https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2021/12/donald-trump-2024-election-coup/620922/
As always, Reg, your points are spot-on! The above article in The Atlantic provides a fascinating window into who the insurrectionists were and where they came from. Interesting fact: insurgents were much more likely to come from a county where the white share of the population was in decline.
Democracy is on the ropes partly because of the epistemological breakdown we face owing to the siloing of information, especially on the right. The Trump cult are immune to information that challenges their grievances, their fantasies, their fears of a browning America. I don't know how we break the spell because media companies are incentivized to provide content that arouses the emotions and keeps the faithful viewing. And nothing stirs one up more than fear, outrage, and envy. If Fox softens, and depicts reality more accurately, it'll pay a price in loss of viewers to One America News and Newsmax. Therefore, it probably will never approach anything resembling "balance". Now, if the rumblings of a civil war start to be felt, will the powers that run those networks realize they have a lot to lose and change? Or by then, will it be too late as the millions of armed frankensteins vent their outrage? Now what that would look like, I'm not really sure.
Happy New Year DBIS
Peter T.
