Trump has been silenced for the first time in four years, and maybe in his life.
The result is a stunning plunge in misinformation being shared all across the spectrum of social media.
In my political writing last year, and certainly this one, I feel like a kid in my grandmother’s candy store: there are good stories everywhere; they fall out of the sky like hail in a winter storm.
As many people already know, journalists like me are basically vampires and ghouls; they feed off misery, suffering, scandal, and death. I’m gorging myself.
The ghouls live in me now and always, and Donald Trump is a joy and wonder to ghouls. He’s both vicious and self-destructive; he’s almost the perfect villain.
I saw a story in the Washington Post today that may be the most important story I’ve read in a long time. It’s implications for America, and truth and honor and democracy are truly staggering.
The Post reported in its Sunday edition that online misinformation about election fraud plunged 73 percent after several of the country’s biggest social media sites suspended President Trump and many of his fellow liars and key allies, the research firm Zignal Labs has found.
This shocking data underscored the power of tech companies like Twitter and Facebook to finally take responsibility for the falsehoods and conspiracy theories poisoning public debate and rotting our democracy when they act aggressively.
That is profoundly hopeful news.
The San Francisco-based analytics firm’s new research reported that conversations about election fraud dropped from 2.5 million mentions to 688,000 mentions across the social media spectrum in the week after Trump was banned from Twitter.
That sound you hear is a new kind of silent cheer for democracy.
It is also the sound of a country seeking to reclaim its soul. Donald Trump had 88 million followers on Twitter, many of them hanging on and sharing his every tweet. In media terms, it was a daily fire tornado.
There might be some time for the fires to go out.
When false information plunges, then the truth has a fighting chance. Most mainstream media is still fact-based for all of its imperfections, while conservative digital media is largely grievance based.
Without a fresh supply of grievance, outrage fades, and lies melt away.
Fox News is very white and very Christian, and its audience is ancient. They are not the future. As such, they are given much more attention than they really deserve, as is (was?) Trump himself.
Facebook and Twitter are complicit in what Trump has done to spew lies and mistrust all through our country. And they made a ton of money from it.
They took their time; it took an armed insurrection to get them off their butts.
The staggering stats show that truth does live and can fight back.
The new findings reinforce what we all knew – lies and falsehoods flow all across social media and reinforce and amplify one another. Strong action to defend truth and facts can make a huge difference.
Twitter has also banned more than 70,000 accounts affiliated with the baseless QAnon ideology, which is considered central to inciting the Capitol Siege on January 6.
We are learning, I think, that democracies can’t simply leave it to the Gods to protect itself; sometimes, they need to wake up and fight and take action. That has happened.
Zignal found that the use of hashtags affiliated with #Capitolriot dropped dramatically. Mentions of the hashtag #Fightfor Trump, which was widely deployed across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media services in the week before the rally, dropped 95 percent.
The hashtag #HoldTheLine and the term “MarchforTrump” fell more than 95 percent.
That tells us that this was not really a national insurrection against the government, but a small but intense collection of extremist groups speaking to one another online and leaning heavily on the President’s own provocations and sedition.
He was the spark that set the fire. There is no one remotely like him out there in the wild.
We clearly see how social media played perhaps the most significant role in sparking the capital’s attack.
We learn that there is no shortage of dumb and weak-minded people in America, looking for someone – anyone – to affirm their grievances. The Republic is shaken but not nearly broken.
Since the capitol attack, Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped at a record rate.
Capitols across the country were mostly quiet and remained heavily guarded despite promises from white nationalist groups that they would mount vigorous and possibly violent protests.
Groups called themselves the “Boogaloo Boys” rallied at several state capitols, but armed but quite subdued, even talking about the need for civil dialogue.
America is the great tamer of radicals. There is no money in storming capitols and waving racist signs. The next time you see the Proud Boys, they’ll be on TV singing Kumbaya with Oprah.
It is important to remember roughly 4 million military and police in America. The Proud Boys are not going to topple them or fight them. They just bungled getting enough of them to the capitol in time.
There was no coordinated assault on our 50 state capitols Sunday or anything close to it.
The Republican Party continued to move more and more towards becoming an extremist national fringe party. They won’t topple the government either; there is some evidence the Republicans in the Senate might vote to impeach the President.
This is the revenge of the Elders; they don’t wish to be bullied and tormented by Donald Trump for four more years. Impeachment may be the best shot at killing the King. It reminds me a bit of the battle for Georgia.
The real Republicans are starting to fight back.
Most Republicans in Congress still won’t acknowledge that the presidential election was legitimate and was not “stolen.”
For all the protests and condemnation, the bulk of elected Republicans continue to follow President Trump’s lead in refusing to acknowledge that Biden’s win was legitimate and fair. They are truly trapped between a rock and a tough place – Trump and his legions of extremists and fanatics.
I believe that is a profound mistake that will haunt them for years and years. They are making the same mistake Trump himself made all through the 2020 election – white nationalist Christians and extremist conspiracy theorists are not numerous enough to win any important state or national election.
The party condemns itself to either struggle on the fringes or force the emergence of a third party of Conservatives and Republican moderates to weaken them further. Be careful what you wish for.
The fractured GOP seems trapped in a spiral they willingly created but can no longer control. The number one rule of politics: be in control.
A party that lies to its people is doomed in the short and long run. Just ask the Democrats about their trade deal promises.
More interesting news as the country struggles to get its soul back. Two-thirds of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s handling of the transition but are not sure he will run the country well or be a strong leader.
The polls are mixed but promising for Biden. So far, everything he has done has met with broad approval, and since he hasn’t governed yet, polls about the specific handling of issues don’t mean much.
As the complete anti-Trump, he’s in a strong position. If things get better, the country’s tenor could change quickly, especially as the disinformation messages wind down.
It turns out that cutting Donald Trump off from his umbilical cord, his Twitter account, maybe the most significant event in his presidency right now and over the next few months.
The government is clearly in control; a field mouse couldn’t get near the capitol right now or next week. The insurrection failed; the leader in a big white prison called the White House, his gilded Elba, awaits in the hot Florid Sun. Lucky New York, his nasty sons, are moving there with him.
The Republic stands.
Trump has ordered his final and pathetic act, a military celebration for him on the inauguration morning when decent ex- Presidents make themselves scarce.
He will finally get his parade. But nobody will be there to see it.
Jon, how is it allowed for protesters to have a parade today in Washington, masked and carrying assault rifles? I don’t understand why this is allowed. Can you explain why?
One good thing has happened, lately, the NRA has declared bankruptcy due to the greediness of it’s brass…I believe it is.
Yippie, skippy! Trump has been denied his big military send off! He will board Air Force One for the last time completely alone and gee, who cares? That will be the final straw that breaks the wanna be dictator’s back.
And remember, once Biden is sworn in that is no longer Air Force One. Just a free ride at our expense to take him away (ha ha).
Can you respond to how large corporations announced an end of financial “donations” to GOP?. Have those corps not been listening to the president’s rants, lies, conspiracies? Would like to hear what you have to say to or about these blood sucking parasites.
Did the leaders in the legislature lose all sense of governance? Overlooking a “little lie” for the sake of favor is cowardice in the highest level.
Jon..I am very troubled by the silencing of free speech. As a former reporter, aren’t you too? If they can do it to them, they will do it to us, depending on whose side they are on. There has to be a way to allow, yet disavow and refute. My phone tells me “possible spam”. Can’t the website say “proven lie” or somesuch??
As I look around, I see free speech all over the place. It’s very simple to start a blog, open a website, form a community…I think it’s a false political issue sparked by angry liberals or conservatives…I decide who goes on my blig, Facebook and Twitter decide who goes on theirs. if people don’t like it, go start your own blog, there are nearly 40 million of them..doesn’t sound like censorship to me..People are responsible for their rods, if they lie, promote violence or trade in conspiracy theories, they should expect to be challenged..
Jon…
The trend is becoming clear. Trump’s followers are feeling like they ate too much of something tasty but not good for them: stopping is difficult in the moment; and then too late, good sense returns.
• As it dawns on his followers that Trump’s constitutional powers are gone, they will exit stage right like the film’s Von Trapp family. His hate groups will return to the darkness from where they emerged.
• The January 17 rallies are fizzling nationwide.
• The D.C. Guard will quash any Inauguration Day resistance.
• Event precautions are being taken. We won’t be blindsided again.
• As you mention, the megaphone is becoming silenced. Social media has shut him down and his Fox ratings are falling. Now we can see where the noise originated from.
• Trump’s plunging poll numbers speak for themselves.
• Donating organizations are rethinking their contributions.
• An impeachment trial is pending to determine whether Trump will ever be allowed to run for federal office.
• The insurrectionists are beginning to realize their punishments might be more severe than they had imagined.
• Would-be insurrectionists are seeing this also.
Hearings are pending. Perhaps we’ll identify the originators, the abetters, and the enablers. Several possibilities arise as to Trump’s role:
1. Adhering to his vindictive character, Trump orchestrated this himself.
2. Trump wanted a show of force, but embedded elements hijacked his protest into an insurrection.
3. Through Trump, foreign adversaries played a part in the event’s planning and direction.
Trump’s train has left the station. It is gone.
I look forward to not seeing *his* name in the news or in your blog. I know that day is coming.
Over the last four years, the law makers of the USA became the law breakers and unfortunately, some of them are still in this tragic spiral. The social media, Trump’s life-line to ferment his lies, not only raked in massive profits, they demonised “free speech”. As long as their bank accounts were moving north, they willingly accepted hate speech, lies and misinformation as a First Amendment right. The claim by Trump and his enablers about election fraud was cemented because social media knowingly turned a blind eye. Their conversion to do good by closing accounts is too late. Can they be brought to justice for their role? Security of the people and the country have been compromised in the name of free speech and free press. Hope legislators will address this to make social media a safer platform for communication.
On another note, thankfully the government is still in control. However, unless all those who willingly abetted and participated in the insurrection, from the President down, are held responsible for their actions and brought to justice, reconciliation and moving forward will be a grotesque mockery or travesty of justice. A serious radicalization has happened inside the US and it is a harder challenge to eradicate.
I guess we are just going to keep this mess going…..
Hope so, you can always go to Russia, Sally, Trump’s favorite dictator rules there and you might be more comfortable.