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Sane people must learn and never forget that the stupidity of the far right is much less important than its dangerousness.
The more deluded people become, the more they will justify to promote their beliefs.
The more deluded people become, the more they will justify to promote their beliefs.
In fact, the constant stream of absurdities constantly spewed from Trump's mouth and Twitter fingers is actually what binds many of his supporters to him.
Trump doesn't personally care about religion but he knows that fundamentalists are mocked for their beliefs. All he has to do is wrap himself into the mythology and then his stupidities become their doctrine.
Thus to some extent, pointing out how wrong Trump is about things actually makes his true followers believe in him more.
His persecution is theirs. The worse he becomes, the better he becomes to them. As @roddreher noted, the mentality is almost "by his tweets we are healed."
His persecution is theirs. The worse he becomes, the better he becomes to them. As @roddreher noted, the mentality is almost "by his tweets we are healed."
Steve Bannon famously called Trump's approach "flooding the zone with shit." It's a media strategy that has flummoxed mainstream journalists.
There are too many lies to cover and putting fact-checkers front-and-center has strengthened Trump's persecution narrative.
There are too many lies to cover and putting fact-checkers front-and-center has strengthened Trump's persecution narrative.
This is why many MAGA fans are unreachable by factual narratives. They believe their personal and faith identities are bound up in the person of Trump.
Not only could they lose their community for "betraying" the orange god, their intellects are surrounded by a hermetic seal.
Not only could they lose their community for "betraying" the orange god, their intellects are surrounded by a hermetic seal.
For MAGAs so entirely bought into the delusion, it's best to try to pierce the seal via conversations about non-political topics. Promote films discussing critical thinking or compassion to them rather than tell them anything about Trump. Their minds cannot handle more.
If you can get them to separate their identity from their politics, this is how change can happen. If you're going to ask a political question, ask "wouldn't you want to know if Trump is wrong?"
How they respond will help you calibrate your approach.
How they respond will help you calibrate your approach.
The mainstream press can do several things: 1) Avoid ever conflating Trump's actions with GOP voters. 2) Listen to and promote people who are post-faith or of moderate faiths. 3) Only book conservatives who are independent of Trump. 4) Avoid stating Trump's claims to refute them.
Fact checking is best done by dedicated organizations and not by general-interest media that also has to report the news. We need fact-checking desperately, but often refuting myths actually spreads them. No more live Trump press conferences.
Similarly, humor can be an effective weapon against authoritarians but it can also be used to normalize them and to instill apathy about their actions.
Far too many people focus so much on Trump's stupidity that they cannot see his malevolence.
Far too many people focus so much on Trump's stupidity that they cannot see his malevolence.
Not to single him out in particular, but if you look at the "Daily Show" as hosted by Jon Stewart, you'll see this incorrect approach animated his entire program. His flippant mocking inured progressives and centrists to the danger that was growing among conservatives.
Trump must indeed be mocked by comedians but his insanity and insidiousness should always be kept in the forefront by his opponents /end
