One Man Destroyed America

[Mr.Bee]

And It Wasn't DarnOld Trump!

It was Rupert Murdoch.
The one man who poisoned the minds of Americans
thirty years ago, and continues to this day.
Australia didn't want him - Britain didn't want him,
but America was all for it, welcoming him in with citizenship!
Now we have a dictator in chief,
Republicans shooting Democrats,
and that's okay!
One man started this filth
and spread it far and wide!

[SilverDawg]

1. He had help

from Rush Limbaugh, who deserves some of the credit!

[Mr.Bee]

2. If you want to go that route

you can go all the way back to Reagan who repealed the Fairness Doctrine, and immediately Rush started broadcasting.
I even worked in a cubicle surrounded by Rush listeners blasting his shitshow. 'Don't like it? Quit.'
But radio and TV are two different things, and TV reaches a whole lot more than radio and internet.
Rupert grew his empire not only with FoxNews, but also on 20th Century Fox Movies, Fox TV broadcasting,
The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, and Dow Jones Newswires, Tubi, a streaming service, Sky.
How about that? He even owns the sky!

[leftstreet]

7. Don't forget Clinton

The Telecommunications Act shrank media ownership to the palms of a few corporations

[GoCubsGo]

4. Throw in the Heritage Foundation and right-wing members of the Supreme Court,

past and present. They made it a hell of a lot easier for the likes of Murdoch and Limbaugh.

[Initech]

5. The Heritage Foundation is a cancer on DC. It must be removed.

[kwolf68]

10. YUP, Rush, Liddy, Mike Savage

I was one of those faithful listeners back in the day.

There was "political commentary" laced into those talk shows, but one thing that sticks with me is I was being told hours upon hours every day that Democrats and Liberals were brainwashed and an enemy to America. I was told Bill Clinton was an actual communist. And "we" must do everything we can to wrestle the power from the left, who want to turn the USA into (irony meter on alert) another version of the Soviet Union.

I recall comments like, "we can't get rid of all Liberals, we should keep a couple in a museum so we don't forget what they are". It was hateful shit.

And I BOUGHT it at the time. But thankfully, I was always very open minded on abortion and gay rights so I wasn't hook line n sinker with it. That allowed me to be critical (on some level) of the shit I was being fed and eventually I realized it was just right wing bullshit propaganda. Took me shit...5, 6 years to finally vote for the Democrats. Even in 2000 I voted third party and not Gore.

It's not easy to get off that fucking reservation let me tell you and I was only like 2% as brainwashed as these fools are today.

[Initech]

3. Actually it was Rush Limbaugh. He planted the seeds.

[ananda]

6. Well, he certainly played his part getting Reagan elected.

But I blame the endemic racism and bigotry that
exists in enough people so that playing the race
card has worked to bring us to this end.

This country was founded on racism and genocide,
and the kind of people it takes to further those
beliefs and tactics are still with us in way too large
numbers.

Thus, the corporate and owning classes (including but
certainly not exclusive Murdoch) have been able to
play the divide and conquer game based simply on the
idea that a white man is always the best person for the
job, always a good businessman, and always right.

That's how Trump can play to his base, even as demented,
criminal, and stupid as he is... he's got the psychopathic
corporate and owning class people behind him, and they've
been able to spend enough money over the years to buy
all three branches of government.

[Mr.Bee]

8. Rush Limbaugh was small potatoes

Rush Limbaugh didn't own multiple television networks.
Rush Limbaugh had no company holdings or newspapers.
Rush Limbaugh died.

Murdoch has a media empire that covers TV, newspaper and internet.
His children operate his empire with his same policies.
and teaches the next generation of our children and grandchildren.
TODAY!

[Mr.Bee]

9. Fomenting political violence

Spreading propaganda, sensationalism, exaggeration, and emotional appeals, often at the expense of factual accuracy.
Distributing false or misleading information to manipulate public opinion.
Using inflammatory language: Employing rhetoric that is designed to incite anger, fear, or hatred.
Mobilizing groups to engage in disruptive or confrontational actions.
Exploiting existing grievances: 'You are the victim even though we are the billionaires'.
Fox Lies constantly, always, billionaire Murdoch hires millionaires to persuade middle class
all their problems are caused by the poor and immigrants.
Fomenting political violence for thirty years.

[GenThePerservering]

11. The seeds of this have always existed in this country nt