All of the terrible and corrupt things that the Republicans falsely accused the Obama Administration of doing, the Trump Administration is currently doing. Then, when people criticize the Trump admin, those critics sound as unhinged as Republicans sounded in the Obama era.

The difference, of course, being that Trump really is as ignorant and self-aggrandizing as they falsely accused Obama of being. And they really are as tyrannical and corrupt as they falsely accused Obama of being. It's crazy making.

This is how the "both sides" media disenables us from perceiving political reality. Well, Republicans accused Obama of being incompetent and corrupt, and now the Democrats are just returning the favor. Oh well, what are ya gonna do. Politics, amirite? [Shrug.]

This is what happens when your guiding principle is "balance" rather than accuracy. When one side has no regard for science, for evidence, or for rational argumentation, then covering a conflict in a "balanced" way puts bullshit on a level playing field with legitimate arguments.

I guess this is just another way of saying that the people who today accuse their opponents of having Trump Derangement Syndrome every time they level an evidence-based criticism at him, were the ones who reveled in evidence-free Obama Derangement Syndrome for 8 years.

The audience for this tactic is the majority of Americans who don't pay much attention to politics or the news. The GOP has given up on trying to communicate to intellectuals or serious policy people or even informed citizens, they're going entirely for the National Enquirer set.

It was stunning in 2016 when almost no newspapers, celebrities, or public intellectuals of any renown were willing to endorse Trump. It's only gotten worse. There is an entire world of serious public engagement in the US, from which Trump's base has been completely cut off.

The National Enquirer set has always been with us. The difference is that one of our two major parties never turned itself over so entirely to that set, giving it the power to basically set the party's agenda through the primary process.

We saw the first glimmers of this with Sarah Palin and her Tea Party successors. Now it takes the form of a raft of QAnon supporting GOP candidates. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/qanon-politicians-candidates.html

It's not like people haven't seen this coming for a while now. Here's a thread on a Frank Rich piece on Sarah Palin from 10 years ago that pretty much nailed it. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1033579233359028224?s=20