For weeks, Trump and members of his administration, some of whom spread anti-Democratic conspiracy theories about Epstein, have been trying to quiet the MAGA base after the FBI declared there was no client list and that the disgraced financier died by suicide. The same manosphere that boosted Trump isn’t letting his administration off the hook on Epstein, even as Trump has tried to dismiss the whole thing as a hoax.
The young men in his base aren’t doing better economically, and also feel stabbed in the back by Trump’s refusal to RELEASE UNREDACTED COPIES OF THE EPSTEIN FILES.
In my opinion, don’t blame the young voters for their choice. At least not entirely. They’ve been getting spoon fed propaganda by the internet, their parents, and the news their entire lives. Blame the parents that made everything their kids were doing a political issue from the moment they were conceived. Blame the platforms that have been incentivizing hate on their platforms for money. Blame the corporations that have been actively brainwashing people since the era of social media began. Blame the news for never telling the truth and making everything a spectacle.
People have agency. Don’t take that away from them.
The flip side of this is that it has to be praiseworthy to pass through that gauntlet and still care about other people. Eclusively negative incentives don’t work.