How to Dislodge MAGA's Capture of the Flow of Information
TikTok blocks coverage of LA fires as SCOTUS considers ban, the MAGAmorphosis of Broligarchs, Trump fights to block Special Counsel report, judge rejects GOP in North Carolina, and more
How to Dislodge MAGA’s Capture of the Flow of Information
We are one week into raging infernos leveling towns across Los Angeles County and there’s no end in sight. To put it succinctly, it’s been nothing short of devastation on apocalyptic levels for us Angelenos.
I personally know people who have been evacuated, who have had their neighborhoods in evacuation warning zones, who have lost their homes, as well as those who know people who have lost their homes. My own neighborhood came dangerously close to being in one of the evacuation zones.
On top of all of this, we’re undergoing a second inferno that is far-right-fueled misinformation, disinformation, and political chaos by out-of-state actors and out-of-touch broligarchs.
It’s been a long and emotionally fraught week. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier. *Big sigh*
Making things worse for people like me who are trying to combat the disinformation machine, TikTok blocked my video about what’s really happening in Los Angeles from being posted. The video is up on Instagram (click the video below to watch), but Meta is infamous for suppressing news so only a fraction of my followers have seen it.
This frustrated me to no end—not because I was being silenced, but because these platforms are shamelessly telling us that the public has no right to useful and truthful information even during a crisis.
It made me ask myself, how do content creators and journalists navigate the forces that are coalescing around controlling the flow of information?
In a great irony, it’s clear TikTok doesn’t want to help itself as it continues to censor fact-based content while allowing conspiracy theories and lies to flourish. With the app teetering on being banned in the United States, there aren’t many places that are or will be safe for fact-based news or news more broadly.
Meta’s platforms certainly aren’t as Zuckerberg bent the knee to MAGA (see more details below). I’m not convinced Twitch or YouTube will remain safe from propagandization either. It’s guaranteed the broligarchs will placate the incoming regime in order to stay in business.
I don’t know which platform will be the one that the public shifts their attention to if TikTok is banned or if the app bans us. I don’t know if there will be a shift. My read on the public (in a general sense) is there’s fatigue. There have been a lot of rapid pace changes in the places we congregate online, as well as rules that are moving goalposts.
I don’t have the answer to the Where to go, but I do have solutions to the How to navigate the MAGAfication of these platforms.
For one thing, the results of the election made it crystal clear to me that we can’t rely on only presenting facts to counter misinformation and disinformation. Being on defense against those who are hostile to anything that challenges their vibes isn’t a winning strategy.
Content creators, journalists, and professionals in specialties under attack must go on offense. Because we aren’t just fighting a post-truth war. We are fighting an anti-intellectualism movement.
One tactic is to mirror the far-right. By this, I mean turn their “just asking questions” around on them. They don’t expect us to challenge them by asking questions that undermine their assertions or expertise; they expect us to state facts that they will immediately discredit as “elitist” and fake.
Another tactic is to not lead the news with the narrative the far-right is pushing, which is often political. Instead, re-frame the story around the American people and explain how the policies, the rhetoric, the actions (or inaction) of the far-right will impact the people. Better yet, ask MAGA politicians and far-right figures what they mean when they say XYZ and press them on what a particular bill, executive action or recent court decision means for the public, as well as why certain Congressmen and Senators voted for or against a bill that negatively impacts the public.
In other words, make those in government and the unelected officials with influence over the government state their case and explain themselves. And make it explicitly clear what the Republican agenda means and what the impact will be on the American people.
One relevant example is what’s going on in Los Angeles right now.
Over the weekend, California Republicans and their colleagues in Congress from non-neighboring states made another pilgrimage to Trump’s Confederate White House. Instead of meeting with their constituents who are helping Angelenos or who are directly impacted by the fires, CA representatives met with the incoming co-presidents (one of which is unelected) to develop a concept of a plan that would attach political strings to federal disaster aid.
The American people deserve to know how abnormal this is and what the consequences will be. The coverage should not be about the political fighting over the debt ceiling in Washington, D.C. It must be centered around how residents living in Democratically controlled states (including Republican voters) are being used as political pawns by the Republican Party to make demands of Democrats in Congress. Stories must also make it clear that the Republican Party is willing to allow Americans to suffer for political advantage.
A third tactic to use is to ridicule and dismiss what the far-right does and says as self-obsessed, out-of-touch, hate-filled reactionaries. Take what they say seriously because they all have axes to grind and the power of the government to execute their mission of vengeance. But ice them out as anyone worth your attention or energy.
Those on the far-right aren’t satisfied that they won the election. They need those who didn’t vote for Trump to fall in line and give them the respect they feel entitled to. It’s why they’ve been whining about “civility” and losing their minds over being called “weird.” The ostracization from society is what they fear most.
What I’m trying to say is: Believe them when they say they will hurt minority communities and take away rights for large groups of the electorate. But remember that they haven’t earned our respect and they can’t force us to give it to them.
That’s all for now. Continue scrolling for more news in the headlines below.
-Stephanie
This Week’s Watch
Confirmation hearings begin for Trump’s cabinet picks. Everything is fine.
Trump Fights to Block Special Counsel’s Report from the Public
Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Department of Justice on Friday, just days after submitting his final report on Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election. His departure was expected since his cases are now closed. Still, Donald Trump and his cronies from working overtime to block Special Counsel’s reports from being made public. And they’re leaning on Trump’s personal judge, Aileen Cannon, to bulldoze judiciary rules to keep the public in the dark.
The 11th Circuit has ruled against Trump and has signaled it will overturn Cannon’s lawlessness, but it’s likely the Supreme Court will get the final say in whether the report will be released. Unless someone has the cajones to leak it.
North Carolina Election Subversion Watch
This morning, a North Carolina judge denied the GOP’s request to disqualify 60,000 ballots cast in the November 2024 election for state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. In a 1-page order, Wake County Superior Court Judge William Pittman wrote, “after a careful balancing of the equities, [the court] cannot conclude by the greater weight of the evidence that a preliminary injunction is necessary to prevent immediate and irreparable harm.”
There are still multiple lawsuits brought by the Republican Party that are being considered by the courts. Riggs’ narrow win was scheduled to be certified on Friday, but a GOP-controlled court blocked the certification as the challenges to overturn the results continue.
TikTok Ban Decision Pending
Last week, all 9 Supreme Court justices signaled they are in favor of upholding the federal law that will ban TikTok in the United States on January 19 unless it divests from its parent company Bytedance. During oral arguments on Friday, none of the justices seemed compelled by TikTok’s First Amendment argument and the majority appeared concerned with the potential national security threat the app poses via China’s covert manipulation of content.
While it’s expected that SCOTUS will affirm the app’s ban, the Federalist Society-installed justices gave a wink to Donald Trump’s amicus brief asking the court to delay the law’s effective date so he can negotiate with TikTok. In addition, Justice Brett Kavanaugh floated the idea of Trump overriding Congress by instructing the DOJ to not enforce the law.
This morning, the court updated its calendar showing it plans to release opinions in pending cases on Wednesday. It’s unclear if any of the decisions will be on TikTok; however, with the ban looming in 6 days from this publishing, it’s likely to be among the batch.
MAGA Infighting Escalates as Broligarchs, Hatefluencers Jockey for Power
As his influence over Donald Trump and his inner circle fades, political Rasputin, Steve Bannon, swore to go to war with the richest man in the world—and the USA’s first unelected incoming co-occupant of the White House—Elon Musk. His declaration against the tech broligarch was made with *checks notes* an Italian newspaper, underscoring just how seriously Bannon is taken in the United States. It also highlights the lack of unity within the incoming regime and the anger simmering just below the surface among competing figures within Trump’s MAGA party.
For those of us who are not on Musk’s X, two other Trump/Musk cronies are publicly quarreling for … reasons, I guess. The billionaires embarrassing themselves on the digital far-right playground are Marc Andreesen (venture capitalist and Musk ally) and Patrick Soon-Shiong (LA Times owner and Trump bootlicker). While the inability of these fools to pretend to get along brings us much-needed schadenfreude, a coalition of power within the incoming executive branch that’s unwilling to feign unity or to exemplify competent leadership is alarming. This level of unseriousness is dangerous for everyone.
A Tech Broligarch’s MAGAmorphosis
Americans are finally realizing how transactional and fairweather Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is at his core. In other words, he believes in nothing except power and money—a true McConnellite through and through.
Last week, the tech broligarch directed his company to end its DEI policy and eliminate the team overseeing related programs. He also abruptly ended fact-checking and the policing of hate speech on his company’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. To ensure his California-based company doesn’t have to abide by California state law, he announced the safety and content moderation teams will be fully operational out of Texas. Note that the T&S teams have been based in Austin, TX for the past 10 years.
And that’s not the only virtue signaling by the world’s 3rd wealthiest man in the past week alone. Zuckerberg installed longtime Trump crony and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Dana White, on his company’s board. By Friday, the shape-shifting CEO with a messiah complex and a hard-on for the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar sat down with Joe Rogan to regurgitate MAGA talking points and wax poetic about “manliness.”
The New York City Mayoral Race is Already Scandalous
New York’s hottest club is a revolving door of messy politicians. In a sign of how normal American politics is, disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo isn’t even a candidate yet for New York City Mayor and he’s taken a commanding lead in the polls. Meanwhile, current scandal-plagued NYC Mayor Eric Adams trails near the bottom of a crowded field. At least there’s plenty of time until the June 24th primary for voters to choose a less unserious candidate.
Worst Take of the Week
Tell me you’re out of touch with reality without telling me you’re out of touch with reality. Mikey Shulman, CEO and founder of an AI-powered music generator company called Suno AI, claimed in an interview with 20VC, a venture capitalist podcast, that the majority of musicians don’t enjoy creating music anymore. It’s worth noting that his company is being sued by the recording industry for training its AI models on copyrighted music. So I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume he’s never met a musician before given he started a company to steal musicians’ artwork and profit off it by enshittifying it.