These are shocking numbers. Whether or not it’s possible to sustain democracy under the circumstances of the current information environment is one of the key questions of our era - and I’m afraid we need to acknowledge that there’s a very real chance the answer might be no.
https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1438524512761491457
Crucially, let’s not mistake these numbers as proof of “brainwashing”. There are limits to the rightwing propaganda machine’s power if it tries to go against the underlying anxieties that are animating conservatives. But it’s highly effective in amplifying those anxieties.
The “brainwashing” approach cannot explain why, for instance, Fox News failed in 2013 to get conservatives onboard with immigration reform. After a few weeks of trying, severe pushback from the base had them going back to demonizing any kind of immigration compromise.
And remember: Initially, Fox News was not all in on Trump either - but the base wanted him, and so they pushed him. That might be the most instructive example of the dynamics between media machine and base.
Yes, the rightwing propaganda machine is extremely powerful and causes tremendous harm. It keeps the conservative base in a constant state of frenzy and panic, elevating every real and imagined challenge to white conservative dominance to the status of an existential threat.
But the relationship between rightwing media (and the reactionary plutocrats financing it) and the base is not adequately captured by the idea of “brainwashing.” I think it needs to be conceptualized more in terms of channeling, crystallizing, and amplifying.
A necessary condition for the rightwing propaganda’s success is that it is deployed in an environment in which people are primed to believe it, that it channels and crystallizes certain ideological core claims and beliefs, builds on them, reinforces - but does not create! - them.
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