The GOP Death Cult (Part II)
Part I is here⤵️
Where we left off: The hierarchical leaders who want the freedom to lie and steal and cheat have a problem: Persuading people to vote for them.
What makes this difficult is that they need their victims to vote for them.
Part I is here⤵️
Where we left off: The hierarchical leaders who want the freedom to lie and steal and cheat have a problem: Persuading people to vote for them.
What makes this difficult is that they need their victims to vote for them.
1/ One way the GOP gets votes is by nurturing and stoking racial grievances.
They get certain people to vote against their economic interests by offering something they want more: Putting minorities in their places.
From @Maxboot ⤵️
(Notice the hierarchical thinking)
They get certain people to vote against their economic interests by offering something they want more: Putting minorities in their places.
From @Maxboot ⤵️
(Notice the hierarchical thinking)
2/ @TimothyDSnyder explains how would-be oligarchs get people to vote for policies that hurt them ("Sadopopulism")
🔹Create pain and suffering
🔹Profit from the pain and suffering
🔹Blame the pain and suffering on “enemies"
🔹Promise to defeat the enemies
🔹Create pain and suffering
🔹Profit from the pain and suffering
🔹Blame the pain and suffering on “enemies"
🔹Promise to defeat the enemies
3/ What help make it possible is conditioning a large base of voters to believe any lie they’re told.
We can divide the Trump-FOX-GOP into two groups:
🔹Those who know they are being fed lies and accept them willingly and knowingly, and
🔹those who are totally duped.
We can divide the Trump-FOX-GOP into two groups:
🔹Those who know they are being fed lies and accept them willingly and knowingly, and
🔹those who are totally duped.
4/ I don’t think any of my followers will quibble with the fact that Fox lies to its viewers, but sometimes MAGA people parachute in, so how about the ACA Death Panels thing. politifact.com/article/2009/d…
And Benghazi. And Obamagate. Okay, I'll stop.
And Benghazi. And Obamagate. Okay, I'll stop.
5/ Under Reagan, the GOP repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which required news outlets to give balanced coverage of all issues.
washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-kle…
They claimed it violated their free speech rights. It didn’t. Nobody has the right to lie. I'll deal with that in another thread.
washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-kle…
They claimed it violated their free speech rights. It didn’t. Nobody has the right to lie. I'll deal with that in another thread.
6/ Abolishing the Fairness Doctrine paved the way for Fox’s fear tactics. See, thebrainwashingofmydad.com
The right wing has been debunking science and denigrating universities for decades, while nurturing conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones.
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
The right wing has been debunking science and denigrating universities for decades, while nurturing conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones.
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
7/ Of course the GOP debunks science. Many of them profit from hydrocarbons. The last thing they want is for the masses to listen to scientists and and start believing in global warming.
They don't care if global warming kills people. There are profits to be earned.
They don't care if global warming kills people. There are profits to be earned.
8/ There are fewer people in the “duped” group than you might think.
Most of Trump’s base knows he is lying but they fall in line anyway. ("He's a liar, but ALL politicians lie”)
Some enjoy socking it to their enemies (Democrats, minority communities, liberals, immigrants).
Most of Trump’s base knows he is lying but they fall in line anyway. ("He's a liar, but ALL politicians lie”)
Some enjoy socking it to their enemies (Democrats, minority communities, liberals, immigrants).
9/ Some want to destroy and they know the lies destroy. See my 2018 Slate article if you missed it ⤵️
slate.com/news-and-polit…
For decades, Fox said, “Believe us. Don’t believe anything ‘mainstream’ media tells you. They are the enemy.”
slate.com/news-and-polit…
For decades, Fox said, “Believe us. Don’t believe anything ‘mainstream’ media tells you. They are the enemy.”
10/ Right wing media succeeded in building an audience that will accept anything they say and reject as false anything that comes from “mainstream media.”
For some Republican strategists, lying in the 1980s through 2015 was a fun game. They could win elections! How awesome!
For some Republican strategists, lying in the 1980s through 2015 was a fun game. They could win elections! How awesome!
11/ They knew they were lying. Joe Walsh knew Obama was born in Hawaii.
businessinsider.com/joe-walsh-regr…
But it was great! They could trounce the liberals! They could seize power! They could win!
businessinsider.com/joe-walsh-regr…
But it was great! They could trounce the liberals! They could seize power! They could win!
12/ What some of them (those who are now sorry) didn’t realize was that they created the circumstances that allow for totalitarianism and demagoguery.
All Trump did, in 2015, was grab the levers of a truth-stomping machine that the GOP had spent decades building.
All Trump did, in 2015, was grab the levers of a truth-stomping machine that the GOP had spent decades building.
13/ Instead of “believe Fox” or “believe the Republicans” Trump said, “Believe me. I am the arbiter of truth and facts.”
Trump goes straight to the Fox viewers, bypassing Fox.
Trump controls the Fox viewership (Trump’s “base”) which means he controls Fox.
Trump goes straight to the Fox viewers, bypassing Fox.
Trump controls the Fox viewership (Trump’s “base”) which means he controls Fox.
14/ Because the Fox viewership is also the Republican “base,” it also means he controls any GOP elected officials who need the Fox viewership to get elected.
So Trump has set himself up as the Leader, the arbiter of truth, and the entire Fox-Trump-GOP has fallen in line.
So Trump has set himself up as the Leader, the arbiter of truth, and the entire Fox-Trump-GOP has fallen in line.
15/ Trump is a natural in this role because he's been lying all his life. Two lies, birtherism and "I am a successful businessman," launched him into politics.
Trump doesn't inhabit the world of facts.
He creates his own narrative and forces people into his reality.
Trump doesn't inhabit the world of facts.
He creates his own narrative and forces people into his reality.
16/ Trump didn’t just seize the levers of a truth-stomping machine.
He also seized control of a party that, for decades, has implemented Death Policies.
See all about GOP Death Policies, from Part I ⤵️
He also seized control of a party that, for decades, has implemented Death Policies.
See all about GOP Death Policies, from Part I ⤵️
17/ When the pandemic hit, Trump had no way to deal with it. He doesn’t know how. He rejects science and experts. He hires only people who will accept the reality that he dictates.
This brings us to the third part: The Leader Decides People Must die.
This brings us to the third part: The Leader Decides People Must die.
18/
But this is getting long, so I’ll just wrap it up later, in Part III.
But this is getting long, so I’ll just wrap it up later, in Part III.
19/ Forgot something. In Part I, I mentioned that blacks were left out of the post WWII prosperity, and said I'd come back to it.
Early in this thread I talked about stoking racial resentment.
This took a new form after 1955 . . .
Early in this thread I talked about stoking racial resentment.
This took a new form after 1955 . . .
20/ . .. the year the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, the case ruling racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. Brown v. Board kicked off the modern Civil Rights movement, which then gave rise to the women's rights movement.
This was when the . . .
This was when the . . .
21/ . . . "free market economy" folks figured out how to get the white supremacists on their side. They learned not to say, "We dislike Brown because we like segregation (people called them racists and they didn't like it) so they said, "The federal government overreached. . .
22/ . . . first with 'activist' federal judges and then Civil Rights regulations." They argued that Brown and Civil Rights legislation violated states's rights and personal liberty.
Brown v. Board allowed "free market" folks to lure the white supremacists into voting for them.
Brown v. Board allowed "free market" folks to lure the white supremacists into voting for them.
This is probably true. ⤵️ I tend to think of it as a slippery slope. Once you accept and cover for lying, you're doing damage.
That's why I think there are far fewer in the duped category. I also think the genuinely and completely duped are victims.
That's why I think there are far fewer in the duped category. I also think the genuinely and completely duped are victims.
This thread is also a blog post here: terikanefield-blog.com/the-republican…
Part III is here:
