We’ve already done a couple of posts (here and here) on this, but a recent post at TPM got me to thinking that I hadn’t emphasized enough how difficult this situation is for the Republicans.
Here’s the relevant section from our original post.
Disinformation has gone feral when:
1. It is no longer in the control of the group that created it.
2. It has continued to grow in popularity and influence.
3. It has started to evolve in such a way that the nuisance/threat it presents is as as great to the people who created it as it does to the original targets.
The most prominent example of the moment is the right wing movement opposing covid vaccines and increasingly vaccination in general.
The Conservative Movement spent decades depicting the scientific establishment as alarmist and corrupt because undermining it served a clear political purpose at the time. Recently this narrative took on an added usefulness as the Republicans tried to contain the fallout from the pandemic. It was an unspeakably evil position to take, greatly adding to a horrific death toll, but it had a certain ends-justify-the-means logic, “had” being the operative word.
In 2021, being the anti-vaxx party is not in the Republicans’ best interest. It devastates areas that voted for Trump and it makes the most comically crazy people imaginable the face of the GOP. On top of that, it’s bad for business.
The best messaging for the Republicans at this point would be to (Read more…)