Anatomy of a lie: How the myth that Antifa stormed the Capitol became a widespread belief among Republicans - CNN

And so America's most popular right-wing television network again missed a chance -- or, perhaps, again chose to miss a chance -- to confront its viewers with the debunking of a lie that has become a widespread belief among right-wing Americans.

In part because of Fox, the conspiracy theory has become pervasive in conservative circles.

Ron Johnson; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican state legislators; former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin; right-wing conspiracy websites like The Gateway Pundit; and popular right-wing commentators on social media and talk radio.

Of more than 260 Capitol defendants who have been revealed by the Department of Justice to date, one of them, John Sullivan, is a political oddball who has used the hashtag #antifa on social media.

If it hadn't, though, some other Antifa-related lie almost certainly would have.

Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, noted that right-wing media has found a way to falsely blame Antifa for everything from mass shootings to wildfires.

The lie about Antifa orchestrating the Capitol attack, Donovan said, is part of "a very long disinformation campaign against the left" by a "right-wing media ecosystem that wants to shift the blame for anything bad that happens in our society."

And much of the ecosystem of right-wing media consumers is willing to eat it up.