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GOP strategists plot anti-media strategy for 2018 elections

K

KernelPanic

Member
In case you're wondering who the new boogeyman will be post HRC.

A party that traditionally has had a fraught relationship with the media has become outright hostile, led by a president who picks more fights with journalists than any GOP leader since Richard Nixon.

But interviews with Republican strategists and party leaders across the country reveal that what started as genuine anger at allegedly unfair coverage — or an effort to deflect criticism — is now an integral part of next year’s congressional campaigns.
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The conservative base needed more of an enemy than the Democratic candidate to become engaged.

“Hillary Clinton is not on the ballot so you have to have something else to run against,” said Charlie Sykes, a former conservative talk radio host from Wisconsin who has been openly critical of Trump. “And the media is perfect.”

It’s “going to be a major part of the strategy,” he predicted
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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article154106459.html
 
U

uncelestial

Member
Well, we're fucked. Enough people will buy into this normalizing of the rejection of journalism that we'll just be shouting at people who can't hear outside their bunker for a long ass time. You shouldn't mainstream this idea. It's so destructive. But here we go.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
I see they're going all in? The FBI, NSA, CIA and Mueller need to go all in on this party as well. The rot is starting to stink up the USA.
 
E

EatinOlives

Member
They're gonna need to call up their Russian fuccbois for more help, because unfortunately for them "the media" ain't running for President in 2020.
 
O

Ogodei

Member
It's possibly a play to energize the base, who would otherwise be depressed at Trump and congress' constant fuckups. A stabilizing action in what they know will be a bad year at best. But yeah, it's not going to reach a soul who isn't in the tank for them already.
 
T

TestOfTide

Banned
For those of you worried that this will work, Fox News has been dipping in ratings post Trump.

There are a lot of conservatives in America, and nearly all of them hate Hillary, but they aren't all Trump fans.
 
chekhonte

chekhonte

Member
This falls under the no doy category but the question still remains of whether it will work. The major problem is that the media is still largely responsible for disseminating information. Trump largely ran on an anti media campaign last time but it was in fact the media spreading the Russian DNC leaks that won him the presidency.

I imagine that the vast majority of people who buy into the anti media message are the loons that are already majorly approve of him. Fucking with the media hasn't work that well outside of this fringe and unless the DNC offers up another out of touch, poor candidate that doesn't inspire anybody, I can't imagine it will work.
 
T

Trigonometrize.

Member
I predict that in 2018 everyone will be sick of hearing anything and everything being called fake news and this will end up a waste of time for the GOP.
 
Alebrije

Alebrije

Member
Hey guys ....the idea is that Mexico becomes more like U.S. and not the contrary

But maybe this is the only way we will be the same someday.
 
O

OrangeGrayBlue

Member
RoKKeR said:
Saw this... good luck with that.

Rick Wilson, former GOP strategist:

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/871712205938577409


https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/871713878371160065
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I'm not so sure. I see a lot of sentiment even among left-leaning people that "the media" is perhaps not the enemy, but certainly has biases, hidden agendas, puts truth second to ratings, etc. Expecting this to backfire reminds me of when gaf was surprised that something like 54% of people approve of banning muslims. We (gaf) are not at all reflective of the population at large here. There's pretty strong anti-media sentiment from a lot of different corners of the country.
 
Z

Zolo

Member
Htown said:
I'm sorry, is this supposed to be something new?
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Yeah. It's not like they haven't talked crap about the media for a while. Even Fox News trying to slander mainstream news as if it's not part of that.

I see a lot of sentiment even among left-leaning people that "the media" is perhaps not the enemy, but certainly has biases, hidden agendas, puts truth second to ratings, etc.
Click to expand...
This is true at least for TV networks. Just use different outlets and try to look at the source when possible.
 
S

Shoeless

Member
There's something genuinely worrying about the fact that a political party needs an enemy to whip up its voters against and, in the absence of one, makes one up and paints the bullseye on them.

This seems to be the exact opposite of future-proof, though, and it seems like it guarantees a shrinking voterbase for future generations.
 
S

Socreges

Banned
Ogodei said:
It's possibly a play to energize the base, who would otherwise be depressed at Trump and congress' constant fuckups. A stabilizing action in what they know will be a bad year at best. But yeah, it's not going to reach a soul who isn't in the tank for them already.
Click to expand...
It could still undermine perception of the media for people who aren't "in the tank for the GOP" but do lack critical thinking. Plus it could subtly encourage certain media outlets to be kinder to Republicans.

There are many, many people susceptible to this kind of media portrayal.
 
N

nintendoman58

Member
So, basically double down on what they and Trump are doing already.

"BUT HER EMAILS" is one thing, but is "FAKE NEWS" really that effective in comparison?

I mean, with the former it's all on one person. With this they're basically just lashing out on everybody they don't like.
 
E

EatinOlives

Member
Shoeless said:
There's something genuinely worrying about the fact that a political party needs an enemy to whip up its voters against and, in the absence of one, makes one up and paints the bullseye on them.

This seems to be the exact opposite of future-proof, though, and it seems like it guarantees a shrinking voterbase for future generations.
Click to expand...

It's a party that exists and thrives on hatred. Strong feelings get people into polls, so you need to constantly paint something or someone as "the enemy".

This is why conservative media is constantly taking the most hateful, cynical approaches. If they cultivate hatred they get people out to vote.

This is unlikely to work, though. The media's not running for president, a Democrat will.
 
Z

Zubz

Banned
This is terrifying, & only further proves to me that the GOP is the greatest threat to Americans' freedom, despite what their base may cry.

Thankfully, this will likely backfire, but part of me is concerned it won't...
 
T

theWB27

Member
That's the gop in a nutshell. No, they aren't going to run on policy, they're going to run on scare tactics.

Just stupid.
 
L

Laevateinn

Member
EatinOlives said:
It's a party that exists and thrives on hatred. Strong feelings get people into polls, so you need to constantly paint something or someone as "the enemy".

This is why conservative media is constantly taking the most hateful, cynical approaches. If they cultivate hatred they get people out to vote.

This is unlikely to work, though. The media's not running for president, a Democrat will.
Click to expand...

They cultivate plenty of hate from me.
 
K

KernelPanic

Member
Htown said:
I'm sorry, is this supposed to be something new?
Click to expand...

I got the impression that it was a strategy largely employed by Trump. Now everyone is getting onboard officially.

I mean a reporter got body slammed and Gianforte got more votes and more money. So they think they're on to something.
 
Raven117

Raven117

Member
OrangeGrayBlue said:
I'm not so sure. I see a lot of sentiment even among left-leaning people that "the media" is perhaps not the enemy, but certainly has biases, hidden agendas, puts truth second to ratings, etc. Expecting this to backfire reminds me of when gaf was surprised that something like 54% of people approve of banning muslims. We (gaf) are not at all reflective of the population at large here. There's pretty strong anti-media sentiment from a lot of different corners of the country.
Click to expand...

This. While I certainly decry this sort of tactic...journalism did leave itself vulnerable in this situation (and injected with steroids by social media).

I blame more of the 24 hour news cycle and social media more than the journalists themselves as we are at information overload.

I can't point to one single publication that I can 100% believe every word it says is the most accurate representation of the truth.
 
S

Skatterd

Member
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth.

etc. etc. to infinity
 
S

Shoeless

Member
The problem with this tactic is that unless white people start having way more babies, or they start opening the doors of immigration to places like the UK, this pretty much guarantees that you marginalize your voters into just hateful white people.

On a long enough scale of time, this population is going to keep shrinking, and promoting hate, ignorance and racism is going to drive away everyone else. At some point, it's not going to take much--even with apathetic voters--for the Republicans to simply have too small a voting population to matter much. What's the point of having a few million rabidly loyal, racist, straight, white Christian voters when there are hundreds of millions who aren't? They can't win the numbers game in the long run with this strategy.
 
K

KernelPanic

Member
People want validation from media not information. If you believe in Pizzagate and chemtrails you don't want to open your morning paper and see that's it's fake and you were a dumbass for believing it.

Social media is the worst invention of our time. Now you can comfortably sit in your bubble on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and surrounded yourself with people that believe in whatever BS you do. No one needs to have their beliefs challenged, no one needs to be informed when you can be validated and feel good about yourself instead. So the media is the enemy because they make you feel bad that maybe you are wrong.
 
RPGCrazied

RPGCrazied

Member
Of course they would, specially after that guy in Montana assaulted a reporter and still won the seat. They think it works now with how their President is talking about the media.
 
B

Brawly Likes to Brawl

Member
Shoeless said:
The problem with this tactic is that unless white people start having way more babies, or they start opening the doors of immigration to places like the UK, this pretty much guarantees that you marginalize your voters into just hateful white people.

On a long enough scale of time, this population is going to keep shrinking, and promoting hate, ignorance and racism is going to drive away everyone else. At some point, it's not going to take much--even with apathetic voters--for the Republicans to simply have too small a voting population to matter much. What's the point of having a few million rabidly loyal, racist, straight, white Christian voters when there are hundreds of millions who aren't? They can't win the numbers game in the long run with this strategy.
Click to expand...

Why do you think they've been pushing gerrymandering and Voter IDs for so long. They realized that demographics are steadily reaching a point where they need bullshit to survive. The only popular vote they've won since I was born was under the circumstances of a dual-wartime incumbent.
 
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