I believe this election turned out the way it did in no small part because a large number of Americans are now submerged in new factories of lies more insidious than anything Orwell imagined, and that while the worst of it is the foreign and far-right intentional distortion of reality, too much of the mainstream media has been deferential and will be more deferential to authoritarianism and will not stop letting the right set the agenda about what to be concerned about and what matters. In fact, I don’t have to believe that disinformation is impactful; I know it because it’s been documented. The data group Ipsos reports: “Americans who answer questions about inflation, crime, and immigration incorrectly are more likely to opt for Trump, while Americans who answer those questions correctly prefer Harris.” …
The outcome of this election is the result of disinformation and the rise of a huge rightwing media industry, both as enterprises like Fox and Newsmax but also the hordes of blogs, podcasts, Russian-produced propaganda on social media, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, online subcultures of misogynists and white supremacists and the rest. Finding and sharing good sources of information is part of the job.