The Big Lie: One of the Most Successful Propaganda Operations in US History

[Nevilledog]

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Ruth Ben-Ghiat
@ruthbenghiat
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My latest Lucid essay on the Big Lie. One of the most successful propaganda operations in US history, it enables corruption, idol worship, violence, and more. https://lucid.substack.com/p/the-big-lie-one-of-the-most-successful…

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)
@HC_Richardson
The Big Lie is "a dangerous cancer on the body politic." Leaves us with nothing but violence to settle elections. #HATH
11:52 AM · Jun 21, 2022

https://lucid.substack.com/p/the-big-lie-one-of-the-most-successful


"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," wrote George Orwell in his dystopian novel 1984.

This quote came to mind when I read that the Texas GOP wrote the Big Lie into its party platform by approving a measure at its June convention that claims President Joe Biden "was not legitimately elected."

The lie about the Democrats stealing the 2020 election from Donald Trump has become a pillar of the GOP as it transforms before our eyes into an extremist entity. Any politician who wishes to get ahead in the party must espouse this falsehood and pose as a guardian of "election integrity" against imagined Democratic trickery.

This is why the supremely opportunistic Governor Ron DeSantis, who declared proudly in November 2020 that Florida had no electoral fraud, now has an Office of Election Crimes and Security. And it's why hundreds of election deniers have run for GOP offices, including for secretary of state, with over 100 of them winning recent primaries around the country.

The Big Lie is one of the most successful propaganda operations in U.S. history. In 2022, as in 2021, polls show that about 70% of Republicans see Trump as the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. So it's worth reviewing its origins and how it interacts with corruption and other authoritarian tools.

*snip*

[global1]

1. In Actuality The Big Lie & The Stealing Of The Election Was.....

being perpetrated from the other side - from the Tr**p side. They purposely muddied the waters to make it seem like they were being wronged when all the time they were the ones trying to steal the election.

[maxsolomon]

2. It's ludicrous, and it was disseminated by clowns.

But the believers had already been groomed by QAnon and RW Radio to believe absurdities.