rationalize

Christian nationalists rationalize their will to dominance on false claims that they are the "true" Americans and the rest of us — liberal Christians, non-believers, non-Christians — are interlopers.

She argued that "Donald Trump and his administration and all these Republicans have been justifying abuse forever," which she compared to the ways her family used religion to rationalize abuse.

But if I did, I rationalized those thoughts away with the understanding that such violence would accomplish nothing.

The killers participate in the re-enactments with apparent glee, leaving viewers with a disturbing picture of how readily brutality can be rationalized and repressed.

But mention these character and cognitive flaws to his supporters and they rationalize that life was better when Trump occupied the White House than it has been under President Biden.