SANTA MONICA, Calif. On June 16, 2015, Donald J. Trump rode the escalator down to the waiting crowds. The man was going to make the first of many speeches on his way to and from the White House.
Trump established an important theme that day. A theme that he carried throughout his campaign and the four years in office.
Trump told his followers to believe him. Throughout his time on the scene, Trump repeatedly said, “Believe me.” He called other politicians, “cheats,” and “liars.”
For Trump, everyone else lied and cheated, while Trump told the truth.
In the defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News Networks, Dominion alleges that Fox News perpetrated lies against the American public when famous journalists such as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Lou Cobbs, and Maria Bartiromo told millions of viewers that election fraud by Dominion Voting Systems caused then President Trump to lose the 2020 Election to Joe Biden.
In a deposition, Fox News owner, Rupert Murdoch admitted that some of his anchors engaged in the endorsement of false election claims, The Associated Press reports. Murdoch seemingly knew that reporting by his television anchors was untrue. As the owner of the company, Murdoch could have told this executives to stop allowing anchors and some guests from spreading the lies, but he said, “I could have, but I didn’t.”
The reporters and journalists knew what they were spreading lies. It seems like they didn’t want to lose their audience or lose money.
Here is a tweet, Lou Cobbs made via twitter:
After this information was falsely spread by Fox via their television network, Fox spread the information across their digital platforms, Facebook, and twitter. Essentially, Trump supporters were living in a mediated cocoon of disinformation that possibly galvanized some disgruntled Americans to take up arms against their government.
