MTG’s statements today ignore how that “DISTRUST of gov’t & media” that led her to internet searches and “allowed her to believe things that weren’t true”... is ignited & reaffirmed through conservative media every day.

It didn’t fall from the sky.
It IS the brand.

And it is also the POINT.

The thing that’s wild is that the causal mechanism she articulates to explain her Q adventures is actually quite on point. Distrust of media and institutions does contribute to belief in conspiracy theories. As does feeling socially maligned.

But this distrust is happening NOT because (as she suggested today) our government is objectively deceitful and bad; not because media are inherently dishonest and biased. But because GOP party leaders and media voices tell them gov and media are bad.

And these feelings of being socially maligned are NOT the result of liberals looking down on conservatives or calling for them to be silenced. But rather because GOP party leaders and media voices TELL them liberals hate them and disrespect them and want them silenced.

Have y’all spent a lot of time watching Hannity, Ingraham, and Carlson? Or listening to the Republican guests they invite on those shows? This captures the meta narrative of conservative media:

Government can’t be trusted
Mainstream media outlets are liberal
Mainstream media outlets lie
Liberals hate you, hate your values, your way of life, and look down on you.
Liberals want to strip you of your liberties and impose their progressive values on you by force

How could you be immersed in all this and NOT become a fertile plot of soil where conspiracy theories could easily take root? I ask you.

In fact, The more I study this the more I wonder how conservative Americans can manage to NOT become radicalized through our current conservative media ecosystem.