The GOP's Big Lie is tearing America apart, as Trump expanded it to assault American democracy.

A 40-year Republican Big Lie brought us to this crisis point in America.

When Ronald Reagan was running for president in 1980, one of his biggest boosters was the political heavy hitter Paul Weyrich, who was also a cofounder of the Heritage Foundation and multiple other rightwing think tanks and operations.

Weyrich told a group of political activist in a church basement in Dallas that the GOP was changing their strategy to win elections.

While everybody is discussing how the FBI is trying to hold to account those who invaded the US Capitol building and several state capitols on January 6, very few national media outlets are supporting or even discussing the idea of holding the true perpetrators to serious account.

The media narrative today is that "right wing crazies" are the only people involved in this attempt to disrupt Congress and even kidnap or murder some of our elected representatives. But they're missing, almost entirely, the big question: Why did so many people show up?

Tyrants very rarely leave power voluntarily. In almost every case they've committed so many crimes in the process of acquiring and holding power, and exploiting that power to enrich themselves, their friends and allies, that they know if they step down they will be facing, at the very least, a long stretch in prison.

This is why it's so vital that Donald Trump be removed from power immediately. Be it through the 25th Amendment or immediate articles of impeachment and a vote in the Senate, it must be done.

The pharmacist in Wisconsin who destroyed 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine did so because he believed they would "alter human DNA," reflecting a popular conspiracy theory on Facebook that has absolutely no basis in fact.

Science, religion, and conspiracy theories are all, essentially the same thing: systems or attempts to explain the unknown, to make sense out of things beyond our senses or immediate, touchable reality. Thus, our vulnerability to conspiracy theories and con artists like Trump.

It's impossible for any individual to know or understand everything. We believe electrons make our computers work, but for all but a few scientists who've actually seen and measured electrons, it's only a belief. We must trust their word.