The Editors Speak – Will the People Follow?

Several major print sources recently published their endorsements for the 2024 Presidential race. This is traditional every four years. Due to the advent of early voting and more permissive and extended absentee voting allowances, these events appeared earlier this year. However, with fewer people tuned into print media, and newspapers in general, I wonder if these messages are still being received as before and do they reach the necessary voters who used to value these opinions?

Does the online presence of such media giants allow them to expand their reach and influence? Or are influencers on TikTok and YouTube reaching a wider audience? Do celebrity endorsements sway voters?  Since 2020 was an unusual election year with much of the country under COVID social and health restrictions, and workers and students experiencing virtual offices and classrooms the usual discussions about anything were muffled. Many then turned to the anonymity of the internet sources they could explore. Some, such as Alex Jones, now disgraced, promoted lies and hatred.

The 2020 election saw anonymous groups such as Qanon with its theories of, among others, Satan-worshipping elites, conspiracies, and global rings of pedophiles explode into the mainstream. It especially disliked Democrats and prominent entertainers and believed many to be among the child-killing conspiracies they espoused. It became a catch-all for those who questioned the death of President John Kennedy, the 911 attacks, and other widely discussed conspiracies such as the so-called Deep State. In 2016 cryptic online comments promoted the election of DJT and claimed he was chosen to prevent this evil from infiltrating the country. After his election, he appeared with QANON symbols at his rallies. Some of the more radical sites were removed by YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter at that time, but this movement became a worldwide phenomenon.

This group is hard to define, it includes right-wing members, religious fundamentalists, social outcasts, and many who were just looking for a community to engage with. The Georgia Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor-Greene climbed onto this bandwagon, before her election in 2020. One aspect of this group is that it has no visible leader, no official spokesperson, and no one to take any responsibility for the lies and half-truths it supports.

The Anti-Defamation League noted that the blood ritual claims harken back to the anti-Semitic beliefs from the Middle Ages and explained how the movement is kept alive by its supporters.

The MAGA mouthpiece on “Truth Social” regularly re-posts QANON content and DJT sometimes wears the Q symbol to show his alliance. Of course, since the January 6^th Insurrection, QANON has regularly returned the favor and supported the disgraced former president. Elon Musk, once he bought Twitter and revised it as X, allowed Q and its content to return and expand its presence. A recent article in the New York Times noted that Musk is going all out to elect DJT and some note his PAC has so far spent over $80 million dollars and could spend as much as $500 million.

The Times technology report noted the following:

“Over half the accounts tracked by The Times have discussed baseless rumors that the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump in July was orchestrated by powerful Democrats. Combined, their posts were shared three million times in the 24 hours after the shooting.

Every day, about a quarter of a billion people use X, which remains a popular destination for news. The power of the reinstated accounts to shape the discourse on the platform is enormous, as is the risk, said Isabelle Frances-Wright, the director of technology and society at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit research organization.

“X has gone from being a social network to, frankly at this point, an online opinion news network where the majority of the narratives and hateful content come from a very small group of people who affect the entirety of the platform in an outsized way,” Ms. Frances-Wright said.

In late August, Mr. Trump claimed on X that Ms. Harris would destroy Social Security by allowing undocumented immigrants to tap into the program — a fear-mongering tactic that has informed false narratives claiming that Democrats are enabling noncitizens to vote.

As the election nears, some of the high-profile reinstated accounts have begun to pre-emptively cast doubt on the results. Much of the commentary is reminiscent of the conspiracy theories that swirled after the 2020 election and in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 riot.”

So, we do not know the effects of this non-traditional approach to electioneering. I assume that X will influence many voters. Whether this scurrilous rant will influence the electorate enough to elect the MAGA team, I don’t know. I wish that more members of the media would also stop using the site, but it has become a necessary stop along the online circuits.

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowed this to happen when it said money is speech and permitted unknown payers with millions and billions in their pockets to fund election campaigns. The FCC regulates campaign ads to a point, but many lies are spread routinely because candidates know that restraint is cumbersome and may not ever happen before the voters make their selections. So they put falsehoods out there and say “my bad” when caught, but they got their message out on the airwaves, so they truly do not care.

Now to get back to traditional media. Does it still play a role in these high-stakes games? Truly they are not games, as I believe, with many, that the future of our democracy is on the line more than ever before in this election. I hope that they will reach a wide audience of responsible voters.

Several media editorials appeared recently and gave their reasons for supporting VP Kamala Harris for election. I only list three here …and even though I truncated them, they are long, so bear with me.

The Atlantic Monthly rarely endorses but it did so this year here

It explained that it endorsed Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and Hillary Clinton in 2016. The following is only a portion of the editorial.

“About the candidate we are endorsing: The Atlantic is a heterodox place, staffed by freethinkers, and for some of us, Kamala Harris’s policy views are too centrist, while for others they’re too liberal. The process that led to her nomination was flawed, and she’s been cagey in keeping the public and press from getting to know her as well as they should. But we know a few things for sure. Having devoted her life to public service, Harris respects the law and the Constitution. She believes in the freedom, equality, and dignity of all Americans. She’s untainted by corruption, let alone a felony record or a history of sexual assault. She doesn’t embarrass her compatriots with her language and behavior, or pit them against one another. She doesn’t curry favor with dictators. She won’t abuse the power of the highest office in order to keep it. She believes in democracy. These, and not any specific policy positions, are the reasons The Atlantic is endorsing her.”

If you’re a conservative who can’t abide Harris’s tax and immigration policies, but who is also offended by the rottenness of the Republican Party, only Trump’s final defeat will allow your party to return to health—then you’ll be free to oppose President Harris wholeheartedly. We believe that American politics are healthiest when vibrant conservative and liberal parties fight it out on matters of policy.

If you’re a progressive who thinks the Democratic Party is a tool of corporate America, talk to someone who still can’t forgive themselves for voting for Ralph Nader in 2000—then ask yourself which candidate, Harris or Trump, would give you any leverage to push for policies you care about.

Trump is the sphinx who stands in the way of America entering a more hopeful future. In Greek mythology, the sphinx killed every traveler who failed to answer her riddle, until Oedipus finally solved it, causing the monster’s demise. The answer to Trump lies in every American’s hands. Then he needs only to go away.”

The New York Times also endorsed VP Kamala Harris and said this in its editorial (partially copied below)

“It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, and discipline — that he most lacks. This unequivocal, dispiriting truth — Donald Trump is not fit to be president — should be enough for any voter who cares about the health of our country and the stability of our democracy to deny him re-election.

For this reason, regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her, Kamala Harris is the only patriotic choice for president. And is a dedicated public servant who has demonstrated care, competence, and an unwavering commitment to the Constitution. Ms. Harris stands alone in this race. She may not be the perfect candidate for every voter, especially those who are frustrated and angry about our government’s failures to fix what’s broken — from our immigration system to public schools to housing costs to gun violence. Yet we urge Americans to contrast Ms. Harris’s record with her opponent’s.

Ms. Harris is more than a necessary alternative. There is also an optimistic case for elevating her, one that is rooted in her policies and borne out by her experience as vice president, a senator, and a state attorney general.

Over the past 10 weeks, Ms. Harris has offered a shared future for all citizens, beyond hate and division. She has begun to describe a set of thoughtful plans to help American families. While character is enormously important — in this election, pre-eminently so — policies matter. Many Americans remain deeply concerned about their prospects and their children in an unstable and unforgiving world. For them, Ms. Harris is clearly the better choice. She has committed to using the power of her office to help Americans better afford the things they need, to make it easier to own a home, to support small businesses, and to help workers. Mr. Trump’s economic priorities are more tax cuts, which would benefit mostly the wealthy, and more tariffs, which will make prices even more unmanageable for the poor and middle class.

Ms. Harris recognizes the need for global solutions to the global problem of climate change and would continue President Biden’s major investments in the industries and technologies necessary to achieve that goal. Mr. Trump rejects the accepted science, and his contempt for low-carbon energy solutions is matched only by his trollish fealty to fossil fuels.

In 2020 this board made the strongest case it could against the re-election of Mr. Trump. Four years later, many Americans have put his excesses out of their minds. We urge them and those who may look back at that period with nostalgia or feel that their lives are not much better now than they were three years ago to recognize that his first term was a warning and that a second Trump term would be much more damaging and divisive than the first.

Kamala Harris is the only choice.”

 

The Nation made its endorsement for Harris in a long editorial,  here and which is only quoted partially. It noted some disagreements with Harris, but said the alternative is not acceptable.

 

“The great strength of Kamala Harris’s unlikely but existentially important campaign for the presidency is her powerful grasp of what is at stake in this election. “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris declared in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. But as she reminded the delegates, “the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”ocracy posed by a reelected “Donald Trump with no guardrails”—especially after the Supreme Court’s recent 6–3 decision granting him “presumptive immunity” from criminal prosecution for his official acts—Harris urged Americans to “consider what he intends to do if we give him power again. Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol. His explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents, and anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active-duty military against our own citizens.”

We believe those threats are real. Of course, we endorse Harris over Trump. But we also endorse Harris in her own right, as an experienced and capable leader with a vision for America’s future that—while not as progressive as we might prefer, particularly when it comes to foreign policy—represents a clear advance on the Democratic presidential nominees of the past half-century.

Harris has long been an eloquent and tireless fighter for reproductive freedom. She spent the months following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization highlighting the connections between that assault and the other Republican efforts to roll back our rights. …Some of these proposals outlined in Project 2025.

And although some of her wealthy backers haven’t been shy in pressing her to fire Fe deral Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, Harris has, so far at least, stood firm behind Khan and the anti-monopoly agenda she has pursued at the FTC.

On foreign policy, however, the positive case is harder to make. Her change in tone, and her statements taking note of the horrendous death toll among Palestinian civilians, while welcome, might also be little more than the standard “pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, but subtly more pro-Israeli…

On the war in Ukraine, Harris’s position is hawkish. On relations with Russia and China, she has done nothing to indicate any departure from the Biden administration’s belligerent rhetoric….Still, anyone promoting Trump as a peace candidate needs to check their eyesight. Or their privilege.

Donald Trump has been a cancer on our public life since his days posing as a successful casino operator. His pervasive influence not just on our politics but on our manners, conversations, imaginations, and media developed a momentum that, until Biden withdrew, seemed likely to carry this habitual liar and adjudicated rapist back to the pinnacle of power.

Leftists contemplating voting for a third party in protest of Harris’s shortcomings—or out of discontent with our two-party system—need to ask themselves why their particular cause, or their personal discomfort, is more important than making sure that Trump, JD Vance, and their claque of congressional collaborators are defeated decisively….

Harris deserves credit for moving nearly $25 million from her campaign to down ballot races. The vice president knows she can’t afford to win narrowly in the battleground states; for her and Walz to govern effectively, to break the fever of Trumpism, they also need to lift Democrats in the races that will decide control of the House and Senate.

The insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, may have been unsuccessful. Their aims, however, were part of a long campaign to drag this country back ….(in the words of the Dred Scott decision), women had no control over their own bodies, corporations were free to pollute our air and water, and employers were allowed to terrorize and discard their workers.

Job one for Harris, then, is to defeat Trump—and Trumpism—decisively this November. Yet the current moment, and Harris’s campaign, offers more than merely a chance to wake from our long national nightmare."

Til next week-Peace!

Gaslighting & Demagogues

With less than a month to go before election day, many on the right have resorted to distortions of the truth. Some statements are wild and outrageous, others are just plain lies. Right-wing media faithfully echoes and parrots these lies. You have probably heard the phrase: "Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?"

Below I explain the tactics of gaslighting and demagoguery,

Medical News Today describes gaslighting:

Gaslighting is a behavior that people learn by watching others. A person who uses this tactic may have learned it is an effective way of obtaining what they want or controlling people. They may feel entitled to have things their way or that the wants and needs of others do not matter.Sometimes, people with personality disorders such as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) exhibit abusive behavior. A 2023 article Trusted Source states that people with NPD have:

a consistent need for admiration and attention

a belief that they are better than everyone else, or

 special in someone with a lack of empathy.

This combination of symptoms can lead to unhealthy relationships. However, gaslighting is not always due to a mental health condition. Anyone can engage in this behavior.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a demagogue as:

 A leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.

Examples of these tactics:

       Claiming Haitians are stealing pets to eat.

                   Stating immigrants are taking black jobs.

                   Accusing FEMA of diverting disaster relief money to fund "illegals"..

Blaming opponent crowd size numbers on AI enhancement.

Denying the efforts of FEMA, the Biden administration, and others in reaching out to aid the hurricane victims, when the media is showing us the ongoing work.

Saying "Only I can solve your problems."

 

Television news and print media this week reported on the devastation from Hurricane Helene as it traveled across several states in the South. We have also seen FEMA on the job working in these states as its staff partnered with local authorities, the National Guard, and regular Army troops. These groups helicoptered food and water to remote areas and took part in mountainside search and rescue efforts. Other forces brought tankers with potable water to ruined towns, and Jose Andres brought food from his World Central Kitchen to a hub in Asheville, NC, and continued to distribute thousands of meals.

Helene has become the deadliest hurricane since Katrina and is so far responsible for over 220 deaths; once the searchers get into the more remote areas, they expect to find more bodies. Although all of this work is public knowledge for anyone who cares to look, the Republicans and their candidate claim FEMA is running out of money. According to the NY Times, FEMA is getting short of staff but has funds to draw from other agencies even though House Speaker Johnson refused to call Congress back for an additional appropriation requested by President Biden. It also refused to increase funding in the recently passed stopgap funding bill.

Sometimes the public does not understand the mandate that FEMA has; it is not there to make disaster victims whole. The staff has to provide safe passage and rescue efforts in threatened areas and coordinate the relief with power and cell companies, health departments, local officials, first responders, and volunteers. It may provide shelter if homes are destroyed or allocate funds for safe refuge, or temporary trailers. The maligned $750 payout is to be used for emergency necessities such as food and clothing, when people lose access to their banking accounts.

FEMA staff can assist homeowners and others with filing claims for insurance reimbursement, but are limited in the amount of funds it can disperse; the highest amount is $42,500 and many do not qualify for that. However, in this instance, sadly, most homeowners will not qualify for insurance relief, as flooding caused the most damage to homes and businesses, and residents who do not live in floodplains seldom have flood insurance. In Florida, the insurance market has diminished as providers left the market or increased coverage rates above affordability for many Floridians on fixed incomes. In 2022 Florida created a company called Citizens to be used by residents as an insurer of last resort for those who cannot find other coverage.

FEMA also goes into communities after the initial emergency and helps communities rebuild. The Army Corps of Engineers can be deployed to rebuild bridges and build levees as it did in New Orleans.

While there are funds dispersed to communities that take in asylum seekers, those funds come from dedicated funds determined by Congress under the FEMA and Customs and Border Protection Shelter and Services program. Continuing to claim that FEMA does not have enough money because dollars are going to immigrants is misleading and harmful to all concerned. (But it is gaslighting.)

The Department of Homeland Security also has resources to assist in recovery efforts but is now warning that those who continue to spread disinformation are creating a level of distrust seldom seen in this sphere.

FEMA Director Deanne Criswell spoke to George Stephanopoulos on ABC Sunday.

Criswell said, "You know, it's really a shame that we're putting politics ahead of helping people, and that's what we're here to do.". She added "This dangerous rhetoric is creating fear in our staff while they are trying to do their job"

Others have described workers going out in teams for their safety, which slows recovery.

CNN Fact checker Daniel Dale describes one week of false claims made by DJT about Hurricane relief here.

Monday: He falsely claims Biden hasn't answered calls from Georgia's governor.

The governor disagreed and described his call from the president.

Monday: He cites baseless 'reports' about anti-Republican bias in the North Carolina response.

“Trump provided no evidence when a reporter pressed him later in the day.”

Thursday: He falsely claims the Biden-Harris response had received 'universally' negative reviews.

For example, Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said at a Tuesday press conference that federal assistance had "been superb," noting that Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had both called and told him to let them know whatever the state needed.

Thursday: He falsely claims Harris spent 'all her FEMA money' on housing illegal immigrants

"They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have a vote for them this season." (Illegal residents cannot vote.)

“Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and independent observers noted this week, that they're just two separate things funded separately by Congress.”

Friday: He falsely claims $1 billion was 'stolen' from FEMA for migrants and has gone 'missing'

"”Though Trump's Thursday claim about FEMA money and migrants had already been debunked by Friday, Trump repeated the claim to reporters at least twice on Friday — and then said it again at a Friday night town hall event in North Carolina.”

Saturday: He falsely claims the federal government is only giving $750 to people who lost their homes.

“has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like. And you can apply now." But she added just moments later, "FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them be able to deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible when and if they have insurance, and also hotel costs."

Saturday: Again falsely claims there are 'no helicopters, no rescue' in North Carolina 

“As reported by CNN: The state said, in an official update Saturday: "A total of 53 search and rescue teams from North Carolina and beyond, consisting of more than 1,600 personnel have conducted search and rescue operations during this event. Search and rescue teams have interacted with over 5,400 people, including assists, evacuations, and rescues."

The North Carolina National Guard announced Thursday that its own air assets had "completed 146 flight missions, resulting in the rescue of 538 people and 150 pets." The Washington Post reported Friday: "The drone of helicopters has become routine across western North Carolina in the wake of Helene. National Guard and civilian aircraft now crisscross the skies of a region where roads and bridges have been destroyed and people are trapped. “

To conclude, I can only quote in part some remarks from the post by Heather Cox Richardson on October 6, 2024, here:

"During WW II the U.S. Office of Strategic Services had picked up on Hitler's manipulation of his followers when it described Hitler's psychological profile. It said, "His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."

 

"The MAGA movement is now based in the Big Lie. Its leaders refuse to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election. Trump's running mate, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, two days ago actually said Trump won, and as media figures more frequently ask the question of MAGA lawmakers, they continue to dodge it, as Arkansas senator Tom Cotton did today on NBC's Meet the Press, and as House speaker Mike Johnson did on ABC News's "This Week."

 

"Now, though, their lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene show that they are completely committed to disinformation. "

As Will Bunch noted today in the Philadelphia Inquirer when Vance lied again at the vice presidential debate about the legal status of the Haitian migrants in Springfield,

 

Bunch points out that MAGA Republicans insist on the right to lie, considering any fact-checking "censorship," a position to which Vance pivoted when Minnesota governor Tim Walz asked him if Trump won the 2020 election.

 

Just as Russian political theorists advocated to overturn democracy, MAGA Republicans have created an alternative political reality, aided in large part by the disinformation spread on social media by X owner and Trump supporter Elon Musk.

 

Perhaps, though, the very real, immediate damage MAGA's disinformation about Hurricane Helene is causing might finally be a step too far. In what is at least a muted rebuke to Trump, Republican governors across the damaged area have stepped up to praise President Joe Biden and the federal response to the disaster." As I write this, Hurricane Milton is strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico and taking aim at Tampa Bay and other communities along the Gulf Coast and is expected to hit land as a Category 5. This is so sad. Til next week-Peace.