summer. Rumors that armed insurrectionists are going to return to Washington for the inauguration and descend on state capitals could make the tactic even more commonplace. They aren’t protesting injustices. They are responding to lies spread by the president, Republican Members of Congress, and the right-wing propaganda machine. Their intent is seditious, even if it’s not based in reality. They should face consequences for their actions, not accommodation.

Polls this weekend show that the vast majority of Republicans still believe the election was stolen. An NBC/Washington Post poll finds that 65% of Republicans believe there’s solid evidence of voter. A Vox poll found that number to be 74%. They have been duped by the Big Lie and consider Biden an illegitimate president. 

Before we have any healing, we must have accountability. Conservatives and Republicans need to convince their base that the president lied to them, the election was fair and free, and Joe Biden is the legitimate President of the United States. We will not move forward as long as about a third of our nation believes otherwise. 

The last time we accommodated the misconceptions of such a large portion of the country, we ended up with the myth of the Lost Cause and, then, Jim Crow. Back then, conservatives promoted the idea that the South seceded for noble reasons and the people who fought for them were heroes. The remnants of the myth live on today, more than 150 years later, in the minds of people who would storm the Capitol and talk about “real Americans.” 

If we move on from this episode with this many people believing a lie, the myth of the noble insurrection will grow. The people who believe they were justified in attacking democracy will become heroes to another generation of malcontents. For conservatives who really want to heal this nation, they should repudiate the lies until they are largely stamped out. Only then can we move on. As Jesus told his disciples, “The truth shall set you free.”