But more important was the overlap between this anti-establishment sentiment and the embrace of outright false claims on political topics. Part of the frustration with Republican leaders was that their actions and rhetoric increasingly diverged from the rhetoric of Fox News and more fringe newcomers like Breitbart. Trump was both detached from D.C. respectability and immersed in the right’s fringe vernacular, and that’s what he presented to Republican primary voters.
This is where the idea was born that Trump speaks frankly while others do not. It wasn’t that he was honest; far from there. It’s that he said the things his supporters heard from (dishonest) actors elsewhere because he didn’t care about being seen as dishonest. His supporters saw this as unusual honesty, when in fact it was the opposite.
Since then, Trump’s dishonesty has been relentless, often infecting his allies and his party. But he retains a perception of honesty and candor among his supporters because they do not like or trust those who point out his dishonesty – his opponents, the media, etc. Trump gets the benefit of the doubt, even though he may not deserve it.
Over the weekend, CBS News released the results of a poll conducted this month by YouGov. It focused on views on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but included a telling question related to the point above.
Respondents were asked to rate whether they considered different sources of information about the war in Ukraine to be trustworthy. Overall, only two sources were considered more reliable than not: the military/Pentagon and journalists and media operating in the war zone. All other options presented were underwater, with more people saying they considered them unreliable rather than trustworthy.
This is partly due to the widespread skepticism of independents, who are generally more likely to express distrust when asked such questions. Only the military was considered more trustworthy than not online among independents.
But it was also because, among Republicans, the only widely reliable source of information about the war was… Donald Trump.
President Biden was considered trustworthy by four times as many Democrats as untrustworthy. It was a ratio similar to other sources of information: the military, the State Department, the media. Among Republicans, however, only Trump has earned this level of trust. They were 58 points more likely to say they trusted Trump as a source of information than to say they did not. The next closest source of information was the military, where the gap was only 20 points.
Some of this is performative, a presentation by Republicans that they agree with Trump and disagree with others on the specific issue of Ukraine. But it is certain that a substantial amount is not. If the military says Ukraine risks being invaded by Russia without additional support, and Trump says this is just neocon warmongering, many Republicans will nod in agreement. like Trump.
In itself, the acceptance of this vision of Ukraine is a demonstration of the triumph of Trump’s policies. In separate questions, CBS News also asked whether the United States had a responsibility to do something about Ukraine or broadly defend democracy. This latter idea would not have caused controversy among Republicans 20 years ago. Today, fewer than half of Republicans believe the United States has a global responsibility to defend democracy.
Interestingly, Democrats’ support for defending Ukraine and democracy comes even though Democrats are more likely to say they don’t remember the Cold War — largely because they are younger than the Republicans.
The Trumpian resurrection of “America First” has exploited hostility toward the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to largely undermine the idea that the United States should retain its traditional alliances. This idea was also reserved for the right-wing fringe, but Afghanistan and Americans’ general disinterest in foreign policy made it a valuable position for Trump to take. The fact that it also empowers the autocrats he seems to want to befriend and emulate is a reward in itself.
This first question in the CBS News poll shows how dishonesty has become ingrained in the expectations of Trump’s party and its support base. As was the case after the 2020 election, this can create friction where one’s world intersects with the real world.
On Friday, for example, the judge overseeing his case in New York reprimanded Trump’s lawyers.
He felt compelled, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote, to express his “consistent and growing concern over lawyers’ practice of making serious allegations and representations that have no merit.” apparent basis in fact – or at least not supported by a legitimate knowledge base. »
Well, Trump’s lawyers need to translate Trump’s dishonest presentations into something acceptable to the American legal system. It’s difficult to do. It’s much easier for Trump to simply immerse himself in his own dishonesty and drag his supporters down with him.
It was also found to be more effective.
washingtonpost
