(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



What Makes You Think There Will be a "Finding Out?" [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-03

It’s taken on faith here, and in liberal circles, that Trump voters effed around, and are they’re now about to find out. Big time. Here is today’s APR, featuring this theory. Schadenfreude is a great story. And no disrespect to the FAFO advocates, but what makes you think Trump voters will ever find out?

It’s not like we don’t have recent examples of Republicans effing around and not finding out. The Republican Party has been demonstrably worse for the US Economy since Ronald Regan. The past three Republican Administrations all ended in one economic calamity or another. While voters rewarded Democrats with the Presidency, they very quickly, in just two years, returned Republicans to power.

George H.W. Bush mismanages the economy, Bill Clinton is elected, and we have Newt Gingrich and the Republican Revolution two years later. George W. Bush oversees an even greater economic calamity. It’s the Great Recession. Barack Obama wins, and voters return the Republican Party to power a mere two years later, in even greater numbers than before. The Tea Party famously started before Obama was even elected! Donald Trump is a disastrous President, mismanages the COVID response, a million people die, the economy falters, and voters elect Biden by an uncomfortably slim margin, only to return Donald Trump to power four years later.

We can draw on other examples from 20th Century History:

Our history often incorrectly explains ongoing support for the Third Reich through brutality of the regime and propaganda. While certainly true in part, Hitler maintained broad support up until the very end.

In Trump’s first term, we often explained MAGA as the cruelty being the point. It is true that the cruelty is still the point. But as MAGA has grown and evolved, destruction is also the point. What makes you think MAGA isn’t looking forward to finding out?

* * *

I am proud to know so many people who worked so hard for Kamala Harris. She deserved so much better. But I’ve also been haunted by the acquaintances (not friends, acquaintances) in my life who voted for Biden in 2020, but voted for either Donald Trump or Jill Stein in 2024.

One lifelong Democrat voted for Jill Stein because they were still mad at the DNC over Bernie Sanders’ loss in 2016 and 2020. While in the moment they did the right thing and voted for Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, stewing in anti-Biden leftist Facebook propaganda for four years left them unable to vote for him. Another lifelong Democrat voted for Donald Trump in reaction to the campus protests for Palestine, convinced that Democrats had been taken over by anti-Semites. Again, this individual migrated over the past four years to Jewish Facebook groups with a decided pro-Trump bend. Another individual became convinced, again from Facebook, that the Biden Administration was forcing sex changes on students without their parents permission, and that even though they were a lifelong Democrat, this supposed social engineering must be stopped by any means necessary. Finally, an acquaintance fell in hard with the campus Palestine movement online, became startlingly anti-Semitic, and pulled the level for Jill Stein.

There are common threads to all these stories, with all these individuals being (or becoming) extremely online, and as a result, being radicalized by YouTube and Facebook algorithms. But people who are not propagandized have no idea just how bad the information environment is out there. Trump’s dumb and dangerous trade war will hurt Red States the most? They don’t know and don’t care! As another example, here is our union Newspaper from this past Fall:

Their slogan is “A Voice for Workers”. So relitigating COVID vaccine requirements is a strange topic to be covering when the most pro-union President was up for reelection.

When I walk past the Asian Grocery store, I see the Epoch Times right out front. When I am at the Supermarket checkout, I see tabloids propping up Trump. When I search for a video on Youtube, the first two or three hits are right wing podcasts.

MAGA isn’t going to find out, because they can’t find out, even if they wanted to.

* * *

I wrote, not too long ago, that the establishment media has failed liberalism, and corporate media dying would be a good thing. Although counterintuitive when talking about a media landscape polluted by right wing misinformation, our corporate media now has an unquenchable fetish for authoritarianism, and can no longer be an ally. Here is how our establishment media covered the debut of Trump’s Press secretary:

Strange way to cover a debut that featured the lie that the US sends $50 million to Gaza for condoms.

I have no doubt that should there ever be Democratic power again, Silicon Valley would fight aggressively against the relatively easy legal fixes that would halt the flow of misinformation online. Stop those algorithms, stop the railroading of people to conservative voices. Completely eliminating all excess capital, so billionaires cannot afford to send their message out, should also be a Democratic priority. No billionaires, no billionaire misinformation. Again, none of these are easy, and not doable without large Democratic majorities, but we know now where any future Democratic Administration must focus their effort: allowing people to actually find out.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/3/2301114/-What-Makes-You-Think-There-Will-be-a-Finding-Out?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/