When the dust of the 2020 election settled, Republicans were so stunned by Biden’s victory that more than half believed Donald Trump’s lies about a rigged election. Even while savoring victory, Democrats were stunned that 74 million people had voted for Trump, 10 million more than in 2016. The election results and the polarized responses demonstrate the power of propaganda, especially as amplified by social media.
Part of series about the historic nature of social change we are experiencing (see previous post), this and a following post will consider the role of propaganda, looking first at those who create it and in the next post at those who consume it. Over the years, both the right and the left have used this tool to persuade people to support their cause. However, Donald Trump and Republican operatives have elevated it to a level rarely seen, tapping into fear about the decline of white, Christian America.
As part of the white, wealthy elite who benefits from current social and economic policies, Trump’s motivation differs from his many working class followers. He uses his mastery at manipulating media to stoke their fear that the America they know is under threat. His distorted ethical compass allows him to make outlandish claims with no basis in truth, culminating in his claims of a rigged election. He resides at the center of his moral universe, so as long as he remains in the spotlight, nothing else seems to matter.
Nazi Germany offers a model of effective propaganda with horrifying results. In a New York Times story, Yale professor Timothy Snyder examines how Trump’s lies mirror Nazism’s “big lie” that Jews ran the world and had to be eliminated. Nazi propagandists studied the logic of white supremacists in the Jim Crow south, so it is not surprising to see Trump and other white supremacists employ the same tactics when they perceive that their dominance is endangered.
Propaganda relies on emotions, and far right ideology centers on fear. Trump appeals to tribalism, casting Muslims, Mexicans, illegal immigrants, Antifa, socialists, and anyone who does not share their worldview as a threat to the American way of life. By convincing them that he is the sole source of truth, he has essentially turned a political movement into a cult of personality (see previous post).
Nazi propaganda master Joseph Goebbels claimed that the bigger the lie and the more often it was repeated, the more likely it was to be believed. Whereas Nazi propagandists carefully crafted messages for print and broadcast media, Trump could fire off one tweet and social media would amplify it to millions within hours. He combined this with constant attacks on mainstream media as “the enemy of the people,” diluting the power of the free press that lies at the heart of democracy.
Social media is the perfect tool for propagandists. Its profit motive renders it morally neutral, in terms of content, and its reliance on algorithms creates echo chambers in which people are constantly fed similar content. This feedback loop confirms their biases, while showing them nothing that would challenge their assumptions.
While modern technology enables us to quickly fact-check suspicious information, it is even more adept at manipulating images and video. Let’s look at a specific example documented by the Technology and Social Change (TaSC) Research project at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. This case study traces a video clip of then candidate Joe Biden speaking about his campaign’s efforts to guard against voter fraud: “We’re in a situation where we have put together, and you guys did it for our administration — President Obama’s administration before this — we have put together, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.”
Republican operatives seized on Biden’s awkward phrasing, lifted the statement out of context, and posted it on YouTube under the headline: “Biden Brags About Having The ‘Most Extensive…Voter Fraud Organization’ In History.” It was quickly spread across social media platforms by the RNC, Trump loyalists, and finally Trump himself, before being picked up by far right news outlets. The next day, mainstream media exposed the deception, but the damage was done. Their word carried no weight against what millions of Trump loyalists heard from Biden’s own lips. Not surprisingly, the clip resurfaced after the election to bolster Trump’s claims of voter fraud.
Social media’s goal is not to share accurate information but to garner views for advertisers. With the kind of traffic these posts generate, there is little incentive to monitor such inaccuracies. Even QAnon and other conspiracy theorists have been given free reign. As Trump’s lies about a stolen election gained ground, Facebook and Twitter weakly labeled them as “disputed” and possibly “misleading.” It took a violent attempt to disrupt the electoral process for them to freeze his accounts.
While smearing anyone who crosses him, including those of his own party, Trump has simultaneously portrayed himself as the victim of witch-hunts. This privileged white man has convinced his followers that no one in history has been as persecuted as he has. Any efforts to curb his atrocities, including a record two impeachments, have only fed into this narrative.
As Snyder writes, political thinker Hannah Arendt described a “big lie” as one that is so big it can tear the fabric of reality. The polar opposite ways we view social change seem to be doing just that. A large portion of Americans see Donald Trump as dangerous and hope that Joe Biden can restore decency in government. Another sizable group believes just the opposite. The next post will look at people who fall for propaganda and some of reasons they do.
Sources consulted:
Emily Dreyfuss: “Recontextualized Media: Biden ‘Voter Fraud Organization,'” Shorenstein Center, Oct. 24, 2020
Justin Podour: “Mind Control: How social media supercharged the propaganda system, Salon, Jan. 31, 2019
Timothy Snyder: “The American Abyss,” The New York Times, Jan. 9, 2021
Interview with Timothy Snyder on National Public Radio, Jan. 15, 2021
Matthew Ward: “How Social Media Exacerbates Propaganda,” Medium, Sep. 9, 2020