It could have been true:  How counterfactual thoughts reduce condemnation of falsehoods and increase political polarization (from Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Jan 23, 2018) | ED 262 Research, Reference & Resource Skills | Scoop.it
From journals.sagepub.com - December 7, 2019 10:50 AM
This research demonstrates how counterfactual thoughts can lead people to excuse others for telling falsehoods. When a falsehood aligned with participants’ political preferences, reflecting on how it could have been true led them to judge it as less unethical to tell, which in turn led them to judge a politician who told it as having a more moral character and deserving less punishment. When a falsehood did not align with political preferences, this effect was significantly smaller and less reliable, in part because people doubted the plausibility of the relevant counterfactual thoughts... The results reveal how counterfactual thoughts can amplify partisan differences in judgments of alleged dishonesty.""