We have a real problem in this country. It doesn't derive from a "what-about-ism" view of equivalent opinions or assumption that "everybody does it." That's part of the problem.
I really don't want my brother to see this post before Thanksgiving -- or for that matter, at any time. He'll become belligerent and stubborn. But I've known him from when he was just a "little shaver". If it were only a matter of attitude, he chooses not to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. He doesn't do his homework. He has distilled his political choices into a simple ideological commitment "against socialism" -- where every collective effort to make public goods serve problem solving falls under the "creeping socialism" argument. I've tried to tell him -- if he wants to apply the "S" word - then fine -- it's a "tool-box".
He was supporting Trump since as early as 2015. Two weeks ago, he tried to assert that Trump "had gone to Harvard."
He gets all his information from the filtered media of FOX and friends. FOX is not presenting the facts, for instance, of VP Harris' s remarks except to pick a few choice moments to spin minutes or hours of their opinion. I rather doubt they've given much time to the remarks of Generals Mattis, Milley and Kelly. You'd have to research FOX broadcast history, but I doubt they've given any exposure to the consortium of psychologists and psychiatrists warning of Trump's sociopathic and narcissistic disorders.
FOX advocate-viewers are living in a filtered Right-wing echo-chamber, and they choose to be low-information voters.
Anyone with common-sense could see that 94 felony indictments across four or five jurisdictions isn't some Democratic plot of persecution. But they see everything as impossible, implausible conspiracies.
If they all did their homework -- first -- to determine which media outlet is lying and deceiving, and which aren't; if they examined the broader set of facts as opposed to the selective "alternative facts" in their echo-chamber, the point spread between Harris and Trump would comfortably widen. This would be called "Common Sense".
After pointing out to Trumpist associates I've known since high-school, the many examples of FOX's deliberate deceptions, I'd asked them to find any such equivalent examples among other media, such as CNN, MSNBC, PBS and the rest. They would ;never respond with even a suggestion. They never responded. They were silent. But they cling to their FOX teething-ring binky.
You can't be "Great Again" by feeding your grievance tantrums and supporting a Fascist and Criminal. It's just that simple. As for the so-called "fence-sitters" whining about inflation (which has attenuated nicely) and other worries, they need to realize that there is an army of professionals who've been keeping things stable through all previous administrations before Trump. Some of them are called "civil servants", but responsible elected candidates choose their experts wisely for their scholarship and experience. Certainly not Larry Kudlow or Maria Bartiromo. The only professionals in Trump's entourage have come and gone -- or merely been fired.
We're on a precipice here. The anxiety I feel is enough to shorten my life.
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