an excerpt:
A powerful person says something shocking — a far-right politician launches a nativist talking point, or a billionaire speaks of a threat of financial doom if demands aren’t met. A more reasonable voice reacts, frequently asking to please remove the racism, but conceding an underlying but unprovable point that should never have been conceded. The story is framed as reaction to the initial statement, no matter how ludicrous or even impossible that initial statement is.
The reality, in this situation, is and has never been a consideration. This is how you build a world of kayfabe, and you have to turn off parts of your brain to enter it.
ben collins is one of the few modern journalists who actually understands what the fuck is going on, imho
This is a good article except that for his conclusion he props up folks like Rachel Maddow and himself who are playing the same damned game. "Winning trust back" as a matter of repackaging the liberal capitalist consensus instead of questioning it in any way. The problem as presented here is not the storylines, really, it's that the storylines have shifted so far to the right no one can believe them or take them seriously, with the prescribed answer being to revise the storylines again...
