'Poor information ecosystem': How QAnon-style 'disinformation' made Trump victorious

26 December 2024

President-elect Donald Trump and his MAGA allies repeatedly accuse mainstream media outlets of spreading "fake news" — which, Trump critics argue, is projection in light of all the conspiracy theories that MAGA Republicans promote.

In an article published the day after Christmas, Salon's Amanda Marcotte stresses that "disinformation" and a "poor information ecosystem" played a key role in Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

"In the face of Vice President Kamala Harris losing the presidential election to Donald Trump," Marcotte writes, "the punditry's focus has been almost exclusively on asking how the Democrats couldn't beat a relentless liar with 34 felony convictions and a previous attempted coup under his belt. Everyone has a different theory about Harris' 'messaging,' with every critic inevitably arguing that if she had just talked more about their pet issue, she would have won."

Marcotte continues, "Another option, however, is to listen to what swing voters who backed Trump said about their decision."

Many U.S. voters, Marcotte laments, are "addicted to BS." And she cites research from conservative strategist Sarah Longwell, a Never Trumper who recently interviewed 2024 Trump voters who listen to Joe Rogan's podcast.

"Rogan's audience perfectly illustrates the way the firehose of disinformation online — his conspiracy theory-hyping podcast has over 16 million followers — has pickled the brains of so many otherwise normal people," Marcotte explains. "Most of the people Longwell interviewed couldn't go two minutes without coughing up a conspiracy theory. Everything is a shadowy plot, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the guy who shot Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania."

Marcotte points to the far-right QAnon as an example of how outlandish conspiracy theories can be.

"After the insurrection of January 6," Marcotte observes, "a lot of attention was paid to the rise of QAnon, because so many rioters were adherents to this online cult that preached that Trump is a savior prophesized to stop a worldwide Satanic conspiracy. Alarming reports showed millions of Americans believed QAnon myths, such as the divinity of Trump or that Democrats drink children's blood."

Marcotte continues, "QAnon is still around, but it gets much less media coverage these days. One likely reason is what we see in these focus groups: bonkerballs levels of conspiracy belief is no longer a fringe phenomenon. QAnon-style beliefs are simply the norm in American society…. One of the best predictors, if not the best predictor, of a Trump vote is how poor a person's information ecosystem is. People who read or watch real news outlets voted overwhelmingly for Harris. People who get their political information from social media voted for Trump."

Amanda Marcotte's full article for Salon is available at this link.

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