[SmirkingRevenge]

I think it's like that old saying about bankruptcy - it happens very slowly, then all at once

The rise of right-wing propaganda mass media has been simmering brains for 3 decades in a populist, grievance and resentment stew and positioned things perfectly for right-wing propaganda to explode in the internet age - once social media came around, it was a renaissance for the paranoid-style radical right-wing demagogues, and they exploded in numbers and reach. In turn, that tilled the soil for a Trump figure to come along to disrupt things.

Trump basically took all the recurring themes of grievance from right-wing media to the extreme to turbo-charge the anxiety and fear of the right, including most things that were generally considered wrong for politicians to say/do.

It's almost hard to remember the before-times, but Trump was the first modern presidential ticket that outright attacks the media (calling them the enemy of the people, fake news, etc) to de-legitimize them - it used to be a point of pride in this country that politicians didn't do stuff like this, because it's a feature of authoritarian regimes, not democracies. Right-wing audiences were very used to hearing that sort of thing though, because it was a common feature of the right-wing propaganda media they had been boiling in for years.

[abustamam]

When I was in high school (or maybe even junior high), I remember learning the bill of rights and the freedom of speech and press and assembly. Our curricula and case studies always focused on freedom of speech because I guess it was absurd to think that the govt would ever attack the press. That was a thing "other" countries did.

I can look past some of the stupid shit he says. He gets freedom of speech too, even if it is stupid speech. But attacking the press is insane.

[thfuran]

>I can look past some of the stupid shit he says. He gets freedom of speech too

That just means it’s legally permissible, not reasonable, respectable, or conscionable. Do not look past the things he says.

[abustamam]

No I mean the actual stupid shit he says, not the stupid policies he enacts. Like randomly getting up during a cabinet meeting to admire a ballroom that doesn't exist yet. That's stupid but harmless.