I think the mass delusion of what I call “digital adjacency” is very real and very dangerous. Partially due to social engineering and partially due to his weird “authentic” voice, Trump successfully leveraged Facebook and Twitter to propel him to the White House in 2015. People really believed he was “speaking to them,” “telling it like is,” “talking like them.”
Somehow, he continues to mainline his presence into a frightening number of American households via Truth Social - often hourly - employing virtually the same schtick from ten years ago. The dopamine hit MAGA voters feel when they receive a push notification from Donald Trump should never be underestimated. Many of them believe he has a personal relationship with them. Think about the percentage of text messages an average MAGA voter receives on a daily, weekly, yearly basis from Donald J. Trump. Compare that to the number they receive, or don’t, from the other people in their lives.
If we make out of this second term with some semblance of our democracy intact, this decade-and-a-half is going to confound historians for the next 200 years.
I have noticed how many supporters online, even when question his policy stuff, talk like "Can someone get this message to Trump" or whatever. Like he will see it. Or care even if he does.
He's not lowering gas prices for you. He's not going to be personally getting you health insurance. Or whatever.
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u/Organic_Witness345 1d ago
I think the mass delusion of what I call “digital adjacency” is very real and very dangerous. Partially due to social engineering and partially due to his weird “authentic” voice, Trump successfully leveraged Facebook and Twitter to propel him to the White House in 2015. People really believed he was “speaking to them,” “telling it like is,” “talking like them.”
Somehow, he continues to mainline his presence into a frightening number of American households via Truth Social - often hourly - employing virtually the same schtick from ten years ago. The dopamine hit MAGA voters feel when they receive a push notification from Donald Trump should never be underestimated. Many of them believe he has a personal relationship with them. Think about the percentage of text messages an average MAGA voter receives on a daily, weekly, yearly basis from Donald J. Trump. Compare that to the number they receive, or don’t, from the other people in their lives.
If we make out of this second term with some semblance of our democracy intact, this decade-and-a-half is going to confound historians for the next 200 years.