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It seems like a crisis right now in American politics is disimformation and how press, voters and Congress deal with it. Worth remembering that this isn’t the first time that our politics has been seized with a political actor and his allies spreading falsehoods with a firehouse.
I was doing some reading on Joe McCarthy and noticed that his reign of demagoguery and disinformation lasted exactly 4 years, 4 months—from 1950 speech about communists at State to “have you no sense of decency?” It‘s been 4 years, 3 1/2 months since Trump’s announcement speech.
Everyone has a pet historical analogue to Trump but McCarthy holds up well. This is a 1982 review of a book on McCarthy & media: “levelled accusations of treason at people he knew nothing about,” “lied with such boldness that he distracted a nation and shot it full of distrust.” 
McCarthy seemed invincible for 4 years and then suddenly support for him collapsed. Former cheerleaders acted like they barely knew him. The media was especially apologetic, because it realized he took advantage of a newish mid-century norm about covering both sides objectively.
The dynamic here is that at a certain point the cost of defending a demagogue spreading constant lies becomes greater than
admitting that the opposition you despise may be right about the nature of your party leader. We are not at that point yet but it can come fast.
admitting that the opposition you despise may be right about the nature of your party leader. We are not at that point yet but it can come fast.
