From Substack: Why does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

We basically already knew this but we don’t realize how widespread this problem is:

It wasn’t the economy. It wasn’t inflation, or anything else. It was how people perceive those things, which points to one overpowering answer.

I’ve had a lot of conversations since Tuesday revolving around the question of why Donald Trump won. The economy and inflation. Kamala Harris didn’t do this or that. Sexism and racism. The border. That trans-inmate ad that ran a jillion times. And so on.

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

-snip-

But this line of analysis requires that we ask one more question. And it’s the crucial one: Why didn’t a majority of voters see these things? And understanding the answer to that question is how we start to dig out of this tragic mess.

The answer is the right-wing media. Today, the right-wing media—Fox News (and the entire News Corp.), Newsmax, One America News Network, the Sinclair network of radio and TV stations and newspapers, iHeart Media (formerly Clear Channel), the Bott Radio Network (Christian radio), Elon Musk’s X, the huge podcasts like Joe Rogan’s, and much more—sets the news agenda in this country. And they fed their audiences a diet of slanted and distorted information that made it possible for Trump to win.

[lame54]

1. The war on reality

[erronis]

2. Flooding the news zones with bullshit until even the NYT and WaPo start repeating it.

And this is just the beginning of AI warfare.

Expect your emails between friends to be manipulated. We know the xitter posts are. Perhaps even voice calls in the future?

[Walleye]

3. It's bad enough, but the mainstream media we try to rely on pick up what they say and repeats it verbatim

[DaddyShark]

4. I disagree

Tell me again which party has ever retained power in an election after experiencing 40 year high inflation? That's why Carter was a one term president. Normal middle class people who never used to struggle suddenly struggled with the ability to afford groceries, rent, gas, buying a house, or pretty much buying anything. Regardless of the jobs numbers and jobs created under Biden, it didn't matter. The problem wasn't finding a job. It was that they had to work a lot more hours just to survive and afford basic needs. Wage growth has happened, but it's still behind inflation for most people. Including myself.. I got a pretty nice raise in my last union contract, but i'm still about 5 to 6 dollars an hour behind where I used to be before this mess happened according to the cpi inflation calculator. Trump is probably going to make it much worse, so he wasn't the answer, but people are going to have find that out the hard way I guess.

[haele]

11. We in the US are ignoring this fact in our Nationalist Bubble

Incumbents during the COVID lockdown lost WORLD WIDE.

Whether it was hyper-religionists, fascists or authoritarian mobsters/oligarchs seizing on the trauma zeitgeist with propaganda, or the population still feeling punch-drunk and taking it out on the closest authority figures because they were looking for a villain and a quick fix, it was a World Wide event.

Haele

[InstantGratification]

32. THIS! THIS! THIS! THIS! THIS! THIS!

I wish I could remember the source, but I skimmed through an article that was talking about all the various reason people claimed to be voting on, but the thing that really jumped out at me was this. I think they were excluding places like Russia where the elections are a foregone conclusion or places that didn't hold an election this year. But in EVERY single election in functioning democracies WORLDWIDE, the incumbents were kicked out. Didn't matter if they were liberal or conservative or something else, they were ousted. Not only that, but with 120 years of election data , this was the first time that had ever happened.

[jimfields33]

37. People in America didn't see the total at the grocery store and say,

“Thank goodness I’m here. It only went up a hundred, but overseas it would have gone up 300.” That’s never going to happen.

[yardwork]

41. Sure - but how did that translate into voting for Trump?

Who would trust Trump more than Harris to improve the economy?

Trump is a bellowing fool, simulating sex with a microphone, praising Hannibal Lecter. Trump is a convicted criminal. Trump lies and lies and lies.

Harris acknowledged people's struggles and offered plans. She comes across as thoughtful and intelligent. She isn't up on stage gyrating to 80s music and saying gross things.

[jimfields33]

55. Voters are not always reasonable or logical.

That are mostly reactive and deep thought is not always at the forefront.

[TheFarseer]

87. Inflation wasn't bad under Trump

Inflation was bad under Biden. Simple.

[yardwork]

94. Inflation took off during Trump's last year.

It was caused by the pandemic.

[EdmondDantes_]

95. Inflation in 2020 was low. It was 1.4% In 2021 it was 7.0%

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/consumer-price-index-2020-in-review.htm

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/consumer-price-index-2021-in-review.htm

While the inflation was caused by the pandemic, it didn't show up until 2021 when people were starting to leave the house after being vaccinated.

[KPN]

49. Trump lost in 2020. That was toward the end of

the Covid lockdown.

[haele]

63. Trump lost in 2020 because he was a dumpster fire, but COVID was still affecting the US through 2022

When we supposedly returned to normal.
For the purposes of COVID recovery, Biden was still an incumbent.
COVID recovery is still ongoing. Countries are still picking up pieces of the shutdown, because of the rule of thumb concerning the threes of business and labor economics...

Every day not worked means three days of production and financial recovery.
And it follows that every week not worked takes three weeks recovery. Every month takes 3 months recovery. Every year takes three years recovery...

There are exceptions to the rule, like if there's a surplus that can be drawn from, or if a particular product or service line was due to be retired or updated/modernized anyway; but for the majority of countries, business and employment, the rule of three pretty much gives an accurate timeline for economic recovery if the subject entity was able to recover from the initial time in limbo.
2 years of economic lockdown and market pauses means about six years to fully recover and re-tool as needed - and that's if all actors (especially corporations and governments) operate in reasonably good faith.

Haele

[yardwork]

28. Your last sentence is key.

Yes, some people are struggling. (Many who voted for Trump are not struggling, though. And those who are struggling the most voted for Harris.)

Conceding that the economy is a problem, why didn't voters recognize that Trump is a lying fool? Why did they believe Trump's incoherent promises, but not Harris's thoughtful plans?

Harris addressed people's struggles and offered plans. Trump talked about Hannibal Lecter and masturbated a microphone.

Choosing Trump over Harris, especially if you desperately need a functioning government to help you? DUMB!

[Metaphorical]

31. Multiple Factors

I absolutely believe that this the media flooding made a huge difference. I also think that the economy did play a factor (most people confuse inflation with price increases, rather than the velocity of those increases. I also am still convinced that there was some clear hanky going on that seems very suspicious to me (notice how quickly the whole issue of bomb threats and the like disappeared from the media), and how quickly that same media jumped to make the call. We will of course never know, because all of a sudden there will be NO investigations into voting, even when it's warranted.

[yardwork]

33. Here's my frustration.

I think all the factors you cite - and more - are valid.

But DU represents a wide range of income levels, including many people who are struggling economically. And we saw through the lies, the propaganda, the micro-targeting on social media and radio.

Now we're told yet again that the Democrats failed to message correctly, failed to understand how people felt, etc. We're told it's all our fault and we need to do more soul searching and be properly abashed for our "elitism."

I call bullshit on that. We could see the truth, plain as day. What's wrong with the Trumpsters? I think we can start expecting more of our fellow citizens instead of blaming ourselves.

Many people who voted for Harris are struggling, yet we discerned that she would be a wise leader, while Trump was a fool.

It's not that hard.

[Cosmocat]

38. Correct

End of the day, the line in the sand is that for some reason, the calls to the lesser spirits of mankind fall death to us. Not sure why, not saying we are better people. But, we just are immune to the bullshit, while most around us gobble it up.

That isn't democrats fault.

Not saying they could not be more assertive, but it really would not matter a lot, cause we aren't selling fear, hatred and division.

[MadameButterfly]

60. most people aren't paying attention

and base their decisions on a few things they've heard. Or they're in the RW bubble. We have to stop thinking more voters is the answer. That made sense when the new voters were poor and under-respresented. Now, the additional voters are rolling the dice. They base their decisions on misinformation, and haven't heard enough real information to see the inconsistencies.

I have a friend who kept going back and forth between Biden/Kamala, Trump, and Kennedy. He was influenced by everyone he talked to. His understanding of the issues was minimal. Sometimes you just shouldn't vote.

[Avalon Sparks]

75. Voters

Some voters just believe that voting the opposite after their pocketbook takes a dive is the answer. They blame whoever’s administration it tanked under. That is all. The Dems were up against a tsunami this time considering that crazy increase in inflation in 21/22 and even 23. Im surprised how well we did do in this election.

And honestly that’s exactly how I based my vote BEFORE I started paying attention to politics or the news.

Not excusing it, just explaining.

If I had continued to use this ‘method’ the last 20 years, my votes would have been Kerry, Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump - as far as my Personal economic situations were during their terms.

I started looking at politics during Bush2 though, and made my choice of party pretty quickly after.

[yardwork]

78. In that case, there was nothing we could have done differently.

The Democrats couldn't have done anything to win. It wasn't our messaging, our policies, the disinformation, or anything else.

I feel as if that is one important factor but it can't be the only one. Reagan won a second term even though he tanked the economy. He convinced people they weee better off, though.

[Avalon Sparks]

80. Different

I don’t think there is anything they could have done different really.

[leftstreet]

45. +1

[KPN]

50. Inflation certainly played a role, but in my view a lesser

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2024, 05:10 PM - Edit history (1)

one than the right-wing blather-sphere. How did Trump ever win in the first place back in 2016? Without the decades long blather-sphere at work, he never would have even won the Republican primary. Minds were being intentionally and strategically molded for at least two decades leading up to Trump.

[raging moderate]

83. I suspect many people WANT a rude, loud, blathering, large man for President.

They think of the President, not as someone intelligent to Preside logically over decisions, but as a BULLROARER CHIEF! Much like the uncouth, swaggering, aggressive Normans who swept over the British Isles a thousand years ago.

[Dan]

59. Aside from the Interest Rates or flooding the nation with paper money

What control does a President have over the economy?

[thumper2547]

66. Yep this article sums up the Democratic Party

Yep, this article sums up the Democratic Party. It's always the messaging and never the policies.

Unemployment is low! (but the jobs all suck)

Inflation is back to normal! (but the prices from the prior inflation and price gouging are still there)

We're going to give you a small amount of money to buy a house! (but do nothing to lower the prices to actually buy the house)

We lifted millions of people out of poverty! (by barely getting them over the federal poverty level). Ask a family of four making $33,000 if they are still poor or not (the federal poverty level for a family of four is $31,200)

The Democratic party has baby-stepped us into fascism. Everything they do is too little and generally too late. Always baby steps, never big changes. Even in their proposals. Things like $6000 tax credit to newborns. One year of benefits then back to your crappy life only now you have a child to care for! $25,000 to buy a new home except that people can't afford to save up for a down payment and that $25,000 is a down payment on a home that costs $125,000 while the median home price is $420,000 (and the average home price is $501,000).

You can't be the party of government works and can help people without actually making government work and help people. That means not just the poor but everyone who is NOT RICH. That means the lower middle class, the middle middle class, and the upper middle class. Because guess what those people are NOT RICH.

[DaddyShark]

70. You have some good points

I'm going to make more than six figures this year probably for the first time in my life.. But I certainly don't feel well off. I bought a house this past year because I couldn't wait anymore.. I have a daughter that is 3 now and going to be getting into school soon. I wanted her to have a nice big backyard to play in and a nice school in a nice area to go to. I ended up paying 226k for a house that sold for 149k in 2018. Really felt like I got taken to the cleaners. And my mortgage is insane too because I didn't put a whole lot down but I still got approved because my credit score is 800. I'm making it but I have to work a lot of hours to make it happen. I really felt like I was better off pre-pandemic when I made 75 to 80k a year vs the probably around 110k that im going to make this year. Just felt like my money went further. I think at the end of the Harris campaign she did a good job of explaning how she was going to help the economy. But it was too little too late at that point and most people had already made up their mind. The original mistake that cost us a lot of votes was around the time of the end of Biden's candidacy before Harris took over. When they were telling everyone that things were great basically and made people feel like something was wrong with them if they didn't agree. That was a wrong strategy to go with imo.

[Jk23]

68. I completely agree with you

Housing costs and rent (And insurance and utilities and property taxes) seem to be a blind spot for us this election. A lot of people saw thier rent go up more than 50 percent the last four years. They are not voting for the status quo.

[chowder66]

5. The sane-washing and the both-siderism of most media didn't help either.

[oldmanlynn]

6. Finally someone pointing to massive disinformation campaign as reason

Democrats have done so many good things. Its not our fault Kamala lost the election. However one thing Dems will need to figure out is how to drown out the misinformation the republicans push on so many media outlets and counter with truth propaganda.

How do we do that?

1. Purchase TV stations in rural/suburban areas and push truth.

2. Purchase radio stations across the country and push truth propaganda. Soros and allies have done this.

3. Focus on internet media platforms and push truth propaganda

4. Deconstruct right wing media and or support

5. Push to get main stream media to stop both sides BS. One side is dangerous the other side is not.

[lees1975]

7. It wasn't just the right wing propagandists.

It was the mainstream media who refused to turn Trump's insanity and dementia into news when it was staring them in the face. It was their fascination with him, giving his every move news coverage and keeping him in front of the cameras. Check it out, there was not a day that went by, from January 20, 2021, when he left the White House, until November 5, 2024, that he was not featured in multiple news items on every network, every day.

[Flatrat]

8. Thank you for this

I have been seeing this for years, since before Rush Limbaugh crawled out from under his rock. (He's still dead).

Try listening to AM radio. All the right wing media is given away for free. All the traditional print news media lurks behind paywalls. Even MSNBC cant be watched without a subscription of some kind.

This is a problem that isn't going to get better without a large effort.

[BannonsLiver]

9. Probably because there's no "one" reason she lost.

And blaming the RW media as the sole cause is just an excuse to avoid any and all reflection on what could have been done better.

[Kaleva]

17. It's going to takes months of research to come up with valid reasons

[Trust_Reality]

30. Of course there are multiple reasons, but right wing media does what it does, and it works well.

I wish there was some way to conduct experiments with and without right wing media.

Note that tons of money is spent on advertising - a type of persuasive media. Do companies waste money for fun?

[Bluetus]

39. Exactly. The media is part of it

But the media is just a delivery vehicle. Without a message, the media would not be effective.

What we have is the convergence of many efforts that have spanned decades. It is the racism. It is the jingoism. It is the religious extremism, the Christian nationalism. It is the anti-vax thing. It is the climate denial. It is the destruction of public schools. It is the gun culture. And hang with me here, it is cryptocurrency/NFTs etc.

What do all of these have in common? What is the central element in all of these?

It is selfishness. It is the attitude, "Nobody tells me what to do." That was Limbaugh's central theme. It is what Fox pushes every day. Of course, the reality is the opposite. Those who push that selfishness are working tirelessly to grab the wealth of the nation and push the 99% into poverty. But the message works.

And notice how these various battlefronts amplify one another. Those who say "You'll pry the gun from my cold, dead hands" say the same thing about masks and public health. And when their offspring are unable to do much better than a minimum wage job, they blame the schools, and so on.

This didn't just happen. In the past 18 months, we have seen just how organized these forces are, having corrupted our Supreme Court beyond repair with millions of dollars worth of bribes. "Bribe" isn't really the right word. Bribe implies paying something of value to get somebody to do what they otherwise would not do. But in this case, people like Alito and Thomas have been part of the team that has planned this over the decades. The money is just the spoils from their decades of corruption. They didn't have to be paid to be corrupt. They were corrupt from the start. Corruption was the whole point.

What can be done? I don't know. This moment of convergence has been heading our way for decades, and many of us have been trying to sound the alarms. But far too many, including many who were supposedly on our side, maintained that "we have a resilient system. It will take care of itself." They were wrong, and here we are. We are left hoping that there are enough Republican Senators who won't take the final steps into full fascism. I wouldn't take that bet.

[slightlv]

96. Blue, I basically agree with every point you bringup.

Especially the decades in the making... I've been saying for years they've been planning this since the days of FDR. No R ever goes away...he just changes chairs in an administration. In this way, the plan continues. Democrats are to blame because we're not evil enough or criminal enough to think like them... so they outthink us. Dems aren't dumb... we're just dedicated to the live and let live kind of life. We're tolerant... until we aren't anymore (and thankfully, I think most of us have hit that point now). We tried to let them live with their stupidity, with calling us elite, the devil, and so much more. Right wing media amplified that and told them what worse to believe. Even words they had no definition for, like communism or socialism, they were told how to define them and then told the D's embodied that essence.

But no one here that I've read has hit on the one thing that really cinched it for too many people... she was a woman. Worse, she was a mixed race woman. Worse even still, she was Black and East Indian mixed race. Even Obama made it past the racism aspect, and we congratulated ourselves that perhaps the country had finally turned a corner. Oh, it did turn a corner, ok... it collectively lost its f*cking mind.

Hate. Hate for anything different from the male, white bread. missionary position god botherer. And until we get this aspect changed, nothing will ever change, IMO. You can flood the air waves with all the Democratic policy positions and explain them until a 2 year old could understand them. You can flood the media with "love conquers all" (which is currently ongoing... in a xtian nationalist format)... and nothing will change until you can change men's hearts. And I honestly don't know how to do that. I split from Xtianity way back in the day because of the belief that all people are born evil and must be "saved" from themselves by Christ. I honestly believed that people are born good... a blank slate... and are taught to hate. The old "Nature vs Nurture" argument. I'm beginning to think perhaps the hate is inborn and must be bred out. I dunno... I'm just tired... of all of it. I'm not going to be around to see how it turns out. I'll be long in the grave before any effective change can be manifested... if it can. And hopefully there'll be somebody to say about me, like I say about my dad today... I'm so glad she's not here to see all that's happening.

[Bluetus]

97. Depressing how so few understand FDR and his genius

This was the most popular and most transformational Presidency in our history. And FDR didn't do it by getting along and pulling punches. He didn't start every negotiation with a unilateral capitulation. He called out those who were against the interests of working Americans. And he had bold ideas, transformational ideas. He didn't try a nip here and a tuck there at the margins. He moved the country forward. He SOLD his ideas, and Americans backed him. We have had 4 generations since him, each less able to articulate the core Democratic principles with a deep passion. Harris and Walz gave it a valiant try in their 100 days, but these 4 generations of mostly empty suits have left us in a deep hole. We need somebody who will start by studying how FDR did it and build a popular movement around that.

FDR was the right candidate for his moment. His moment was the Great Depression. The moment we have now is the Great Descent into Fascism. We need a leader who isn't afraid to throw punches.

[flvegan]

10. Nope. It's still the profound stupidity of a significant percentage

of our voting populace.

Ultimately, if right wing media convinces you what reality is, then you're a fucking idiot. Frankly, to be honest, that's not right wing media's fault.

[Kaleva]

16. Agree

[PortTack]

23. Yup....and their racist sexist crap of not voting for a woman...regardless of the pain it will cause

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. The post-birth abortion bullshit and gender reassignment surgery at schools sealed my agreement with you.

Two things terminate a pregnancy.

Abortion.

Birth.

Post-birth abortion is as nonsensical as post-abortion birth.

Once a pregnancy ends, then the other option is entirely off the table. It is impossible for the two events to happen consecutively. Anyone with basic critical thinking skills should be able to sort that out easily enough.

Schools require parental permission to give a child so much as a tylenol. When my kids were in school, we were asked to voluntarily contribute kleenex, alcohol wipes, paper towels, and assorted classroom supplies. And people honestly believe school systems have the time and resources to kidnap children and facilitate gender reassignment surgery?

Fucking idiots.

[yardwork]

34. They grabbed the excuses because they wanted excuses.

A lot of it boils down to the fact that many people were not going to vote for a Black and Asian woman, period, but they didn't want to say so.

[PortTack]

57. Bingo!

[kerry-is-my-prez]

25. This is true also but the average IQ is 100 - not very high.

A lot of people out there who are “ripe for the picking.” Look at all the people who don’t have any college/degrees who voted Republican.

[mountain grammy]

12. Nothing to say except K&R

Lots of reasons.. right wing media is the top ten. A nation of sheep.

[Kaleva]

13. Fox, Joe Rogan, etc put out what people want

Fox and others didn't create an audience. They tapped into it

We choose to not watch, read or listen to RW sources because we don't like what they put out. Others choose to watch, read or listen to that because it reinforces their already formed world view

[love_katz]

62. Bingo. I have quoted Terry Pratchett a number of times.

" Poison goes where poison is welcome".

Too many people want to accept hateful, bigoted, and downright outlandish ideas, because it gives them a ( false) sense of superiority and entitlement.

The Republican party is full of mean and hateful people with terrible ideas and policies aimed at oppressing and harming anyone they don't like.

They have tiny minds and spitefulness as their main method of operating.

[Kaleva]

69. I 100% agree.

Hitler didn't create the hatred towards the Jews. He capitalized on it

[womanofthehills]

93. It was a bad idea for Dems to go after Rogan

Rogan was a Bernie Bro - had Bernie on his show a few times - spoke all the time about voting Dem or Independent his whole life -said he never voted for a Republican in his life - said he was and still is very left socially. He has Dr Malone on one show talking about MRNA & the Dems turn on him big time.

Why would Dems do this to the number one radio podcast in the world just because you disagreed with a guest & Joe mentioning he took Ivermectin along with 5 or 6 other treatments. He was called many names including racist - he adopted his wife’s black daughter and so many black comedians say he always has their backs.

So Trump goes on his show and talks for 3 hrs and gets 100,000,000 views. Kamala declined.

Now people are saying we need a Dem Joe Rogan to win - we had a Dem Joe Rogan.

I think this was our big mistake. Trump was on lots of podcasts with millions of viewers- not even talking politics but just small talk to convince everyone he was just a real guy. Trump was on the self effacing comedian Theo Von’s podcast with tens of millions of views. We underestimated social media.

[Kaleva]

99. An Interesting perspective!

[WarGamer]

14. ostrich head in sand analysis.

Daily I've written here...

An election is an attempt to SELL something.

If they didn't buy it... you weren't selling well.

[yardwork]

36. And I will continue to disagree every time.

If winning requires having a bellowing fool for a nominee, telling lies, and appealing to people's worst instincts, we might as well not have two parties. We'd all be Republicans.

I think we can expect more from our fellow citizens. I think raising expectations works better than lowering them. I think it's not only ok, but essential, that we start calling out our relatives and neighbors when they're being mean and dumb. That's a society.

[WarGamer]

42. I agree with you BUT we have to deal with what we've got...

Like it or not... Trump became "culturally cool" because of associations with younger male influencers, online memes, Musk, a number of Latino and black influencers...

I mean, FFS... for the last two weeks we're seeing NFL and College Football stars doing the "Trump Celly Dance" in the end zone.

I can't believe I'm saying this but... they somehow made Trump "cool" in the eyes of much of the public.

[yardwork]

44. Agreed. How do we compete?

I'm open to changing strategies and messaging, as long as we keep our core values. Unfortunately, that seems to be the deal breaker.

Trump's message is mean. He punches down. He picks on people. He scapegoats minorities and blames "them" for "real America's" problems. He talks like a Nazi. Is that what's appealing about him? If not, what is his appeal?

[WarGamer]

47. What did Obama do?

Masterful orator and pushed hope and optimism.

Charisma.

Charisma #1.

And definitely the coolness factor.

Bill Clinton was also "cool"

[yardwork]

67. I hope you're right. A lot has changed in 10 years, though.

[Katcat]

15. Most of the media

Turned right wing

[Escape]

18. I fully agree..

Republicans, and other ignorant people, not only don't believe facts and truth. They fervently and enthusiastically believe lies. It must make life more exciting and meaningful for them to live in their fictional fantasyland.

I know of an elderly couple, she a retired teacher and he a retired school superintendent, who believe that we had no unemployment during Trump, gas prices were $1.25 a gallon and Trump saved the world from the Covid epidemic. And, they think Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are Fascists and Joe Biden a sexual predator. And that, Barack Obama was born in Kenya and Michelle Obama is a man.

Would you say these people are just stupid? mentally ill? brainwashed? delusional? Apparently, there are about 80 million of them out there.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

26. People live for conspiracy theories.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Most of the voters know exactly who and what Trump is.

They voted for him anyway.

[Martin68]

20. I've been saying this since the day after the election. The right wing media's lies, disinformation, and misinformation

persuaded a majority of Americans that Trump was the better candidate. If it was just racism, misogyny, or greed he would don't have won a majority. The fact that it is legal to spread lies about the government and people in the media is the biggest threat to our democracy. We can't assume anymore that most people actually know what the facts are.

[Mr. Mustard 2023]

21. Precisely. It's an epidemic.

It's an existential threat. We actually have means to get our message out, but the right wing media echo chamber is vastly larger so they either get broken up - which is highly unlikely - or we unify and add more media outlets, especially with local tv & radio stations while shouting in unison - "It's corporate control, legal bribery known as lobbyists and overseas money driving up housing & food. It's corporate control, too many billionaires, etc."

Thing is, to say the reality of crony capitalism requires truly denouncing Wall Street, big agriculture, real estate money laundering, the Christian Industrial Complex etc. That will stir up one hell of a hornet's nest. Again.

[Sugarcoated]

22. Bingo

[Nigrum Cattus]

27. Media is a lesser portion -

Churches are the real reason. They used the pulpit, contrary to law to
campaign for the re-pugs. After the fall of Roe they want religious
control of the government.

[brush]

29. Agreed, and the MSM, Cable, press etc. are/were complicit as they didn't clearly...

and definitively state over and over that the bloviating, weaving, white nationalist asshole is glaringly unfit for office and should not be allowed anywhere near the WH again.

Period.

That wasn't done, instead most sane-washed the orange turd.

[JCMach1]

35. This take is dated. The difference maker was social media manipulation

And disinformation.

[hurple]

40. Dems will never truly win as long as the reich-wing noise machine exists

And we have nothing to fight against it.

As bad as the next four years will be, I guarantee the majority will blame the dems. Even though trumps cabal controls every branch of gov't.

[Martin Eden]

43. Yep -- THIS is the BIGGEST REASON

Why The Fascist Grifter won.

[SayItLoud]

46. Well, poor messaging has been screamed since 2015 to no avail. NT.

[uponit7771]

52. MAGA has a better amplification network and they spent 20 years developing it, it doesn't matter if Trump wears a narrow

... mustache and red, black and white letters with an amplification network he can say he's superman and people will believe him.

[leftstreet]

48. Trump didn't win. Harris lost

Until people (and very pecifically Democratic party politicians and consultants) start looking at it from that perspective, nothing is going to make sense

[Tweedy]

51. No doubt

There is an on-going information war. We very much need reality to win.

[Tesha]

53. Exactly!

100% correct!

Take any issue, and they had incomplete, incorrect, or outright lies instead of truth.

Every issue!

When the drum you listen to over and over and over tells you these things - well, it must just be right!

[nowforever]

54. Just

Ask all the white women who voted to be second class citizens.

[Quanto Magnus]

56. All for the money

and power.... who cares if the pleebs get disinformation....

[SleeplessinSoCal]

58. There's also an unspoken war on education.

Banning books. Fear of a curriculum (critical race theory) which merely brings attention to power. Attacking teachers and their union.

I suspect also that those under 40 have little knowledge of WW2 and why we fought in it because of so much shared misinformation. It's terrifying.

"A critical theory is any approach to humanities and social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to attempt to reveal, critique, and challenge or dismantle power structures."

AMERICA 2025: No critical thinking allowed.

[Initech]

73. Look at that crazy psycho fuckhead in Oklahoma.

Ryan Walters - talk about a guy who's gone mad with power, and it's all because of this crazy cult shit with Trump. A guy like this shouldn't even be in power to begin with.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

84. I'm afraid we're not up to the fight needed against the

"Firehose of Falsehood".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood?wprov=sfla1

[Initech]

89. We'd better. The fate of the world is at stake.

I hate to sound like a spy movie cliche, but we got to start fighting back. We’re bringing a kitchen knife to a machine gun war. We have to start fighting back against these psychos with everything we got.

[surfered]

61. I'm old enough to remember when Karl Rove said. "We create our own reality." But I'm not sure our path should include,,

...shameless, repeated lying and promoting conspiracy theories. I know it worked for Trump, but it still gives me pause as I'm an honest person.

[IronLionZion]

64. Democracy Drowns in Disinformation

there was so much BS spread around that people got irritated easily. There was rampant distrust in anything "officials" reported. But the idiots online told them to feel angry about high prices so they did. As if Trump is going to do anything useful about it.

But sure cutting funding for everything, deporting immigrants, and letting Russia destroy Ukraine will solve everything. Then there's whatever is going to happen with Israel/Gaza/and the neighboring countries like Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. I'm sure the Trump administration will solve all of that.

[keep_left]

65. We need our own media ecosystem, and we need to *support* it. Until then...

...we're likely to keep losing elections. Here are a couple recent posts I made about this.

https://democraticunderground.com/100219687367#post39
https://democraticunderground.com/100219677391#post40

(excerpt)

...We need to wise up and start creating our own media infrastructure which isn't dependent on MSNBC or other existing organizations. And yes, it needs to be multimodal--it probably is true that radio is a dying format, and podcasts and the internet are the future. However, radio isn't dead yet, and there are still good stations that soldier on (like KTNF in the Twin Cites), often producing their own local content as well. The Democrats need to support these stations, as do other organizations like labor unions and NGOs. Otherwise, I fear we'll continue to be rolled by Fox News and their imitators for years to come.

[Fish700]

77. Left talk radio / alternative media won't work because Democrats don't believe there is a grand conspiracy to hide the..

Truth!

The draw of right-wing / alternative media is bullshit about how THEY DON"T WANT YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH! Boring conversations about taxing the wealthy and supporting the working class isn't going to get eyes and ears.

If you want to profit you need to create a media personality that will draw these nutbag listeners in by making them think the conspiracy peddlers like Alex Jones are actually working a triple-whammy on them for the "Deep State."

[keep_left]

79. It has worked, and continues to work at MSNBC, Mike Malloy, Democracy Now, KTNF in MN, etc.

The left basically gave up after Air America, which was successful in launching careers even if the network eventually came to an end. If there is not a media organization to get the word out, we will get steamrolled. And when I say "media", I mean it should be multimodal: radio, podcasts, YouTube, etc.

I don't think that an approach similar to Alex Jones would work for listeners on the left, but, hey--if it does, that's great. My guess is that there needs to be a lot of variety so that people stay with the network through the day--or at least for a couple hours at a time. That is also how right-wing radio succeeded; it wasn't just Rush Limbaugh and all the local Limbaugh-wannabes all day long. A lot of the stations had (and still have) quite diverse programming.

[SoFlaBro]

98. To get people to fucking listen, will need to be entertaining FIRST. Few will tune in to hear someone read the newspaper

[Initech]

90. Yeah we just need to start telling the truth.

Every news network has devolved into 24/7 opinionated talking head shows that lie constantly. But really the only way to fight propaganda is with propaganda.

[Autumn]

71. The working class is not the same as the working poor. One of those is never talked about.

IMHO.

[elleng]

92. Important.

Thank you.

[Initech]

72. The real answer: IT WAS SPITE. And malice.

This vote was 100% to spite the current administration and to get bloody revenge for 2020. And they're going to get it and then some. We haven't even begun to see the extent of MAGA's cruelty, spite and malice.

[Avalon Sparks]

74. Economy

Vast majority of an individual’s perception of the economy has to do with their own personal economic situation. If they or their business are doing well, I don’t see how their “perception” of the “economy” can be swayed by the news or social media. The problem was too many people had really hard times that occurred during the Biden administration. No it was not Biden’s fault, but that is what happened. Too many are still struggling despite the Biden administration curbing and stopping what they could in the last year.

[LilElf70]

76. It's everything discussed here, and more

I call it the National Enquirer mentality.

The National Enquirer has been around for decades. Why? Because people, for some unknown reason, like to hear gossip, lies, bullshit, and conflict. It gets their attention. Why I'll never know, but it sure as hell has a following.

Now think about Trump. Ever since he got his narcissistic attention, which he absolutely loves, all he's done is spread gossip, idiocy, lies and ignorance on a daily basis. It's all about the attention. Everyone know it. It's constant, and it changes every day. On any given day, he often repeats items that drew attention by the media the previous day. What's the saying? If you repeat the same thing over and over, without proof of your findings, people will start to believe it. I find that true. On top of that, add the fact that it has to be all about him. All the time. And don't forget he owes people/cities millions, and no one does a thing about it. How many times has be broken the law? This, in turn makes him look like some kind of God like creature to his cult followers. It does not matter what he does, as no one cares. As a God, you are entitled to make mistakes, without penalty. As long as he continues to open his mouth and be in control of the conversation, we don't have a chance in hell of beating him. Winning in 2020 for the dems was a blessing. Trump was seen as a bad seed then. How soon we forgot. Sad, isn't it. And now we pay.

No one on the left would even consider taking this position in life. Ever!!! Kamala ran a pretty good campaign, given the time she had. It should have been enough, but it wasn't. The crazies are back. Now we have to deal with this fake presidency that may destroy our constitution and democracy. God help us all.

Unfortunately, the bad guys have won. And now I'm hearing from many dems that they will never vote again. That's exactly what the republicants want. I'm hoping we will get over it in the next 4 years, change their minds, and destroy the republicants the next time around. Voting is the only way to take a stand.

[Godot51]

81. Nexus: a book to recommend

There is a very good book, at least for me, Nexus, by Yuval Noah Harari, an Israeli Historian. In it he discusses knowledge, information and the creation of these in the human mind.

He doesn't pretend to understand the ultimate source of human disinformation but he explains a lot of the reasons he has found out or reasoned about it and what will possibly be in the future.

Harari does put forth that the social media, and by that the mainstream media which more and more feeds off the information posted online, influences human events, positions and opinions.

And, since AI more or less controls access to much of the information available online, he points out how that works in general.

[krkaufman]

82. yup

Link to tweet

Trump is the gangrenous foot of the diabetic, which must be removed to save the patient’s life. The patient will remain in danger, though, until the root disease is addressed, starting with the (media) diet.

[roomtomove]

85. ALSO

https://beyondhighbrow.substack.com/p/questions-continue-about-the-integrity?r=d569l&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true

[ShazamIam]

86. Yes, conservative control of news and successful voter suppression. Voter suppression isn't mentioned in the, why

did Harris lose, discussions. The removal of voters from registration lists, then making it harder to re-register and new laws making it harder to vote, allowing private individuals to challenge voter registration lists, and challenge voters directly at the polls. The bomb threats that were only made in mostly Democratic voting areas. An election of dirty tricks.

[Pepsidog]

88. Exactly. Rs weren't brainwashed in a vacuum, it was years of Fox and rw media pounding propaganda into their heads.

[elleng]

91. by Michael John Tomasky

Michael John Tomasky (born October 13, 1960[1]) is an American columnist, progressive commentator, and author. He is the editor of The New Republic[2] and editor in chief of Democracy. He has been a special correspondent for Newsweek, The Daily Beast, a contributing editor for The American Prospect, and a contributor to The New York Review of Books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Tomasky

[GregGilman]

100. We understand. Dem leadership does not.

Dem leadership still thinks they can counter the massive rightwing media machine by occasionally appearing on mainstream media where they are polite, timid and completely lacking in passion. Until the situation is resolved they will continue to lose the American public.

[mahina]

101. Yes. And the task escalated from defeating a candidate to defeating Russian, Chinese, Iranian and far right disinfo

The far right is surrounding them with a rich and deep network controlling their intake of info from journalists and a firehouse of bs using ai to target groups by interest and sector, this time at least. She could have easily beaten trump. Him and the richest man in the world and disinformation from Russia, Chinand Iran is a whole new equation that we just were not prepared for.