How do you attempt to rationalise with the completely irrational?

[rogue06]

Possibly for the same reason that, IIRC, nearly 40% of those on the left still believe that the Collusion Delusion happened. IOW, they want to believe it and troublesome things like facts, evidence and truth are impediments to be ignored.

Exhibit A

[whag]

I just find it curious that liberals are apparently able to hear these "dog whistles" while nobody else can.

I find it curious that you don't understand the phenomenon since both parties do it.

[whag]

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

https://www.vox.com/2015/12/10/98862...ies-right-wing

[seanD]

Yes, but remember that Trump promulgated birtherism among his base. Hillary used it as a desperate attempt to undo Obama, and Trump recognized the people in his base would eat it up even moreso.

Okay so moving on, here's the "deep state" conspiracy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_s..._United_States



And here's Trump promulgating the conspiracy with a dog whistle:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video...f86_video.html

Care to guess how many times Trump tweeted about the "deep state," which we can all apparently agree is a conspiracy theory?

"Deep state" means different things to different people. Rogue forces in the intelligence community lying, manipulating and fabricating info is a well documented fact, and is not just a recent fact, there's a whole history.

[rogue06]

Conspiracy theories are comforting because they provide a neat explanation when things are spiraling out of control. And they're rhetorically difficult to dismiss out of hand because real conspiracies *have* occurred. (Some are easy to dismiss out of hand, like the Wayfair nonsense; that politicians are secret space aliens Lizard People, etc., but I mean categorically).

I always thought that this was a joke but apparently millions believe it

[Mountain Man]

Okay so moving on, here's the "deep state" conspiracy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_s..._United_States?

You know, when I said earlier that "I think there's more garbage than useful information to found on the information superhighway", Wikipedia was one of the sources I had in mind.

[whag]

"Deep state" means different things to different people. Rogue forces in the intelligence community is a well documented fact, and is not just a recent fact, there's a whole history.

Trump knows that his base eats up conspiracy theories like "birtherism" and "covid is a hoax." Therefore, when he says "deep state," he's not referring to the bipartisan belief that rogues exist in the intelligence community but in a CONSPiRACY THEORY. Hence Alex Jones and QAnon. That part of his base believes he is currently undoing a satanic cabal of pedophiles. My mom and sister believe that.

[whag]

You know, when I said earlier that "I think there's more garbage than useful information to found on the information superhighway", Wikipedia was one of the sources I had in mind.

How was I to know that or care given that you believed the Lucy fossil was a hoax?

[Mountain Man]

How was I to know that or care given that you believed the Lucy fossil was a hoax?

There's some context missing here.

[Ronson]

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

https://www.allsides.com/news-source...ews-media-bias

"Vox media bias rating is Left.
Vox has a Left media bias. In Sept. 2018, the AllSides team conducted an extensive editorial review and decided to shift Vox from a Lean Left to a Left media bias rating."

[whag]

There's some context missing here.

You believe evolution is a hoax and called the Lucy fossil suspect. We're talking about conspiracy theories and the tendency to believe in grand-scale hoaxes.

[seanD]

Trump knows that his base eats up conspiracy theories like "birtherism" and "covid is a hoax." Therefore, when he says "deep state," he's not referring to the bipartisan belief that rogues exist in the intelligence community but in a CONSPiRACY THEORY. Hence Alex Jones and QAnon. That part of his base believes he is currently undoing a satanic cabal of pedophiles. My mom and sister believe that.

Your wiki page lists basically two varieties of what "deep state" is. One is intelligence centered, the other seems to be wealthy elites corrupting politics centered. I think both are true. Like I said, intelligence corruption can be demonstrated from history, and I'm sure we all would agree that the political process is corrupt via wealthy donors and lobbyists. Trump is referencing the former when he says "deep state" in light of the FBI revelations during his term.

[whag]

Exhibit C

https://www.allsides.com/news-source...ews-media-bias

"Vox media bias rating is Left.
Vox has a Left media bias. In Sept. 2018, the AllSides team conducted an extensive editorial review and decided to shift Vox from a Lean Left to a Left media bias rating."

Exhibit D

https://www.breitbart.com/tag/deep-state/

[Charles]

I find it curious that you don't understand the phenomenon since both parties do it.

And it is also interesting to note something quite fundamental about the claim he makes:

I just find it curious that liberals are apparently able to hear these "dog whistles" while nobody else can.

The unsupported claim that "nobody else can" is question begging.

[whag]

Your wiki page lists basically two varieties of what "deep state" is. One is intelligence centered, the other seems to be wealthy elites corrupting politics centered. I think both are true. Like I said, intelligence corruption can be demonstrated from history, and I'm sure we all would agree that the political process is corrupt via wealthy donors and lobbyists. Trump is referencing the former when he says "deep state" in light of the FBI revelations during his term.

I linked to him using deep state in the context of COVID.

The FBI and CIA attempted to blackmail MLK with pictures of him in an adulterous affair. There is a difference between that and what Trump is trying to do with his deep state dog whistles.

Also, remember that he asked FBI for loyalty, which is not a good way to start one's presidency.