Columnist warns pro-Trump 'conspiracy theories' affecting swing state voters 'sympathetic' to Democrats

Opinion columnist for The New York Times Charles M. Blow told MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart on Thursday's edition of The ReidOut that he is concerned about the far-reaching impact of right-wing media outlets' defense of former President Donald Trump.

Blow began with two questions that he believes viewers should ask when confronted with pro-Trump narratives.

"One, do I believe what I'm hearing about him? And number two, even if I believe it, how much weight do I give to that?" Blow said. "And because there is no one, you know, opposing him who is giving weight to the charges, his entire machine, including Fox News, it kind of minimizes it and paints him as a martyr, and paints him as a victim."

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Blow continued, "And, you know, it just makes me very nervous. Because, you know, I'm here in Georgia, in a swing state, and every time I hear people who would, who I know would otherwise be sympathetic to the Democratic candidate or to Joe Biden, probably voted for him in the last election, repeating to me things that I know are part of conspiracy theories, a part of kind of an agenda of information that I know is coming from the right."

Blow also noted that even people who do not normally follow political developments "all the time" are absorbing and regurgitating what they hear on conservative news.

"I'm always wondering, 'How, how did that get to you? Number one, and how do we undo this?'" Blow retortded. "Whoever has the job of undoing it, and it's not, it doesn't seem to me like it would be an easy thing to undo because these are not necessarily people who are engaged with media all the time. They're really busy living their lives. They don't turn on MSNBC every day. They don't read The New York Times every day. They just get little bits of things that trickle down to them. And someone has to start standing up and saying, 'You know, this is a problem and it's coming from me and I am the opposition.'"

Watch the segment below or at this link.

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