I'm not a fan of "bothsides" journalism, but there is a common criticism of the Right and Left that makes sense. By the "Left" I mean those who stand outside the Democratic Party from the left and fling shit at it for not adopting their preferred policies, even if those policies are ineffectual and political suicide. By the "Right" I basically mean the Republican Party, which can't really be said to have a moderate wing outside of a few East Coast governors.
Both groups are victims of epistemological closure. That is to say they speak to themselves and only themselves. Rose Twitter and Fox News creates an echo chamber that drowns out evidence and reason. On Rose Twitter, it's Rose McGowan saying the Democratic party - the party of Social Security, the minimum wage, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, the Violence Against Women Act, the Lily Ledbetter Act and countless other bills - has never done anything for the poor, women or people of color. Yeah. OK.
A few cranks on the Left are no match for the vast apparatus of Fox and OANN on the Right. Trump astoundingly still gets roughly 39-44% job approval ratings. This is an inconceivable number based on real world evidence. But 35% of Americans don't live in a world of real world evidence. They live in a world where America's Covid-19 response is a good one. They live in a world where Trump has made America more respected in the world. They live in a world where Trump is looking out for them. They live in a world where Trump is "draining the swamp." All of these things are demonstrably false, but they simply can't penetrate the bone-deep and willful ignorance of his supporters.
This recently manifested itself in Trump's (and not so coincidentally, Rose Twitter's) decision to paint Joe Biden as suffering from dementia. In these closed bubbles, Biden's speech impediment is signs of cognitive decline. So, when Biden comes out and delivers a knock-out speech they are left having to retreat further into their cognitive bubble.
Representative government is both terrible and better than any other form of government. It relies on the application of reason to solve problems for the common good. One party has lost all touch with reality.
Hopefully, November brings them a massive reality check.
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