Throughout the first two years of Trump's so-called presidency, media and print outlets (including CNN and the New York Times) focused attention on interviewing focus groups and voter panels of "Trump voters" as if they should have been put on a pedestal.
Many of these panels disintegrated into conspiracy theories ie: like the one about "Charlottesville being a false flag operation."
"From whom?"
Key said, "I think people who want to derail our president. There were buses coming in with lots of young people -- protesters coming off the same bus with some wearing Black Lives Matter and some wearing KKK shirts. They were brought in to cause a controversy."
Camerota, "Where are you getting your evidence?"
Key, "A lot of it on Facebook."
"You saw something on Facebook."
Another Trump agreed and said, "Yes." He discussed an Antifa ad on Craigslist.
Camerota, "And you trust Facebook more than news organizations?
"Oh, yes, live video from people who shot it, that were present, yes."
Camerota, " You trust your Facebook feed even though you don't know the origin --
"They are our friends."
Later in the program CNN found the Facebook video they were touting "as proof of a conspiracy" and he was a guy in a car telling Facebook that he heard about a bus -- yada, yada.
The cable news networks helped elevate uninformed conspiracy nuts throughout Trump's entire presidency.
The NY Times also interviewed Tea Party panels when they were formed during President Obama's first term in 2009 and helped them as well.
These same media outlets ignored Hillary Clinton voters entirely, even though the former Secretary of State actually won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.
Democratic voters are repeatedly treated as insignificant, as if they're "stories" aren't "American."
Why are Trump voters more special than the rest of Americans? They aren't, but they are Republicans and get exalted by the media time and time again.
This type of kowtowing to a subset of voters is dangerous for our democracy. Treating one side as more legitimate because more "interesting" has allowed wingnut propaganda and conspiracies to explode... with the help of the outgoing so-called president, Fox News, and Trump's flying monkeys.
What's next? CNN holds a QAnon voter panel?
President-elect Joe Biden right now has eclipsed the vote totals of a challenger against a sitting president by beating Ronald Reagan's mark from 1980.
Biden already has almost five million more votes than Trump nationally and that lead will only expand as all the votes are counted.
My question is will they take time to obsessively interview Joe Biden voters?
Will Joe Biden voters be treated with the same respect by the media as people believing insane Facebook conspiracy theories?
