I agree with Parker here: a significant chunk (if not most) of the leopards-eating-faces stories we are seeing right now are better framed as "the mainstream media knowingly misled their readers/viewers by covering Trump's obviously false campaign statements as though he weren't a pathological liar
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Parker Molloy
The problem I have with these sorts of pieces is that they don't acknowledge the role that the press played in spreading Trump's obvious lies. Like yeah, this lady in WaPo thought Trump was going to make IVF free. I wonder where she got that idea...
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While I fully acknowledge there are people out there that were tricked, it was of the "I was willing to sacrifice *those people, but now I'm on the grill and I don't like it" variety.
Media bears responsibility for their part, but the people they influenced were already terrible.
But however they got there, they are now part of a movement that seeks to destroy the entire outgroup.
(Also, let's not forget the rhetoric people were fed was still a racist and transphobic one.)
It's the same vibe I got from like... 2006 era Iraq war coverage.
If nothing else, people re-rationalizing their prior actions like that is a sign that they are changing I guess... Might be too late tho...
We had the exact same in the UK after Brexit. Fishermen, farmers, etc used the "but the politicians and papers lied to us" kind.
"Yes, yes they did lie to you, but unlike 48% of the voters you choose to believe that lie" is what I wanted to reply with.