Crank wrote:
ppkestrel wrote:
For me it is scary and dangerous that such a person is elected and has so me airtime!
This is a dangerous behavior, started or amplified by the former guy and which allows uneducated/uninformed people to spread lies and act as bullies!
Very sad!
I cannot understand why anyone woukd vote and support such goons!
Same thing for Matt Gaetz
It's because for people like MTG, Gaetz, and that loon from Colorado, politics isn't about policy and governance. Rather, it's a kind of performance art, fueled by follows, comments, likes and retweets.
Why would you blame people like MTG, Gaetz, etc? They did not create the environment that got them elected, it is not their fault. They are exploiting something that already exists.
One factor is that the GOP and the right wing media ecosystem are tied to each other very tightly. They are dependent on each other. The right wing media ecosystem requires politicians to shout about grievance. The GOP requires the right wing media to amplify their grievance. So it creates a feed back loop where each side gets rewarded for pushing the boundaries. So the GOP is rewarded for having members that excel on being on Fox News for example. This does not create politicians that excel at governing or even policy. This creates politicians that are more similar to opinion commentators. Also, they have no reason to care about governing. They are not judged on governing by right wing media, they are only judged on fanning grievance. Their entire political career is based on support of right wing media, so why would they care about governing?
Another factor is a failure of main stream media. They should care about being objective, but instead they are so scared of being called "biased" they can't be objective. The GOP has played the refs so well here, they bitch and moan about bias so much that the media is so scared of it, they allow them to get away with so much. For example, the media can't just objectively say "the GOP does not care about governing." Sure it is objectively true, but they are too scared of being called biased, they won't say the objectively true thing. This goes for things like calling out trump's lies or any of the other things the GOP does that the media just dances around. This results in the media treating the GOP equal to the DNC in every way, but that is a false dichotomy. This is important here, because it gives people like MTG or Gaetz more credibility than they deserve. They know they can act like maniacs and still be given deference by the media.