The coronavirus could throw a wrench into the Fox-Trump-Koch-Murdoch-GOP propaganda machine by demonstrating:
🔹how the lies hurt people, including MAGA people, and
🔹why a well-funded functioning government is necessary.
If you’re a new follower, see my Slate article:
slate.com/news-and-polit…
There are, however, limits to what the Fox-Trump-GOP wants to destroy.
But they don’t want their stock portfolio wiped out and they don’t want their family members to die from avoidable causes.
🔹It’s provable that he made the situation worse
🔹the crises will harm the wealthy and privileged, and
🔹this is a genuine crisis and leaders like Trump are only good at handling manufactured crises. For what I mean by that see:
A real crisis causes myth and lies to collide with reality in a way that Trump is unprepared to handle.
Sadopopulism is the way 21st century fascists obtain both wealth and power: They enact policies that hurt their own constituents while enriching themselves.
If you’re a new follower, see 👇
Fox viewers believe they benefit from tax cuts for the rich because decades of propaganda persuaded them that trickle down economics works, and that all taxes are bad.
It offers no advantage to ordinary MAGA people: They can't cheer while their "fearless leader" does battle with their enemies.
It just kills them and causes financial hardship.
latimes.com/politics/story…
Our job is to fight hard against this kind of disinformation.
The fact which that brought Sam round was this one:
marketwatch.com/story/trump-on…
This got to Sam.
Sam was not appalled by children in cages or attempts to cut affordable care, but this really got to him.
And Jack realized his family could suffer.
After the discussion, Sam said, “I’m not a Republican. I’m independent.” Until then, he was Republican.
He is just so overwhelmed with information that he can’t sort it out.
He said he watches both CNN and FOX in an attempt to get to the truth but—no surprise to —FOX persuades him.
Well, it's easy to make lies compelling.
“Noise” is a propaganda technique that destroys the truth by crowding the waves with so much information that people can't sort out truth from lies.
Eventually they conclude that truth is unknowable.
We will never reach the hardcore cultists.
Hardcore cultists are people genuinely prefer what sociologist Max Weber calls the authority of personality over rule of law.
Rule of law and democracy are messy and chaotic and require compromise.
A strongman leader seems to offer advantages.
That's why some cultist will pretend to believe even when they know it's a lie. They prefer Trump's lies to the alternative.
We know Sam well. For him, it was a big step. He was actually distancing himself.