If you want to understand how 37% can still support Trump, all you need to do is spend a day watching Fox News. It’s completely detached from reality and in this Fantasy land they’ve imagined the president is a heroic figure and all minorities are evil extremists.
The 37% get all their news straight from the propaganda machine and refuse to believe any other source is credible.
Keep in mind, Nixon had a 24% approval before resigning, this was before Fox news was even created to run propaganda for conservatives. Even without fox, roughly a quarter of the country will just never change their mind.
Fox News is interchangeable with OAN, Newsmax, Breitbart, and [insert any right-wing white supremacist fascist Nazi broligarch grifting podcaster here].
There’s an interesting and distinct difference in flavors of conspiracies supported by viewers of TV news propaganda and the people who doomscroll social media for news.
The Fox News viewers are all believe roughly the same brand of crazy. The social media users build their reality freestyle out of the craziest conspiracies imaginable.
They’re not quite interchangeable but rather are more of a scale. They start out with propaganda that’s still mostly believable but subtly wrong in various ways on Fox, but the constant hammering that they’re being lied to by <insert any non-Fox news source that’s left of Hitler> eventually drives them to checking out the crazier places like OAN, Newsmax, and Breitbart. Then the whole thing repeats but now the fact that reality doesn’t line up with the things that they’re being told convinces them that everyone is lying to them and there’re conspiracies under every rock and leaf which then drives them to the real kooks over in the podcasts, talk radio, and social media. At which point they genuinely start believing in jewish space lasers and secret pizza parlor basements where people drink the blood of children, and the transformation from mildly misinformed libertarian asshole who watches Fox News into white supremacist neo-nazi who listens to podcasts you’ve never heard of and posts racist conspiracy theories on Facebook is complete.
You know they’re nearing the end when they start complaining about how Fox News is too liberal and has been taken over by Democrats so they don’t watch it anymore. At that point they’re so far down the rabbit hole I’m not sure if anything short of professional psychological help is going to fix them. At this point I’m afraid that about a third of the US is clinically insane and I’ve really got no clue how you fix that.
I’ve often thought about what you suggest, spending a day watching Fox News - to gain more of a wholistic perspective on what this sect of the country is digesting. It’ll be an exercise in restraint and patience for me personally, however there’s this part of me that already knows what their coverage is like and I fear it’ll be a waste of time.
I spent about a month last year completely mired in conservative streams, for the same reason mentioned above. It was fucking awful and toxic, and it was also very informative with respect to how these people view this country. To consider any of their ideology one needs to suspend reality and most if not everything learned about history and government. I’ve never seen or felt so much fear, anger, and hatred as I did during this time. (From them and within myself)
Essentially I feel I went into it backwards, I should have watched Fox News first and then went into the conservative streams (cause and effect). But to see the end result, how this stuff actually effects people, it was an eye opener that left me with little faith and even less trust in the naivety I once held - that these people are victims of manipulation and propaganda and simply need to educate themselves about the world in order to see it for what it is. Never again. This is a choice, and what is unfolding before us is only the beginning.
I sent a full copy of the project 2025 document to a coworker because they refused to believe what I was saying was inside it. I was like read for yourself. Nope, they still trust republicans and refuse to believe.
I think we all kinda know that. The next question is harder: what’s the response? For the sake of discussion, let’s say Dems win the presidency and the house in 2028. What can be done to address the propaganda cult networks?
Here are some thoughts:
Full court press on conservative news:
Modify how the press pool operates. Like Hegseth but legal and not dumb.
Election law violations. Directing and collusion with campaigns (think PAC vs Super PAC).
Insider trading law violations. The market manipulation is apparent.
FCC Fair Time rule. If they want to play that way, let’s play.
Anti-trust. Break up Sinclair.
Address the misinfo directly while avoiding “Ministry of Truth” vibes. Get lower ranking Dems on the news networks BUT
Very publicly establish fair ground rules for on air discussions. Break the rules and the topic now becomes why the host is a propo shill
Do a better job of getting lower ranking Dems together and being on the same page. GOP knows how to close ranks. We have a higher purpose.
Very little of those require Congressional approval.
MAGA has effectively neutered the courts. I’m not sure a marginal victory is enough to restore 3 independent branches of government. Also, most of the above list is above enforcing very simple laws and Judge Cannon can’t preside over everything.
A more controversial item was left off: once Dems get the presidency, it must be destroyed. Rein in executive power as much as possible. It’s possible that the next GOP presidency will undo this but I doubt the Dems will hold on to power for very long. There’s a lot of damage to undo and the cleanup is going to be slandered at every turn.
There is also a huge mostly ignored, Fascist Network in “religious” programming.
Try watching the 700 Club or anything on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Straight up White Nationalist Nazi propaganda running 24/7 completely unchallenged (likely tax free as well).
If you want to understand how 37% can still support Trump, all you need to do is spend a day watching Fox News. It’s completely detached from reality and in this Fantasy land they’ve imagined the president is a heroic figure and all minorities are evil extremists. The 37% get all their news straight from the propaganda machine and refuse to believe any other source is credible.
https://www.fisheaters.com/srpdf/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer-On_Stupidity.pdf
Keep in mind, Nixon had a 24% approval before resigning, this was before Fox news was even created to run propaganda for conservatives. Even without fox, roughly a quarter of the country will just never change their mind.
Fox News is interchangeable with OAN, Newsmax, Breitbart, and [insert any right-wing white supremacist fascist Nazi broligarch grifting podcaster here].
There’s an interesting and distinct difference in flavors of conspiracies supported by viewers of TV news propaganda and the people who doomscroll social media for news.
The Fox News viewers are all believe roughly the same brand of crazy. The social media users build their reality freestyle out of the craziest conspiracies imaginable.
They’re not quite interchangeable but rather are more of a scale. They start out with propaganda that’s still mostly believable but subtly wrong in various ways on Fox, but the constant hammering that they’re being lied to by <insert any non-Fox news source that’s left of Hitler> eventually drives them to checking out the crazier places like OAN, Newsmax, and Breitbart. Then the whole thing repeats but now the fact that reality doesn’t line up with the things that they’re being told convinces them that everyone is lying to them and there’re conspiracies under every rock and leaf which then drives them to the real kooks over in the podcasts, talk radio, and social media. At which point they genuinely start believing in jewish space lasers and secret pizza parlor basements where people drink the blood of children, and the transformation from mildly misinformed libertarian asshole who watches Fox News into white supremacist neo-nazi who listens to podcasts you’ve never heard of and posts racist conspiracy theories on Facebook is complete.
You know they’re nearing the end when they start complaining about how Fox News is too liberal and has been taken over by Democrats so they don’t watch it anymore. At that point they’re so far down the rabbit hole I’m not sure if anything short of professional psychological help is going to fix them. At this point I’m afraid that about a third of the US is clinically insane and I’ve really got no clue how you fix that.
Why would I be wondering how 37% can support him, when it says 36%? 6 and 7 don’t even look similar.
Well fuck me for having fat fingers on my tiny keyboard right?
I’ve often thought about what you suggest, spending a day watching Fox News - to gain more of a wholistic perspective on what this sect of the country is digesting. It’ll be an exercise in restraint and patience for me personally, however there’s this part of me that already knows what their coverage is like and I fear it’ll be a waste of time.
I spent about a month last year completely mired in conservative streams, for the same reason mentioned above. It was fucking awful and toxic, and it was also very informative with respect to how these people view this country. To consider any of their ideology one needs to suspend reality and most if not everything learned about history and government. I’ve never seen or felt so much fear, anger, and hatred as I did during this time. (From them and within myself)
Essentially I feel I went into it backwards, I should have watched Fox News first and then went into the conservative streams (cause and effect). But to see the end result, how this stuff actually effects people, it was an eye opener that left me with little faith and even less trust in the naivety I once held - that these people are victims of manipulation and propaganda and simply need to educate themselves about the world in order to see it for what it is. Never again. This is a choice, and what is unfolding before us is only the beginning.
I sent a full copy of the project 2025 document to a coworker because they refused to believe what I was saying was inside it. I was like read for yourself. Nope, they still trust republicans and refuse to believe.
I think we all kinda know that. The next question is harder: what’s the response? For the sake of discussion, let’s say Dems win the presidency and the house in 2028. What can be done to address the propaganda cult networks?
Here are some thoughts:
The big problem has always been the kangaroo courts. Anything Congress does, they’ll strike down in court, paralyzing the country.
Very little of those require Congressional approval.
MAGA has effectively neutered the courts. I’m not sure a marginal victory is enough to restore 3 independent branches of government. Also, most of the above list is above enforcing very simple laws and Judge Cannon can’t preside over everything.
A more controversial item was left off: once Dems get the presidency, it must be destroyed. Rein in executive power as much as possible. It’s possible that the next GOP presidency will undo this but I doubt the Dems will hold on to power for very long. There’s a lot of damage to undo and the cleanup is going to be slandered at every turn.
Why? Monopoly on violence from their side is my guess.
Also they play nasty. Nice people don’t. I guess that’s why things turn to shit in general.
There is also a huge mostly ignored, Fascist Network in “religious” programming.
Try watching the 700 Club or anything on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Straight up White Nationalist Nazi propaganda running 24/7 completely unchallenged (likely tax free as well).
I’m not confused by them, just disgusted.