Delegitimizing Democracy in 2021: Will Disinformation and Trump Views Be News?

Intelligence analysts don39t get paid to write retrospectives It39s one of the reasons Presidentelect Biden didn39t find secret versions of the typical December quotyear in reviewquot news feature in his President39s Daily Brief last month Analysts draw their checks for identifying developments that will matter then looking ahead to discern their implications The job isn39t easy As Warren Buffet said about business the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield That39s certainly true for intelligence not to mention politics as wellFiguring out what will shape 2021 couldn39t be more important as President Trump rants about a stolen election while excoriating faithless Republicans who failed to overturn its results The commentariat has it that Trump39s influence in Washington will head south along with the moving vans bound for Mar A Lago on January 20th when President Biden takes charge Miracles can happen of courseamp160 But anyone who believes Trump39s political impact will dissipate as his presidential trappings disappear needs to think againHow the news media will cover Trump in 2021 is one reason why Consider the last four years In one term Trump dominated the Republican Party cowed its leaders and created a cult of personality rivaling any Il Duce Last year with his campaign rallies dropped from primetime his stump speeches pannedamp160and his polls coming up short he still won 74 million votes The news followed the election in excruciating detail But for all their reporting and expertise journalists are missing what39s most important in the aftermath Trump39s media powerThat 74 million votes weren39t enough to beat Biden isn39t the issue That none of the usual metrics or analysis captured the durability of Trump39s support is Take the polls that show seventy percent of Republicans believe Biden39s election wasn39t free and fair The implication as intelligence analysts would say is a BFO a blinding flash of the obvious Like the marks who remain in thrall to prosperity gospel preachers or Ponzi schemersamp160even after their scams are revealed Trump39s devoted aren39t about to abandon him or their faith in his wordsWhy their fealty will continue isn39t just because of Trump39s nonstop prevarication Many people simply can39t recognize lies In a tenquestion test to see who could spot blatant falsehoods an NPRIpsos poll last week revealed less than half of Americans could confidently identify as bonkers QAnon39s famous fever dream that an elitist cabal of Satanworshipping pedophiles are trying control politics and the media Nearly 40 percent primarily Republicans and Fox News viewers believe QAnon39s mythical quotDeep Statequot is still working to do in TrumpThe way Trump39s supporters view the news also reinforces their gullibility Since 1997 Gallup has surveyed Americans annually on their trust in the news Republicans39 trust fell off the cliff in 2016 at 32 percent the lowest on Gallup39s records as Trump mounted his attacks on reporters and their organizations that year Gallup39s latest poll shows it hasn39t recovered over the four years Trump39s fake news mantra has exploited the theme In 2020 the gap between Republicans and Democrats regarding trust in the news hit 63 pointsAdd to their distrust the Republicans39 choice of news purveyors In 2016 40 percent of Trump voters said Fox News was their main source on that year39s election according to the Pew Research Center In contrast only oneinfive of thencandidate Hillary Clinton39s supporters named a single goto outlet Pew39s latest poll suggests an even sharper contrast in 2020 Asked about their news sources on election fraud 53 percent of Republicans cited Fox conservative talk radioamp160and quotother sourcesquot that presumably include Newsmax and One America Network The two upstarts39 adoration for Trump puts even Fox39s sycophancy in their shadeAs Trump leaves office the polls from Pew and Gallup also suggest something more troubling a growing media market for political disinformation Trump39s ravings obviously are a preview of his postpresidential role But his pilot performance as a lame duck president matters to more than the news outlets primping to attract his eye and the audiences he can draw Trump39s shtick is creating a menagerie of copycats to fill TV studio green rooms across the country ready to ape his antidemocratic attacks on camera as part of their political gameConsider the dozen Republican senators and the 130some representatives who have opposed certifying electoral votes on January 6th because of Trump39s groundless claims In the House the head count comes to nearly threequarters of the Republican contingent in the Senate the dozen represents onequarter of the GOP39s ranks Add up their constituencies The coasttocoast local coverage of their current and future theatrics is a measure of the audience potential in scores of states where Trump has cultivated the market over the last four yearsWhatever history39s verdict on Trump39s bogus claims failed lawsuitsamp160and doomed congressional maneuvers after his defeat it would be a mistake to consider the gratuitous chaos as his swan song With half of Republicans convinced he won election it39s a safe bet their legislators eager to keep their seats will be on air flogging his view Indeed from Fox News and its new cable competition to right wing talk radio on local dials Trump has seeded more than enough disinformation to produce a bumper crop of conspiracies over the next four yearsGlenn Gerstell the National Security Agency39s former general counsel put it this way in the New Yorker two months agoamp160quotDisinformation works best when it39s consistent with the audience39s preconceptionsquot Even compared to foreign governments that can mount sophisticated political attacks he wrote American disinformers are especially dangerous quotThey have their fingers on the pulse of our social and political divisions At the moment disinformation seems to be finding a more receptive audience on the political rightquotSmall wonder For editors news producers and reporters as the effort to delegitimize the new administration and the democratic process that produced it continue in 2021 the question is will disinformation be newsAlso read The Banana Republicans and Their Media Enablers Have They No ShameClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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Delegitimizing Democracy in 2021: Will Disinformation and Trump Views Be News?

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Kent M. Harrington

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Delegitimizing Democracy in 2021: Will Disinformation and Trump Views Be News?

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