I agree with the gaslighting part, but don’t necessarily think it was “the government”.
I think it was billionaire/adversaries funded groups, probably Elon in part, definitely Russia/China.
Elon understood Twitter/SM very early on. I remember reading somewhere how Tesla didn’t spend a dime on (traditional) marketing the first few years, it was pure social media manipulation / dark patterns.
“The point of propaganda is not to make you believe something in particular, is to make you not believe anything.”
Well, the good news is that the topic likely won’t be an issue anymore in 2028 for disrupting non-GOP candidates