The political/election version of rapture prophecies that just keep moving the promised date/outcome farther down the line, with "the delusional, non-occurring predictions reinforcing belief in the conspiracy".
I watched 3 hours of the Joe Rogan interview Dr. Robert Malone. Some observations about Malone, Rogan....and the complexities involving Covid/vaccines, “truth”, cancel culture, Big Pharma, the tribalization of science, political disinformation, and the “Trump effect”: 1/
First, it reinforces how catastrophic it was to have someone as pathologically dishonest as Trump as POTUS when Covid surfaced. I analyzed this extensively in the 70+ threads written between Trump’s covid “hoax” rally, and the 1/6 insurrection. 2/
"...One of the overlooked factors of Qanon: there’s an interactive, crowd-sourcing component where people compete, receive a “reward” (dopamine) for being the *cleverest*, connecting the furthest dispersed dots, & for (most absurdly) advancing the “story” the furthest/quickest."
Mind-numbingly dumb argument. 1. Trump's pathological dishonesty caused the "riot" 2. 147 Republicans voted to decertify (back Trump's lie) 3. A failed attempt does not negate intent 4. 58% of GOP votes still believe the lie... 5. ...b/c countless GOP politicians still support it
6. When the guy (Trump) who @benshapiro blames for the riot is the same guy who's a lock for the GOP nomination...it's not the focus on 1/6 that is "outsized".....what's "outsized" is the pathetic, intellectually dishonest dismissal of the threat. 2/
"The *anticipation* and the 50/50 optimization of dopamine production may explain why people aren't deterred when predictions, and the expectations created by those predictions, do not come true in cult situations or with Qanon." 1/