As the congressional investigation into the January 6 insurrection gets underway, we’re learning disturbing new details about Trump supporters’ violent attempt to overturn the 2020 election. As I watch, I see a chilling parallel to the rise of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Steve Stern’s book Remembering Pinochet’s Chile opens with a couple greeting the 1973 military coup that launched Pinochet’s dictatorship by toasting the fighter jets with champagne. Decades later, they still remember Pinochet fondly. Their version of their country’s history differs starkly with its reality — and they aren’t alone. They politically opposed the leftist Allende government that Pinochet overthrew, but that alone doesn’t explain why they would cheer a regime known for torturing and murdering its political enemies. So, why did they support Pinochet? Because he provided an entirely false and easily disproved story to justify his illegal coup and the brutality that followed — and they believed it.

Source: 1/6 Committee: Can a Pinochet-Style Chilean Dictatorship be Forestalled in the United States?