🤔 Isn’t he making a specific lie about Kamala Harris here that could be shown to materially damage her election campaign? Plus all it would take is one of these nutjobs taking pot shots at airplanes or something to expand the scope of harm. He’s definitely playing with fire on this one.

I think that goes hand in hand with the attacks on education. They’ve painted themselves as being the voice of “working class” Americans and discredit experts that provide knowledge that runs counter to their propaganda as out of touch “liberal elites”. It’s truly ironic that they’re implying that your average American is stupid with that statement and yet their supporters fully agree with it. They point to the correlation between higher education and disbelief in their propaganda as proof that the highly educated are wrong in a weird cyclic argument. Their stance is basically if the intellectuals don’t agree with me, it’s because they’re wrong, not because I am.

Basically this:

It’s essentially a force multiplier. The propaganda wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective as it is without the attacks on education. The propaganda was the thin end of the wedge, and now that they’re established they’re attacking education to make sure they stay entrenched, as it’s the only thing that could really threaten them.

The attack on education is part of the long term strategy. The early indoctrination and propaganda gets people into the conspiracies and a lack of education makes sure they stay there and don’t stop to consider how utterly batshit insane they sound. I also think lead exposure due to usage of leaded gas prior to 1996 can’t be overlooked. There’s a very obvious correlation in violent crime rates that corresponds with the increased usage of leaded gas in the 60s and the sharp decline in the 90s following its phasing out starting in the 80s and outright ban in the mid 90s.

Because the Republicans have spent the last 40 years slowly demolishing public education. That combined with a steady feed of propaganda on AM radio and Fox News, plus mild lead poisoning from leaded gas usage prior to the 90s has resulted in multiple generations that lack even the most rudimentary critical thinking skills or scientific knowledge and are primed to believe whatever absurd conspiracy reinforces whatever their pastors and favorite talking heads are saying.

They’re absolutely convinced that the US government has been infiltrated by “communists” that are engaged in grand sweeping conspiracies to destroy the US, and the only solution is to remove all power from the US government. They’ve been steeped in propaganda for decades that tells them all governments are corrupt and only corporations can be trusted, that the “free market” is the solution to all problems.