Max Boot was/is a neoconservative writer and, I guess, intellectual. Today, he's one of those former Bush acolytes like Bill Kristol who have swung hard into the anti-Trump orbit. His family's personal history in Russia is no doubt part of his calculus.
Anyway, he penned an authoritative takedown of Nunes' memo. What he gets at the heart of is the "epistemic closure" on the Right. Sure, it happens on the Left. A lot of the Left believes that America wants socialism, because everyone who comments on their blog wants socialism. But the Left - especially more centrist Liberals - have always been open to evidence. What Boot is pointing out (without really pointing it out) is how the Right has its own information ecosystem. This is similar to the Chait piece I referenced yesterday. It proceeds from the conclusion and then proceeds to marshall evidence to support that conclusion.
On Fox News - with the noble exception of poor, beleaguered Shep Smith - the Nunes memo is the smoking gun that proves that the FBI is a Democratic leaning organization trying to take out Dear Leader. For anyone outside that closed loop, the Nunes memo is all assertions without evidence.
What Boot points out is that it simply doesn't matter that the memo is a joke, because within the Fox-O-Sphere there is no need for it make sense or be credible or show logical consistency. All it needs to do is conform to the preconceived notions of Fox Nation.
I believe, strongly, that the Republican Party needs to get wiped out in the next two elections. It needs to purge itself of what Charlie Pierce calls the prion disease at the heart of its politics. America needs a sober, responsible center-right party. Right now, we have a bunch of raving, conspiracy addle lunatics who think the FBI is an extension of the Democratic Party.
If Democrats ride successive waves to power, it might not make enough of a difference if the Right Wing Information Loop isn't punctured.
Fox News is poisoning this country.
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