Trump's Lies and Media Fact-checks Strengthen His Base

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

I have new insights (BELOW) into the world of Trump supporters after reading "Nothing on This Page is Real" in The Week magazine. For the last two years, a liberal blogger in Maine has been making up as many as a dozen absolutely fake news stories on his satirical website. The idea was to tease Trump supporter about their gullibleness in consuming fake news. For example, he made up that Michelle Obama and Chelsey Clinton were invited to a ceremony at the White House during which they flipped President Trump the bird behind his back during the National Anthem.

After the published fake account generates a torrent of outrage from right-wing media consumers, he updates the feed to inform his readers that his news story was a total fabrication, yet his conservative readers (up to six million per month) don't believe his confession. They continue in their outrage and continue to Trash Michelle and Chelsey for dishonoring the President.

[I am thinking that this may be partly because his stories get picked up by a virtual echo-chamber of other right-wing websites that republish the story uncritically.]

MY INSIGHT: So my insight is this. President Trump knows that all of his lies will be as gospel truth to his followers and all attempts by the mainstream media to fact-check him will only reinforce his lies. WOW!

Here is an audio-version of the article:

https://www.audible.in/pd/Nothing-on-This-Page-Is-Real-How-Lies-Become-Truth-in-Online-America-Audiobook/B07GNV131Q's :