Read on Twitter
A thread on something we lefties may have wrong about our political/media environment: I think since it's clear to us liberals & progressive that Fox News and Breitbart are basically propaganda machines, we assume that GOP elites are in on the joke. 1/11
We figure that the propaganda is for the Trump base, for the rank and file, but that GOP elites are too smart for that, & don't rely on those outlets for information, but they have some reliable, fact-checked (though conservative) sources of news. 2/11
But I think that's wrong. I think the GOP elites are as in thrall to Fox News's white-panicked, paranoid world view and conspiracy theories as any MAGA-hat-wearing retiree who shows up at a rally maskless just to own the libs. 3/11
Trump is clearly all-in on Fox News; he trusts Fox & Friends more than the Presidential Daily Brief. But I think Devin Nunes, Steve King, Jim Jordan, Louie Gomert, Joni Ernst, all of these people are 100% inside the right-wing echo chamber. They're not "in on the joke." 4/11
FNC programming is designed to gin up adrenaline and outrage. It's designed to work like a drug. Now, from Rupert Murdoch's point of view, having the GOP elites taking that drug (if not addicted to it) is both good business and a source of enormous power. 5/11
Fox fuels paranoia; "We are the only news you can trust."That not only discourages viewers from seeking alternative sources of information, it flatters viewers ("You have special knowledge.") and convinces them (wrongly) that they're better informed than others. 6/11
Those of us who oppose the Fox News agenda have long had to adjust to a world where our friends & relatives might be captured by right wing propaganda, leading to proverbial arguments at Thanksgiving. But if we assume GOP leadership has been assimilated as well... 7/11
... then we have a different, steeper hill to climb. A president or party can be voted out of office. But Rupert Murdoch and Fox News are never on the ballot. They can't be voted out, but they pull the strings. The "fever" may "break," as some put it... 8/11
... but the disease will keep coming back, outbreak after outbreak, because there's permanent reservoir of the virus constantly contaminating our politics at every level. 9/11
Is there a solution? Maybe pressuring advertisers. Maybe making it unprofitable for the Murdochs to peddle this poison. But honestly, even that may not do it. 10/11
Don't underestimate the value to the Murdochs of the power and influence FNC gives them. They might be perfectly willing to lose money on it as long as they can remain the puppet masters controlling a major party. That's the real fever that needs to break.
Am I wrong? 11/11
Am I wrong? 11/11
