That is 100% gas lighting propaganda bullshit. There’s no question January 6 was an attempted coup.

I don’t often use Gemini, but I was curious about this because I got a very different response.

“According to the findings of the House Select Committee, numerous federal court rulings, and the Department of Justice, the events of January 6, 2021, were the culmination of a multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The consensus from these official investigations characterizes the day not just as a riot, but as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Here is a breakdown of the evidence and conclusions:

Official Findings and Goals The Primary Objective: The House Select Committee concluded that the central goal of the attack was to prevent a joint session of Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes, thereby keeping Donald Trump in power despite his electoral loss.

Premeditation: Evidence showed that extremist groups, such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, planned for violence weeks in advance. Several leaders of these groups were later convicted of seditious conspiracy—a charge specifically involving a plot to oppose the authority of the U.S. government by force.

The “Big Lie”: Investigations found that the attack was fueled by sustained, false claims of widespread voter fraud. The committee argued these claims were used to pressure Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress to unilaterally reject legitimate vote counts.

Legal and Historical Classifications While the terms used to describe the day often vary by political perspective, several specific legal and academic labels have been applied based on the evidence: Insurrection: The House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” and multiple federal judges have referred to the events as such in sentencing rioters.

Attempted Coup: Many historians and political scientists classify it as an “attempted self-coup” (or autogolpe), where a leader already in power attempts to stay in office through illegal means.

Domestic Terrorism: The FBI has classified the breach of the Capitol as an act of domestic terrorism due to the use of violence to achieve political or social objectives.

Alternative Viewpoints While the official investigative consensus is clear, a segment of the public and some political figures characterize the day differently. Some argue it was a “peaceful protest that got out of hand” or a “spontaneous riot” rather than an organized attempt to overthrow the government. However, these claims are generally contradicted by the sworn testimony of participants, internal communications recovered by the FBI, and the specific targeting of the certification process itself.
Would you like me to look into the specific legal charges brought against the organizers, or perhaps the security failures that occurred that day?”

I wonder if the differences in response are due to previous conversations we’ve had? Maybe Gemini is tailoring its responses to what it expects either of us want to hear?

Knowing what I know about LLMs and Google, using the Google LLM as a reading assistant seems like possibly the worst idea.

Using LLMs like this (or at all) has been shown to reduce critical thinking and impact long term cognitive skills. You might think you’re learning but the studies say otherwise. You are also 100% opening yourself up to propaganda and both subtle and unsubtle bias influence. Not to mention the massive environmental footprint you’re incurring with this. Please please for the love of others and the planet stop using chatbots period, but at least majorly rethink how you’re using them if you refuse to step away from them altogether.