Thread by @mattsheffield

1/x: Far-right elites have totally embraced trolling, but is the rest of America finally figuring out how to respond?

This thread is a summary of my latest @DiscoverFlux article. Please join me or click through here: flux.community/matthew-sheffi…

Since Joe Biden became the president, Republicans consultants and politicians have been desperate to find a way to attack him. But nothing has worked, his approval rating has consistently been above 50%. So instead, right-wing elites have decided to completely embrace trolling.

The important thing to realize is that GOP elites are trolling everyone, including their own supporters. This is vital because as Biden has embraced stimulus spending and family support, he's forced the right to defend its greatest weakness: their anti-government views

Polls have shown for decades that Republican voters aren't interested in slashing the government. Biden's economic agenda has put GOP elites into the position of defending billionaire tax cheats like Jeff Bezos. Literally: dailykos.com/stories/2021/7…

So instead of talking about spending and policy (where their views are horribly unpopular), Republican elites have been churning out fake controversies like nonsense about "cancel culture" assassinating Mr. Potato Head or Dr. Seus:

These fake controversies are designed to give Republicans a cultural populism as a substitute for actual policies that would help people. But the lies have to become increasingly unhinged to be successful at motivating people as @AngieMaxwell1 told me:

It's certainly true that an increasingly unhinged GOP is more dangerous to the republic, but it's also one that's easier to see as exploitative and absurd. Scott Adams, the Dilbert guy, has been mocked ruthlessly and deservedly for this thread a year ago:

The unhinged lying about Trump's election loss has also made the liars vulnerable to lawsuits. And they're raging about this as Mike Lindell did to the Daily Show about being boycotted by Fox News:

Journalists are also figuring out to stop booking Trumpy liars or if they do, to calmly debunk their falsehoods. It's proving enraging to the Trump representatives as the excellent CBSN anchor @LanaZak showed in March.

We should not under any case underestimate the threat of right-wing authoritarianism (see the article for a Tucker Carlson discussion claiming conservatives will simply have to become fascists), the strategy for countering the lies has finally become clear...

1) Sue the most malignant & influential liars (Trump, Lindell, etc)
2) Deplatform them also & get social media to stop promoting disinfo
3) Routinely point out the manipulation strategy so that the target audience can see it
4) Force GOP to defend its abhorrent economic views

The way forward won't be easy, but it's now visible. We're going to be publishing a lot of material in the months ahead at @DiscoverFlux about ways to move forward on each of these points.

If you'd like to help us, please see our Patreon: patreon.com/fluxcommunity

Thanks!