[View here as a Twitter thread]
1/ The study osf.io/preprints/soca… starts with 2 definitions: A “crisis of legitimacy” is when a group doesn’t think the political establishment governs on their behalf. “Power devaluation crisis” is when they think the establishment favors new social groups over them.
2/ These groups believe they are the “real” people. When a demagogue lies in a clear attempt to shatter the political establishment and represent THEM, they think he’s “authentic” and telling a certain kind of truth— even they know he is literally lying.
3/ “Trump’s supporters saw the federal government as illegitimate because it helped non-whites and immigrants. . .” Thus they cheered the blatant lies of a demagogue who wanted to smash the existing political establishment. (End summary of article)
4/ This is what Sarah Huckabee meant when she said, “The lie is pointing out an important truth.” twitter.com/ddale8/status/… Examples: “Obama was born in Africa.” Trump Supporter thinks: “It might be literally false, but it is true because Obama is not one of the “real people.”
5/ More examples: “Mexico sends criminals across the border.” Trump Supporter thinks: Yeah! I don’t want those brown people here. “Every candidate violates election laws.” Trump Supporter thinks: “Yeah! They all did things I hate! I prefer Trump.
7/ Lawyers spend time explaining the falsity of Dershowitz’s legal assertions. Scientists and economist spend time explaining the falsity of the right wing’s scientific and economic theories. Refusing the lie also serves Trump’s purpose because it repeats and enlarges the lie.
8/ Consider why “her emails” sank so deeply into the public consciousness that so many people were hoodwinked into believing HRC committed an imprisonable offense (she didn’t). Even many who didn’t think she committed a crime felt a nagging doubt.
9/ How did the hoodwinking happen? Bannon explained the theory (which happens to be identical to Putin’s methods) “The real opposition is the media,” he said. “And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” twitter.com/brianstelter/s… IOW, confuse people.
10/ Each time Trump, or Giuliani, or Dershowitz utter an absurd lie, Trump’s critics laugh at their idiocy. Dershowitz is a former Harvard law professor. Giuliani is a former federal prosecutor. Newsflash: They are not stupid. They are lying on purpose, for a reason.
11/ People who laugh at the idiocy of the lies may be missing the point: As the study quoted earlier shows, the nature of these lies indicate that significant percentage of the population is attempting to bring down the federal government.