The audio came out on the same day Trump’s mouthpiece on Capitol Hill, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans spoke out against authoritarianism and abuses of power — but they leveled those accusations at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and not the twice-impeached former President.

It was the latest incarnation of a now classic tactic among pro-Trump Republicans and his media propagandists — an effort to not just excuse the former President’s conduct but to comprehensively alter the facts and public perception of the worst attack on Congress in two centuries. The shape-shifting strategy isn’t just a political device … Read more