Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America

by Dan Pfeiffer

Democracy is bad for Republicans. The press is good for democracy. Therefore, the press is bad for Republicans.

The vast right-wing conspiracy is alive and well because a bunch of very rich Republicans decided to make their impact on American politics by funding right-wing media outlets.

For reasons of pure efficacy, progressive messaging must look different from the conservative tripe clogging the airwaves and social media feeds. We need to be better.

Democrats have to prove to voters that we are better than Republicans. If we are seen as equally disingenuous but with a better policy agenda, we will fail.

The problem for Democrats is that while the media are not a direct competitor like Republicans, they have no incentive to deliver said product in good condition. Instead, it is in their interest to alter that product in certain ways that benefit them.

The media have no interest in delivering Democratic messaging to voters the way we want it heard. As is their right, they put that messaging through their own filter, optimizing what is good for their business and brand. And often, if not always, what is good for the media is the exact opposite of what is good for Democrats.

This is why we are losing the messaging wars. Republicans have a way to communicate with their voters on their terms, and we don’t.

the true threat to liberal democracy is not progressive propaganda. It’s the people fighting for democracy surrendering to an authoritarian movement because we were too cowardly to fight back.