The problem isn't disinformation, misinformation, or lack of information. It's toxic loyalties.
The problem isn't that Fox news spews lies and propaganda to the millions who tune into it, the problem is that millions tune into Fox news because of the lies and propaganda that it spews. In an era where the internet is ubiquitous, where cable TV and/or streaming content services are widely available, and where Radio broadcast services that allow listeners to choose between dozens of content channels proliferate, "the full story" is easier to access now than it ever was before. The problem isn't that, because of a bewildering proliferation of information sources, people have a hard time differentiating truth from deception. People can be forgiven for confusion over which "facts" are true and which aren't, if in fact they are sincerely interested in sorting truth from fiction but, in truth, millions have no interest in making that effort. For a man who goes to a diner each night craving a bowl of pasta, it doesn't matter what healthier alternatives might also be on the menu, pasta is what he will consume. As the saying goes, none are so blind as those who refuse to see.
Democrats and progressives in general are mistaken to rely on a strategy that counters lies with truths to reach those who politically adamantly oppose them, even if support for Democratic governance would seem, objectively, to be in their self interest. You might as well ask a Red Sox fan to wave a Yankee pendant in Fenway Park. For many millions of Americans, identity is defined by loyalty to "their side", in a world which they perceive is made up of competing teams.
So what can progressives do to break through to those who seem to live "to root against" them?. The answer, I believe, is something the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress are already pursuing; that is to hit them where they live. If there is one single factor most likely to make a Yankee fan into an ex-Yankee fan, it has nothing to do with the line-up that team may field from one year to the next. While that might be marginally relevant to some, and even a source for sustained grumbling within the fan base, it doesn't hold a candle to literally moving the ground that they stand on. The surest way to turn a Yankee fan into a Mariners fan is a job transfer from New York to Seattle.
I don't suggest the forced migration of millions in order to turn red states blue, but I do advocate fundamentally changing hard realities on the ground, and nothing is more fundamental to most Americans than a sense of, or lack of, basic economic security. It colors how we all perceive our world. Rhetoric, originating from any point on the political spectrum, carries the substance of a cheer leader driven pep rally, it does little if anything to alter anyone's team loyalties, it just ratchets up passions. The same holds for political buzz words, each side maintains a handy check list of them which function as the political equivalent of team colors. They get chanted every year as reliably as the coming of spring training. But seldom does actual action taken by a President, done with the highly partisan support of one side only in Congress, fundamentally alter day to day reality in the lives of millions of families. That is what changes loyalties. That is what shifts political identities as powerfully as a sports fans relocation thousands of miles away from their former "home team" can alter the sports jersey they henceforth wear in public.
The Covid rescue bill, and all that is contained within it, has the power to remold political loyalties for millions of Americans who are about to have an impossible fiscal burden lifted off their backs. Being able to adequately provide for ones children is as primal a drive as exists in this or likely any other worl. Fox news can't spin that reality away for those who are about to experience it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
in regards to pasta on those diner menus 
... because Faux presents its conservative spin on every story along with the story. The Faux viewers are never given a chance to weigh the facts and decide for themselves, because it has already been done for them. Therefore when a regular Faux viewer should happen to catch a non-spin story on a different channel, s/he becomes confused and basically tunes it all out. This is exactly the reaction that the Faux editors and producers want to create - "We'll do your thinking so you don't have to."
