I want to offer a quick thread on the common argument you hear from Trump defenders online, that Trump supporters "already know about Trump" and that his scandals are already "baked in" and thus each new Trump outrage is ultimately irrelevant. 1/
I'd say this is true for the Extremely Online MAGA supporter. They follow everything, they know everything, and they just don't care. But if you live in Trump country, you know this is decidedly NOT true for the rank and file voter. There is a vast information gap. Vast. /2
A moderately politically-engaged Trump supporter is well-acquainted with Democratic outrages and well-acquainted with media scandals. They're pretty well-acquainted with Trump defenses. Outside of that? The knowledge gap grows. They see Trump's problems as a matter of "style." /3
For example, regarding Russia, if you recite the established facts of campaign contacts with Russians or Russian assets, many will look at you as if you're perpetuating the "Russia hoax." Again, I'm talking established facts, not Steele nonsense. /4
That's how deeply it's sunk into folks here that there was literally "nothing" to the Russia controversy. Regarding Ukraine, I've talked to a number of people who are completely convinced that Biden did the exact same thing that Trump did. Biden did not. /5
So when you look at a Trump voter and ask, "How could you support a man when you know he did [fill in the blank]"? The short answer is they don't know. Trump's defenders (who know better!) have done a great job of casting objections mainly as a matter of style, of rudeness. /6
In an odd way, his wild tweeting has served to insulate him, as if the problem is mainly his tweets and not also his concrete actions. Anyway, it's worth understanding where people really are, and they really don't believe or know as many facts about Trump as you think. /end
