Tomorrow I suspect that the Trump defense team will gaslight the American people.
What is gaslighting?
To gaslight is to manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.
So, how will the Trump defense team gaslight us?
As they did during the first day of the Impeachment Trial, they will tell us that it is natural to be emotional and want to blame someone, but that's our emotions leading us, not the facts. This is a common defense used by abusers, and it is pure gaslighting.
Next, they will tell us that Trump never expected the angry mob to be violent, and that he used the words, "be peaceful." Yet, as we saw in the House managers' evidence, Trump started his election fraud narrative last summer and spread that misinformation which angered his base since then, promoted violence from that time onward with specific rhetoric and actions, planned the insurrection event for January 6th, the date of the election certifcation, riled the crowd on that date and told them to go to the Capitol and fight, watching them fight for 3 1/2 hours without coming to Americans' common defense, ignoring the many who told him to act, and finally towards the end of the insurrection, telling his insurgents that he loved them and it was a day they will always remember.
And, they will tell us that Trump is not responsible for the behavior of the thugs.
Further they will want us to believe that Trump is a victim of a vendetta by Democrats who have not liked him from the start.
They will tell lies about who we are, what we feel and think, and what is right or wrong, and as they speak I suspect those of us who know Trump incited a deadly insurrection will be angry as we will feel gaslighted, manipulated, and unseen by Trump's team.
So how can we react.
1. Of course we are emotional, Trump staged and incited an event that killed, injured, threatened, and terrorized American citizens without regard or care. Trump also incited and staged an event that led to costly looting and vandalism, and he obstructed the cerfication of a free and fair election. Also, rather than do his job to serve the American people, he spent the lion's share of the past six months focused on election-related propaganda, misinformation, and manipulation in multiple ways. It's natural to be emotional when someone wrongs you, and Trump clearly wronged the American people in multiple ways.
2. Trump clearly staged and incited the deadly insurrection. There is considerable proof of that. Trump had many chances to support a peaceful transfer of power, but at every juncture he supported the violent insurrection instead. That was a clear, dangerous, and deadly abuse of power. Further, he could have stopped the carnage, and he took an oath to support the commond defense, but no, he sat back and let the deadly violence continue.
3. And this has nothing to do with a Democratic vendetta--no one wanted a violent insurrection and no one wanted to have to spend all this time on an impeachment trial. Yet, when the President abused his power in such grave ways, it was the responsibility of members of Congress to act with fidelity to their oaths of office and hold the President accountable via Impeachment and an Impeachment Trial.
The Trump team over time, has used gaslighting along with marketing manipulation to tell the American people who they are and how they should think and act. They have, in a sense, infiltrated our minds via manipulative marketing to prop up their personal power, wealth, privilege, and pleasure. They will continue to do this tomorrow and for as long as they have any power--it is the self-serving, sick, and dangerous way that the Trump team operates.
I hope that senators can see through this and understand what a danger this is to us as a people. Donald Trump, as President of the United States, clearly abused his power, was unfaithful to his oath of office, and put the lives of Americans and our democracy in danger. He should be held accountable. Convict Trump.