On January 6, 2021, the United States was rocked by an insurrection at the Capitol Building. Since then, a quarter of Americans have entertained a belief that the FBI may have instigated the attack on the Capitol, according to a poll from the University of Maryland’s Center for Public Policy.
The poll, conducted between January 14 and 18, revealed that about a quarter of Americans, about 26%, see the FBI and similar government organizations as potential instigators of the attack. Another 33% see the possibility but lack the evidence to firmly believe it. Only 37% of individuals responding to the poll rejected the idea outright. The poll also revealed that 74% of Republican respondents showed some level of belief in the conspiracy theory, compared to 17.5% among Democrats.
The FBI has consistently denied any involvement, and has even created a task force to identify and arrest any individuals with connections to the rioters. FBI Director Christopher Wray has also gone on record to bemoan the false theories about the FBI’s involvement.
What’s concerning is that the data from the poll suggests that the majority of the people who believe the FBI had something to do with the attack on the Capitol are also unsure of the facts or the evidence to support the theory. This lack of trust in the government seems to have cast a deep shadow of doubt upon the federal institution.
It is a troubling trend and one that has become increasingly more common in American political discourse. With the constant onslaught of competing narratives, it is easy to blur fact and fiction. This is particularly worrisome as this distrust has serious implications for the functioning of the American government and can be exploited by foreign adversaries for their own interests.
One can only hope that with the passage of time and greater awareness of facts, more people will reject baseless conspiracy theories and accept the truth. In the end, it is the hard and often uncomfortable truth that is the only way to move forward.
