"He responded that he didn’t regret his vote, because his vote was about more than his farm or tariffs; it was about God, guns, and abortion. In sum, he’d take the hit because there were bigger issues at stake.

That conversation is part of my first book, God Land, published in 2019. But I think about it often, because it highlights so many of the problems with political reporting. It’s not about the policies; it’s about the priorities."

#NewYorkTimes #Trump #Republicans #Iowa #farmers
/2

"While women are being forced out of the workforce, children are going hungry, and people are being rounded up by ICE in warrantless raids, white male pain continues to be a Page 1 story. Farmers and ranchers make up less than 2 percent of the total population in America, but they dominate our cultural and political mythology."

#NewYorkTimes #Trump #Republicans #heartland #Iowa #farmers #gender #race
/3

Noting Steve Bannon's recent high-profile media interview in The Economist, Denny Carter underscores the choice of media outlets to high-profile white men like Bannon as they pontificate about Trump and political matters:

"For some reason, Bannon, a podcaster, lands interviews in which he lays out a grand plan for the future of the US and the world at large – plans he's devised from his bunker while scrolling online."

#Trump #Republicans #SteveBannon #media
/4

"The nature of lies in MAGA-world has changed, too. We’re a long way from 'covfefe' and tumescent hurricanes Sharpied on a weather map. This is an era of lies as policy, where government priorities are based on right-wing conspiracy theories and fear-mongering."

~ Liz Dye

And the media's response?

#Trump #Republicans #ConspiracyTheories #fascism #authoritarianism #disinformation #media #sanewashing
/6

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-tylenol-autism-lawsuit-texas

"The federal agencies that survived Elon Musk’s wrecking ball are now captured by the echo chamber of his social media platform, with cabinet secretaries staring furiously into a digital funhouse mirror to divine the will of the most internet-addled members of the MAGA base. ...

The shit was supposed to be a weapon … but today it’s the stream that carries the GOP forward."

#Trump #Republicans #ConspiracyTheories #fascism #authoritarianism #disinformation #media #sanewashing
/7