"Donald Trump has expanded his dominating lead for the Republican presidential nomination, a new Wall Street Journal poll shows, as GOP primary voters overwhelmingly see his four criminal prosecutions as lacking merit and about half say the indictments fuel their support for him."
Wall Street Journal, today, September 2, 2023
Really? Even now? Still?
Consumers of mainstream news have watched Trump's problems compound. The books by his former top appointees saying Trump is dangerously unfit. The New York rape/defamation verdict. The Trump Foundation mis-appropriation settlement penalty. The Stormy Daniels hush money indictments. The New York real estate tax scam indictments. The January 6 House hearings report. The Mar-a-Lago documents, with Trump's voice on tape. The Georgia indictments, again with Trump's voice on tape, and Georgia Republicans testifying against him. The Giuliani stipulation in the Georgia election worker case. The Department of Justice conspiracy indictment of Trump's orchestrated effort to overturn the election. Mike Pence now joining Chris Christie and Liz Cheney saying what Trump tried to do was both illegal and morally wrong. It all might give Republican voters pause, right? Apparently not.
Republican voters who primarily consume Fox News, talk radio, and conservative media don't think Trump did anything wrong. They have heard nothing about this.I watch a little Fox News when I make coffee in the morning, and when I refill my cup, about ten minutes spread through the day. This will read like exaggeration and parody. It isn't parody. This is Fox News:
Images of Hunter Biden looking wasted.
Republican neurologist opines that Joe Biden is senile and confused.
Trump calls former AG Bill Barr a dishonest and cowardly RINO for saying the election was legitimate.
RNC employee says the Fed's interest rate bumps are destroying car and home sales, causing misery. Blames Joe Biden.
Joe Biden goes to Florida to look at hurricane damage. Why bother? Florida Republicans complain about federal response.
Hunter Biden again, looking wasted.
GOP congressman says Trump innocent that the FBI is weaponized against conservatives. Says Christopher Wray is a RINO.
A Heritage Foundation economist says U.S. economy is catastrophically bad and is getting worse. Blames Bidenomics.
Interview with a Wisconsin woman who attended Jan 6 rally. "We were just patriotic Americans protesting an election that was stolen from us."
White men gathered in Ohio diner for breakfast, all wearing MAGA hats, opine that Trump is "very popular with nearly everyone," and a victim of weaponized corrupt prosecutors.
Pictures of Joe and Hunter Biden.
Interview with Arizona Republican wearing "Keri Lake Won!" tee shirt, who says that Republicans who ran the 2020 and 2022 elections in Arizona conspired to rig them for Democrats.
Blurred photos of Hunter Biden.
Interview with Georgia Republican who says GOP "alternative electors" just followed expert advice, and were indicted "so they would lie and flip."
Interview with six White New Hampshire men in front of gun range who all say Biden is senile.
GOP congressman says that Chris Christie and Liz Cheney are "lying RINOs" who just want jobs on MSNBC.
Mother of January 6 rioter found guilty of hitting Capitol police officer says her son was just trying to stop Biden from stealing the election Trump obviously won.
North Carolina mother condemns pedophiles and trans people, and thanks Trump for appointing judges who can put a stop to "Democrat iniquity."
Hunter Biden's income from Burisma.
Story on Trump rally where Trump reaffirms that he won every battleground state "by hundreds of thousands of votes and that he has absolute proof of it."
Interview with John Eastman saying he just wanted a fair election count, nothing more.
GOP congressman condemns search of Trump's home for document. "They were just boxes of golf shirts!"
Story about fire in Maui, interspersed with images of Joe Biden at beach. "Why doesn't Biden care about Americans who are suffering," the news anchor asks?
Report about a country singer who says she has lost gigs because she said "Trump is a good Christian man who loves America."
Economist says job growth numbers are a "danger signal" of a "Biden economy on the brink of hyper-inflation." Urges people buy gold and ammunition.
Story about a Black teenager in Chicago who shoplifted, confronted by White man with a gun.
Story questioning Hunter Biden's qualifications to get into Yale Law School.
Story quoting Trump's recent Truth Social feeds blasting prosecution of a "totally innocent man."
GOP congressman predicts potential evidence will emerge soon of massive "Biden crime family wealth" hidden offshore.
And on and on throughout the day.
Republicans believe what they believe because they know what they know and don't know what they don't know.
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14 comments:
I'm amazed you're able to watch that much Fox News without punching your hand through the TV. Between Fox News and talk radio, there has been an active and shockingly successful effort to brainwash Republicans and conservative leaning voters since their rise in the late 80's and early 90's.
The situation we find ourselves in today in terms of having a majority of Republicans essentially being totally disconnected from reality is the predictable result of those efforts. Efforts that have been wildly *more* successful than I'd guess people like Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes could have ever dreamed they would be.
The country's only realistic hope is to crush the GOP at the ballot box again and again until the party either implodes from within, or is re-taken by people who, while I might strongly disagree with them on matters of policy, actually live in reality and aren't obsessed by a never ending stream of manufactured outrages and conspiracy theories. The stakes couldn't be higher either, if Trump or any of his acolytes were ever to retake the White House, you can say goodbye to living in a democratic Republic where your vote counts, and say hello to a kleptocratic autocracy.
It is VITALLY important we all vote and continue to prevent the GOP from gaining national power until and unless their madness dissipates.
What’s really sick is that if the election were held today, Biden and the psychopath would be in a dead heat. There have been a lot of lame attempts to explain this phenomenon, but what it comes down to is that Republicans have gone batshit crazy.
Yes, I know – White people are being replaced blah blah blah. But anybody who would prefer an autocracy led by a madman to a democracy is just flat-out crazy. The scary thing is, that’s half the country.
As Franklin said, “It’s a republic, if you can keep it.” It was nice while it lasted.
I did see a blurb from tic toc which had Fox News saying the majority of Americans supported the prosecutions of Trump, that especially independents supported the prosecution. The news caster stated that this would likely lead to Trump losing in a general election. It probably aired at an off time, but reality does win eventually. I wish we enforced some level of truth telling on public airwaves.
To put Faux News in its proper context, perhaps you should provide the following information to readers:
1) Viewership numbers compared to network news and other cable news.
2) Faux News viewer demographics
Almost half of Americans don't have cable or satellite television.
Fortunately in high school we had a media studies class. I can't remember the name of the class, but I do remember the teacher. We learned to analyze the media with a critical eye. The class was part of the English Department. It was an elective.
I took the class years before everyone was on the internet and social media. I wish that all students had the opportunity to take a media literacy class. It is needed today more than ever.
It’s not just Fox News. It’s also tribal.
Trump supporters don’t care what the other side says in the same way that Biden supporters (supported by the liberal mainstream media) ignore anything that might reflect badly on Biden.
The only way to get a balanced view of what’s going on is to read sources from both sides and attempt to filter the facts from the propaganda. I rely in part on http://realclearpolitics.com for that; it consistently publishes articles from both sides.
They have a politics podcast that always ends with a suggestion that you read at least one article a day from the other side (whichever side you are on) just to keep yourself balanced.
Peter is doing a good thing by occasionally tuning into Fox News. Someday, he may hear something factual there that the mainstream media is doing its best to avoid covering.
I suspect we are in a time like the 1850s, when the two-party system dissolved and reconfigured itself. The Whig Party disappeared, and the Republican Party rose to replace it.
The non-college working class (including minorities) is moving in a populist direction and taking over the empty shell of the Republican Party, which used to be the party of the financial elites. They are leaving their former home, the Democratic Party, which has been taken over by the cultural elites.
We may be heading for a three-party system: the financial elites versus the cultural elites versus the people. The elites had better start taking care of and listening to the people if they want to keep this from happening.
The problems enumerated by FOX are attributed to a lack of character in those who espouse Progressive values, and could be solved by more discipline and piety. The FOX portrayal of society is false, the majority of Americans are not victims and crime, while a endemic problem, is no worse or better than it ever has been. So what needs to be understood is why so many accept the falsity even as it fails to match their own reality and in fact what they experience in their own community.
By the way, it should be noted that Floridians who champion "small government" are the first in line, screaming for FEMA, when a (climate change hoax) hurricane hits them.
Anyway, it seems we have a balance that's going to take it right down to the wire:
Biden's alleged criminality vs Trump's.
The lopsidedness of this is remarkable and Republicans know it so they are trying desperately to MAGA-nify Hunter's misdeeds to match and ultimately nullify Trump's. They can only do this by exaggeration, innuendo and outright lies.
The Democratic defense against this seems to be keeping quiet and letting the justice system run its course, having some faith that it will expose the lies and that publicizing Trump's prosecution will eventually shift the tide.
Meanwhile, California burns, Florida floods and the rest of the country cooks.
Meanwhile, millions have no healthcare.
Meanwhile, a war in Europe threatens World stability.
Meanwhile, inequality degrades the quality of life for all but the few
Meanwhile Republicans consider trans teens and books the greatest threat to the Nation, with Donald Trump as their savior.
Everybody knows the right-wing noise machine specializes in spreading boldfaced lies. One small example: their avalanche of bullshit about the 2020 election. Their defenders like to make a false equivalence between that and what they call the “liberal mainstream media,” but the MSM has nothing comparable.
With all the disinformation floating around, those who don’t fact-check are stupid and those who believe what they want regardless of the facts are crazy. Many are both. The problem is so serious that 69% of Republicans view President Biden as illegitimate. In other words, they’re totally divorced from reality.
How is this echo chamber any different than Fox?
Not everybody knows, or at least accepts that all they are pitching is lies, lies and more damned lies. Any body who attended Bentz's Town Halls can tell you those events were infected with true believers in the Cult of Trump.
The difference is the this isn’t a so-called “news” organization and includes comments from all viewpoints, including some so embarrassing the author would prefer to remain “anonymous.”
Ed -
I should have qualified that: Everybody with a clue knows. Many not only don't know, but don't care. They'd rather go to their death than pay heed to the truth, as we saw with all the anti-vaxxers dying of stupidity during the pandemic.
Yes, and I find it quite discouraging at times. I wish I had an answer for it, or knew somebody who did.
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