"Trump owes his victory in great part to low-propensity voters of all races, including young men, and those voters don’t necessarily form their views based on mainstream media reporting.

William Lindsey :toad:

"This election was about identity after all—an American identity which has become more tolerant of authoritarianism and less committed to democracy over the past decade. As Trump’s opponents try to figure out why they were defeated and how they can resist him over the next four years, they need to confront the dark reality about who we have become as a nation."

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #authoritarianism #disinformation #education #IdentityPolitics
/6

Philip Cardella

@wdlindsy this is correct and has been for years. Fox News is an easy target and truly a villain but it's just not popular enough to explain the misinformation spread in the US over the last ten years.

I know it's just an example, but my parents* routinely spout misinformation despite not consuming any TV news of any sort, being staunch Democrats and trying hard to get to actual facts based news.

*My dad passed in May, but the phenomena goes back a few years

William Lindsey :toad:

"The decline in voter participation is what allows the Republicans to cosplay a mandate. If the elite political media plays along, that play-pretend becomes reality. Any story you read that uses the word mandate in any way except ironically is playing you for a fool…."

~ Charles Pierce

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #disinformation #VoterApathy #media
/7

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a62896778/presidential-election-2024-turnout/

William Lindsey :toad:

"What we can say, though, is that this was not an electoral landslide, but a narrowly contested race in which Trump is likely to have benefited as much from who didn’t turn out to vote for his candidacy as who did turn out to vote for him."

~ Philip Bump

#Trump #fascism #cruelty #disinformation #VoterApathy #media
/8

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/12/what-numbers-actually-say-about-2024-election/

MoiraEve

@wdlindsy Like Marshall McLuhan said, the medium is the message. And if the medium is largely a right-coded media environment, that’s the message people will ingest.

Philip Cardella

@wdlindsy one thing about this quote: the middle class doesn't care about the stock market and though the press and Democrats love to talk about it, it's frankly an insulting barometer for people under 40 who can't buy a house much less invest in stocks.

The housing crisis is very real and frankly, the only person I know on the national level that really talked about it this election, whether in the media or political class etc was ... Kamala Harris.

So the author's point stands. Anyway.

William Lindsey :toad:

@philip_cardella Yes, it's clearer than ever to me after this election that older Americans hooked on Fox News aren't the sole or even main problem. Increasing numbers of younger voters are hooked on online outlets that are rife with disinformation and right-wing memes, and are being adroitly used by the right to herd young people into the Republican voting column. Couple that with low educational standards and even waning literacy, and our society has a real problem on its hands.

William Lindsey :toad:

@philip_cardella I definitely think younger folks have an uphill climb in front of them when it comes to securing economic stability. I also think they're living in quite the dream world if they imagine the Republican party is really going to solve that problem for them or that it really cares about their economic aspirations.

William Lindsey :toad:

@MoiraEve I agree — well-noted.

Philip Cardella

@wdlindsy another issue. Sorry. This was the second highest participated in election in the last half century and the only one higher was the easiest to vote in in American history, 2020.

Yes, participation is too low so Trump has no mandate--for multiple reasons. But this year was a well above average participation year.

While the mandate notion must be firmly rejected anti Trumpers have to understand millions like his authoritarianism, racism and sexism. They're white supremacists.

William Lindsey :toad:

@philip_cardella And yet, with all that was so obviously at stake and with a clear-cut choice in front of us, millions of voters chose to sit it out, including millions of younger voters who have more at stake simply due to their age. I don't get the apathy.

Philip Cardella

@wdlindsy for my parents I think it's something even more troubling. I tried for a long time to figure out where they were getting it.

They listened to a few news recaps in the morning. While CNN and NPR have their issues it was the local one that was really the problem, in my observations.

It wasn't owned by some conservatives but what is was doing was reading top trending headlines from all sources without context or comment.

So if GOP bs was the top headline overall... It got read.

sOlOw-NH

@wdlindsy

Some voted hoping that they never have to vote again

Steve Woods

@wdlindsy Hi William

The young Republican in this documentary is disturbing.

Given that most people's political views get more conservative as they age, I dread to think of him at 60.

William Lindsey :toad:

"Trump’s chaos calibrates itself … inside a unified and powerful ecosystem of rightwing news, online content and viral disinformation that has grown more powerful throughout this era, spewing the same falsehoods in unison day after day, on repeat, for years. It is the 'political technology' by which swathes of the population have voted in effect to anoint a king in the belief it will amount to more freedom."

~ Oliver Laughland

#Trump #fascism #disinformation
/9

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/14/ive-been-to-more-than-100-trump-rallies-since-2016-this-is-why-i-think-he-won

Steve Woods

@wdlindsy The ancient Athenians had a word for men (as only men had the franchise) who didn't participate in public affairs - ἰδιώτης - which the Romans Latinised as idiota and used to denote a stupid or ignorant person.

Philip Cardella

@wdlindsy there's a number of reasons why people didn't vote. The GOP didn't spend the last three years removing people from polls, removing polling places, eliminating or reducing early and mail in voting for nothing.

Honestly, people are missing that essential aspect of the story.

It should NOT have worked. I'm not saying it did tip the scales but it helped the GOP and probably cost the Dems the House.

But, yes, millions of others just chose to stay home. No question. Inexcusable. Costly.

Philip Cardella

@wdlindsy I mean, I don't get the apathy either. Or, even more so, the self righteous self own of the genocide Joe lot.

William Lindsey :toad:

@philip_cardella When my future is at stake, I tend to ditch apathy — and don't undererstand why that impulse isn't universal, except I know full well, too, that some of us can be schooled to expect little and hope for litte. But the most apathetic are often also the most privileged and cosseted.

William Lindsey :toad:

@philip_cardella Voter purges, attacks on election integrity, false claims about illegal voting certainly play a role in all of our elections. But deliberately choosing to sit out this election? I hope those who made that choice will be content with what their choices bring them and others.