It's a normal rational process for people to have some skepticism, to look for evidence, to consider the possibility someone is lying.
When a person is making a claim that is hugely self-serving, that should set off sirens of suspicion. When that person has made a practice of constant lying...
So, I see most Republicans accept trump's claim the election was stolen.
My question is, why are they so broken on the basic rational issue? Why aren't they even considering, even asking questions about evidence, even saying anything about the possibility if he's lying?
It reminds me a little of Bush's claim of WMD in Iraq - when Democrats confronted Republicans with skepticism of the claim, Republicans almost universally accepted the claim but most were at least willing to say things like 'if it turns out to be a lie, I'll stop trusting Republicans'. They didn't rule out the possibility.
But with trump, I never hear any recognition of even that he might be lying. Why is the response so blind?
I think this is an important question in understanding who a third of Americans are. One theory is that they are such authoritarian-followers that they want a 'great leader' authoritarian figure to support blindly - one who claims to hit several holes in one in a round of gold like Kim Jong-Un, or to outplay the national hockey team like Putin, or to have phony Time covers and gold championships like trump. They don't care that it's lies.
What are other explanations? Is trump a talented con man? Is the propaganda well done? I'd say no. The propaganda is below The Onion level, with absurd claims of mountains of evidence without any, of 'the pillow guy', and 'cyber ninjas' who even say they found no fraud. This isn't some unimportant issues like a lie about the inauguration crowd size, but one which threatens our democracy, you'd think a little concern about the truth is worthwhile.
One more theory: that these people have been made dysfunctional and irrational through repetition. Hitler famously argued that "big lies" and repetition were effective at fooling people. Was he THIS right? It seems plausible, and dangerous. What happens when a Republican who accepts the big lie is asked, "what if trump is lying?" There's a reasonable response - but that's not what we seem to hear.
Another idea is that these people are 'weak' in that they don't like the election results and will happily accept being told that the results weren't what the media say. It's a little like a spouse who might decide to deny their partner cheated on them despite clear evidence because they don't want to deal with the unpleasant issue.
Whatever the answer, it's a big problem not only that they fall for such an obvious lie, not only that they don't consider that the lie is obvious and from a pathological liar, but how they seem they don't even recognize that he might be lying, the blind response. I think this question about WHY they are so blindly accepting of the lie hasn't been answered and the answer is important.
