Thread by @ewzucker

Want to understand how Trump's supporters (most white Americans) stand by him even when he suggests we might ingest poison as a COVID cure?

The answer can be gleaned from this line from a Rush Limbaugh screed: ihr.fm/2VEBNDz

What do I mean? <THREAD>

First a general observation: misinformation is generally understood as a problem of *gullibility*-- people believing the wrong things, especially when these things are dangerous for them or others.

Why are people gullible?

Could be due to 1 or more of 3 factors:

a) Laziness about seeking good info sources or interpreting the info obtained
b) Bias in seeking info sources or in interpreting the info obtained
c) Laziness or bias of info sources (media) upon which we rely, so even not-so-lazy, not-so-biased ppl are affected

Gullibility is an important issue & all 3 factors seems important too (here is a working paper where @ohahl, @minjaekim22, & I provide evidence for factors a & b, replicating evidence from @GordPennycook, @DG_Rand on laziness & many others on bias: osf.io/g52um/).

But we also show (following our earlier work) that misinformation can be effective for a politician even if their supporters don't believe it.

How? Why?

Rather than rehearse our argument & evidence (feel free to read our papers; we'll soon have a new one, with Ethan P, on whether pandemic exposure matters), it's instructive just to focus on Limbaugh's (to whom Trump defers like no one else this side of Putin) Lysol-gate screed.

Again, the key to Limbaugh's defense is this line. Why?

Here's what Limbaugh is saying, in a nutshell

a. Only an idiot would take POTUS literally & ingest poison
B. The Left/establishment/mainstream media therefore thinks you are an idiot

Limbaugh is implicitly noting a very important fact:

While there was an uptick in calls to poison control this weekend, this was a very small # (some may have been trolls)

In a way then, he's right: you do have to be a dunce to take up POTUS's idea

bit.ly/2S7hIDO

Limbaugh is hinting at how, by repeatedly insisting Trump's base might be so gullible as to listen to Trump's BS, we keep falling for the trap of copping to what's perhaps their core charge against us: that we think his base are "dunces."

Just makes them hate us more of course

This is the key implicit message behind every case of Trump's "demagogic bullshit": It's not about getting his supporters to believe something; it's about reinforcing the message that the "real people" (his supporters) are being condescended to/victimized by the establishment

And this message is reinforced by making specious arguments (e.g., that Trump was being sarcastic, that we assess impact of social distancing via actual deaths rather than deaths *saved*) & watching us gnash our teeth as we (implicitly) call them morons for falling for this crap

It's hard to know how to escape this very artfully designed trap we keep falling into

After all, we can't just ignore it when the POTUS flouts basic norms of truth-telling, especially when his statements are dangerous if taken literally

What to do then?

Beats me but hopefully greater understanding of this dynamic will help

It may also be helpful to remember it's not about Trump

Trump is a buffoon/troll who should be a sideshow spectacle

He's not only because 40%+ of Americans (*most* white Americans) feel like victims

Personally, I think the vast majority of them are wrong to feel this way & that however tough their lives are & whoever is to blame for their troubles, they've done something incredibly irresponsible in supporting a false cure that's much worse than the disease.

One way or another though, this sense of grievance (which has parallels in seemingly every other liberal democracy on the planet today) won't be resolved simply by voting Trump out.

Because it's not about him & never was.

It's about (all of) us.