This by @mjtoma.bsky.social (he is present here) gets at unfortunate but undeniable truth. newrepublic.com/post/188197/... In 2016, I think "mainstream" media played signif role, perhaps decisive (via J Comey), in Trump's fluke win. This time no fluke, and not about MSM. Sane-washing and all. - ThreadSky

jfallows.bsky.social • 111 days ago

This by @mjtoma.bsky.social (he is present here) gets at unfortunate but undeniable truth.

https://newrepublic.com/post/188197/trump-media-information-landscape-fox

In 2016, I think "mainstream" media played signif role, perhaps decisive (via J Comey), in Trump's fluke win.

This time no fluke, and not about MSM. Sane-washing and all.

Comments

9foxgambit.bsky.social•111 days ago

Ok. The right wing media is dominant. They now want to take over academia as they have noticed that much of the resistance against them comes from universities and university grades. Put influencers on tic tok? The left does not have as many billionaires willing to sink money into media

micheledcollins.bsky.social•107 days ago

Totally agree!!

worldcitizen1994.bsky.social•105 days ago

Oh, and racism and misogyny also played a major role in this nightmare.

worldcitizen1994.bsky.social•105 days ago

Social media, along with general American apathy, is what won this monster a second term. Also, FWIW: Recent literacy surveys show a very high percentage of American adults *cannot read.*

exbelle.bsky.social•110 days ago

This is hugely important. Thank you for amplifying it.

alexrowe.bsky.social•110 days ago

I think the sane-washing did have a big effect. The idea that Trump “wasn’t that bad” convinced a lot of people that not voting, or making a protest vote, would not lead to any consequences they couldn’t handle, and played into the narrative that the Dems were exaggerating to get votes.

cnorth.bsky.social•111 days ago

He makes a good point, but in the link you provided the next story on the crawl is his Nov. 1 analysis that American women would save us because Trump had gone too far attacking Liz Cheney and promising to protect them whether they like it or not. Did not age well.

hrlatinam.bsky.social•111 days ago

lizzyvoice.bsky.social•110 days ago

"To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdHkkfB_7X0&t=8s

kurjakala.bsky.social•111 days ago

No offense intended, but does he, or whoever wrote the headline, really think this is that much of an original insight?

esaund.bsky.social•111 days ago

It may not be an original insight, but its importance is overlooked in most of political discussion.

br2.bsky.social•111 days ago

I met a guy on Halloween who was all mad bc “Spirit Halloween was refusing to sell Biden masks” which…ok?? so I called the store that he said refused to sell the masks and they said they had a ton of them and we could have as many as we want. He still was convinced that there was a conspiracy. 🤷‍♀️

br2.bsky.social•111 days ago

Just seeing that shit play out live and in person was something. He wanted to believe what he imagined in his brain and nothing was going to stop him. The president of spirit Halloween could’ve hand-delivered him 100 masks and he would still have thought they were conspiring to not sell them.

robhon.bsky.social•111 days ago

My question is, when Trump breaks the economy (and I think he most likely will), how are his voters going to respond? Will they turn on him? Will this all take an even darker turn?
I don’t know.

robhon.bsky.social•111 days ago

Reframing, based on three elections, it seems Trump has a pretty hard cap on the number of voters he can get, ~72M. That’s only 26% of the US adult population. What happens if the economy goes off the rails? RW media can fool 26% of the ppl most of the time but not all the ppl all the time.

birdynumnum.bsky.social•111 days ago

it will be interesting. there are many instances coming up where the "rubber meets the road": deportation versus business owners, tariffs versus farmers/manufacturing, repeal of ACA versus Trump voters, abortion access versus red state women, and on and on. these people will finally find out...

oldunreliable.bsky.social•111 days ago

This is backwards. The media exists to deliver what people want. Demand is what shapes the media (and every other business).

esaund.bsky.social•111 days ago

People speak the language they grow up with. Political narratives are self-reinforcing. When the supply is skewed, it creates its own demand.

tinisoli.bsky.social•110 days ago

Journalism is supposed to provide truth, facts, reality. It’s not supposed to construct an echo chamber or the content that fits in that chamber. That much of the media now does exactly that is precisely the problem, as described in the article and in much of what Fallows has written for years.

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