(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) A recently released study conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center has shown that the vast majority of the American citizens who protested at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had no intention of starting an “insurrection.”
Authors Joan Donovan, Kaylee Fagan and Frances E. Lee reviewed hundreds of court documents in order to determine the motivations of the 400+ J6ers who have been charged with federal crimes.
Having expected “insurrection,” “violence,” and “QAnon” to be the most significant factors in motivating the defendants, the study authors were disappointed to learn instead that they just really liked President Trump.
According to the study, while only 4.1% of J6 defendants were motivated by QAnon, a plurality of J6 defendants and only 8% sought desired insurrection, around 40% were motivated either by their support for Trump or by their belief that the election was rigged in some fashion.
“I don’t think I expected the result to be this stark,” a surprised Fagan said. “I also certainly didn’t expect those two motivations to come up nearly exactly as often as they both did.”
Nevertheless, the study stuck as closely as possible to the Leftist narrative — suggesting that the free speech of ordinary Americans endangers that Our Democracy™.
“We’re very concerned about the moments when disinformation mobilizes people to take action,” author Joan Donovan told WBUR.
Donovan went on to suggest that the study was intended to provide material that Rep. Liz Cheney, RINO-Wyo., could use during the J6 Select Committee‘s show trial.
“One of the reasons why we decided to put out the working paper was because of Representative Liz Cheney’s opening statement about Trump being a large motivator,” she said.
In a separate interview with NBC, Donovan suggested that government should collude with Big Tech to suppress Right-wing political views.
“What we’re trying to understand is really the new potent forms of political violence that can come from agitation online, that creates this kind of fervor,” she said.
“And then, once the match is lit by a politician, we have to have appropriate responses by other actors, including not just law enforcement, but journalists and technologists.”
