Trump is a sinister cult leader who knowingly exploited his gullible followers into rioting on his behalf.
RELATED: Jan. 6 committee puts Proud Boys at center of Trump's plot to overthrow the election.
What the committee hearing on Tuesday made clear is that Trump viewed his supporters as mere instruments in his quest for illegally obtained power.
The same tribalism and self-deception that led these two men to extreme lengths is endemic in the world of Republican voters.
If the Big Lie is so obviously false that Trump didn't believe it, then why would his followers believe it?
Or, conversely, if his followers convinced themselves the Big Lie was real, then why couldn't Trump have done the same?
The committee showed that there was a huge gulf between the information that Trump followers were privy to and the information Trump himself was privy to. »