There's a sobering reminder of the power of disinformation in a new poll released today by Reuters/Ipsos. The poll finds that about half of Republicans now believe the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol was either a mere non-violent protest or a left-wing false-flag operation. Further, six in 10 Republicans believe the false claim that the presidential election was "stolen" from Donald Trump due to widespread voter fraud. This isn't just a Trump problem; it's become a rampant and pernicious Republican problem. In his farewell speech last December, upon retirement from Congress, Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman warned, "We must work together to inoculate against the social contagion of disinformation, conspiracies...Deep State cabal nonsense, cults, and those grifters posing as servants of the people." He is right, and as this poll reveals, there's still a lot of work to do. —Evan McMullin
 
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No shirt, no shoes, no passport—no service?

After a year of partisan fights over masks, pandemic restrictions, resource allocation, and medical treatments, the latest battleground in the Covid wars is over so-called vaccine passports, which could provide vaccinated individuals with certain freedoms unavailable to the unvaccinated. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis preemptively signed an executive order last week banning government entities from giving out digital or physical vaccine passports to residents and prohibiting businesses from demanding proof of vaccination to receive services. New York, on the other hand, launched the Excelsior Pass last month, which uses a QR code on a phone app to verify proof of vaccination.

MORE: David Frum: The strange new doctrine of the Republican Party —The Atlantic

Capitol suspect identified

The suspect in Friday's attack at the U.S. Capitol has been identified as Noah Green, a 25-year-old Indiana man. Green rammed a car into two Capitol Police officers before hitting a barricade and exiting the vehicle with a weapon. He was shot and killed by police. Ofc. William Evans, an 18-year veteran of the force, died of his injuries. Social media posts indicate that Green believed the government was targeting him with "mind control," and that he has suffered "terrible afflictions...presumably by the CIA and FBI." He also was an apparent follower of the Nation of Islam, an organization that has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. —The Hill

MORE: Capitol Police union warns of potential exodus after latest attack, urges security increases —NBC News

Zelizer: Will the GOP dump Matt Gaetz?

"The Gaetz scandal will be another test to see how far Republicans are willing to go to protect their own. Over the past four-and-a-half years, we have repeatedly witnessed how the immense power of partisanship within the GOP overwhelms its moral concerns—despite the party's widespread support among evangelical Christians. As long as Gaetz is considered valuable to the party—and a major player among Trump supporters—it is a safe bet that the modern GOP will stand by his side until the bitter end." —Julian Zelizer on CNN

Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and the author of "Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party."


MORE: Republicans quietly say Gaetz's days in Congress are numbered —The Hill

Schumer has high hopes

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he'll make a bid to federally legalize marijuana, even if President Biden resists it. Schumer, who once opposed legalization, says his "thinking evolved" when early legalizers like Oregon and Colorado didn't experience a predicted increase in crime and drug use. "They were a great success. The parade of horribles never came about, and people got more freedom," he says. Though Biden continues to oppose legalization, Schumer will "give him a little time to study it" and "make my arguments to him, as many other advocates will." But whether or not Biden comes around on the issue, Schumer says the Senate will still "move forward." —Politico

MORE: Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs bill to legalize recreational marijuana in New York —CNBC

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Scott: Disinfo is still a top threat to democracy

"Hearings held by the House of Representatives on March 25 focusing on the role Facebook, Twitter, and Google played in the Jan. 6 insurrection did not yield definitive conclusions. However, they did suggest bipartisan support for holding the companies accountable for the spread of disinformation. The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building...has brought forth an uncomfortable reality: Disinformation in all of its insidious forms is an existential threat to civil society and democratic ideals." —Thomas Scott in MinnPost

Thomas Scott is an adjunct professor of social sciences at Metropolitan State University and a professor of education at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.


MORE: One Republican's lonely fight against a flood of disinformation —The New York Times

Focus on the Georgia voting law

Georgia's recently passed voting law is already having real repercussions for the state, and it's not even election season yet. Major League Baseball announced on Friday that it is moving the 2021 All-Star Game and 2021 draft out of Atlanta in response to the law. "Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. The decision has created a firestorm on all sides, among those who support MLB, those who don't, and those who fall somewhere in between. —CBS News

MORE: Election laws: How Georgia compares to other states —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ackerman & Schoen: The future depends on reform now

"Our current system offers no stable solutions and no consensus of ideas, which is why younger voters across the country in particular want to see more unaffiliated candidates. We must act on these political and electoral reforms, while maintaining those rules that encourage bipartisanship, to make our democracy one that is truly by and for the people." —Peter Ackerman & Douglas Schoen on The Hill

Peter Ackerman is the founder for Americans Elect. Douglas Schoen is a consultant who served as adviser to former President Bill Clinton and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.


MORE: WaPo Ed. Board: Gerrymandering was already going to be bad this year. Then the Census was delayed —The Washington Post

I wish Read G. of Utah's comment could be duplicated and passed around the country. I often, with a sinking heart, wonder how anyone could believe the senseless "news" promoted on the right. It seems to me to be partly because foolishness is not forthrightly quoted and refuted in no uncertain terms as Read G. has done. It's not journalists' job to do more than report. I guess democracy depends on citizens breaking their polite, tactful silence. —Anna K., Washington

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT TODAY'S STORIES

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.


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