Senate Republicans fear constituents that are into conspiracies, not reality

you are changing your story.

 

With a couple of exceptions, my family and close friends who are Republicans don't seem to buy into the stolen election claims and don't defend J6. They're also probably not even aware of many of the less well known theories and claims that those of us who are very online see all the time. But I'm not sure the Republicans I talk to are that representative of Republicans as a whole given that they never really liked Trump much and are tired of him now - yet Trump is still leading the primary polls by a wide margin if the polls are anywhere close to accurate.

I don't spend as much time on Facebook these days as I did before and after the 2020 election, but the amount of conspiracies, lies, and even some support for January 6th being shared was staggering. It honestly became depressing for me to even go on there.

 

I have to admit you’re right because I don’t know everyone’s opinion or thoughts that Ive ever run into.

I haven’t heard anyone say they believe in either during any conversation I’ve been privy to. My family and close friends don’t think it either.

 

this is like what we heard going into 2022 midterms and repubs ignored it. Due to maga candidates, Repubs lost more seats in house than expected and repubs should have kept the senate in midterms. Losing the senate was BIG as dems get to appoint 'their' fed judges. If that is any indication for 2024, the smart branch of the repub party should move away from maga conspiracies candidates. Gop isn’t “owing the libs” by putting up the craziest politicians they can kind find.

 

Impressive to hear. Hopefully you can stick to this going into 2024 election cycle.

 

Don’t underestimate the reach of Russia’s troll farms….

“…. exposed how the Kremlin is using a troll factory to spread lies on social media and in comment sections of popular websites.”


UK exposes sick Russian troll factory plaguing social media with Kremlin propaganda

Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election

 

First rule of crazy MAGA club?

Always talk about crazy MAGA stuff

 

Per this poll 68% of Republicans think the election was stolen.

Almost a third of Americans still believe the 2020 election result was fraudulent

 

So you’re basically saying that the ping-pong crowd is crazy?

 

feck’n nuts based on my home table sample size. Her husband is worse.

 

Just wanted to say there are no Republican constituents who are crazier than Lindsey Graham. He may be the craziest man on the planet.

 

Depends on how you define “stolen”:

1. Ballot harvesting
2. Mail in ballots inconsistent with state law.
3. Counting after Election Day
4. Fake ballots and ballot box stuffing
5. Chinese printed ballots
6. Dead people voting
7. Voting machines changing votes
8. Foreign governments hacking
9. Deep state
10. “No way Biden got 81m votes. That [sic] Obama only got 70m”

I have heard all of these as reasons from Republicans (going increasingly insane) of why the election was stolen.

 

I’m not afraid of talking about things that may lead to disagreement. I don’t keep statistics, but I feel as though most of them told me or made a comment without me asking. I’m very surprised that you don’t know any.

 

I suspect it is fairly dependent on state/district, but it seems pubs are in a bit of a catch 22. I don't think it is as straight forward as you have laid it out. go crazy & you get the maga base & lose some inds & saner pubs, go sane & lose some of the magas.

Trump, etc. does not want loyalty to the party. He/they want loyalty to Maga. it's kinda funny & kinda sad watching the ramifications of their deal with the devil.

 

I think it was after reading some of the pro-Russia opinions in a couple threads that I did some reading about conservatives and disinformation. Take it with a grain of salt, but here are some thoughts about cons and their propensity for accepting lies. The first piece is from 2017.

Why Are Conservatives More Susceptible to Believing Lies?
Why are conservatives so susceptible to misinformation? The right wing’s disregard for facts and reasoning is not a matter of stupidity or lack of education. College-educated Republicans are actually more likely than less-educated Republicans to have believed that Barack Obama was a Muslim and that “death panels” were part of the ACA. And for political conservatives, but not for liberals, greater knowledge of science and math is associated with a greater likelihood of dismissing what almost all scientists believe about the human causation of global warming.

It’s also not just misinformation gained from too many hours listening to Fox News, either, because correcting the falsehoods doesn’t change their opinions. For example, nine months following the release of President Obama’s long-form birth certificate, the percentage of Republicans who believed that he was not American-born was actually higher than before the release. Similarly, during the 2012 presidential campaign, Democrats corrected their previous overestimates of the unemployment rate after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the actual data. Republicans’ overestimated even more than before.

Part of the problem is widespread suspicion of facts—any facts. Both mistrust of scientists and other “experts” and mistrust of the mass media that reports what scientists and experts believe have increased among conservatives (but not among liberals) since the early ’80s. The mistrust has in part, at least, been deliberately inculcated. The fossil fuel industry publicizes studies to confuse the climate change debate; Big Pharma hides unfavorable information on drug safety and efficacy; and many schools in conservative areas teach students that evolution is “just a theory.” The public is understandably confused about both the findings and methods of science. “Fake news” deliberately created for political or economic gain and Donald Trump’s claims that media sites that disagree with him are “fake news” add to the mistrust.

This one is from 2022. It's an NPR interview with an author of a book on the last 25+ years of political conspiracy theories. Starts with Gingrich and touches on events leading up to Oklahoma City, Clinton serial murder, the "Brooks Brothers" riot and others. Suggests that Trump is a symptom, not the cause. Pubs won't like it.



Well, when people first heard Newt Gingrich speak, you know, during the runup to the 1994 Republican Revolution, it was - in a way, he was replacing Bob Michel, who had been this genial World War II veteran, a leader of the House Republican minority for 14 years. He shepherded Ronald Reagan's agenda through the House, through Congress, with some success, but he was all about making deals, about compromise. And then, here came Newt, this bomb thrower, and he spoke with an entirely different language. And he - in fact, he recommended to his congressional peers, Republican peers and candidates, that they need to start talking about Democrats as traitors, as liars, as cheaters. So this was an entirely different way of talking about your opponent, your opponent as your enemy, as opposed to just being your opponent. It was a revolutionary, really, way of speaking in politics, certainly at the high level of politics. And after Republicans won in 1994, he became the speaker of the House and certainly never had a speaker of the House talking this way. And then suddenly this man was second in line to the presidency with a whole different language. And he actually said, the problem with Republicans is they haven't been nasty enough. That was Newt Gingrich's quote. And he said, we need to raise hell all the time. And that's exactly what he did. And today we are sort of living in that world that Newt Gingrich birthed in 1994.

 

you should ask some folks if they think the election was stolen. I think you’d be surprised.

 

Once you gear up the monster, you can't control it forever. It will turn on you.

 

When I was younger I used to get in the middle of it all and fire away. I’m 70 now and just don’t get involved in politics any more. My circle of friends is small and I like it that way.

 

There is a conservative poster on here who claimed the election was stolen because he only saw people holding boat parades for Trump, and none for Biden. Genius level stuff.

 

I guess injecting herself with bleach was next on the list.