Appalling story by @timkmak: three weeks ago, a key senator told paying insiders the truth about coronavirus. In public, the senator gave no similar warning. The president downplayed the threat, and others stuck to Fox propaganda. @MorningEdition @NPR
npr.org/2020/03/19/818…
npr.org/2020/03/19/818…
To cite a source on “Fox propaganda,” here is a good collection of what Fox personalities were saying long after government insiders knew the truth.
We don’t know that the Fox personalities knew the truth at the time they made their false claims. We do know, however, that the partisan propaganda channel has tight connections with leading Republicans, who certainly could have told them the truth.
It is reasonable to think silent officials and Fox propaganda had real-world effects. An @NPR / @NewsHour / @maristpoll found in February 72% of Republicans consider the virus a “real threat.” Now only 40% think so - just as officials need us all to make changes in our lives.
It may be that Fox propagandists believed their false claims were simply responding to Democratic awfulness. Or that they were serving a higher cause. But when you lie in a political argument, you are revealing something. You don’t think you’d win if people knew the truth.
