Watch this first:
Nonlinear warfare won Russia Crimea, it got us Brexit, and it got us Trump. The strategy is simple: Confuse, divide, obfuscate, and make it impossible to tell what’s true and who’s trustworthy. Fund both sides of a conflict, then say you’re doing it, so nobody knows who to trust. Pit one side against the other. Flood social media with inflammatory lies, and then spread those lies to print and video media, and vice versa. Take people who should be working together and split them into bitter, angry factions, unable to find a real target to lash out at, and unable to organize.
This is happening with the 2020 primary. The Klobuchar “combgate” bullshit is a symptom. Bernie’s rollout and the ensuing head-eating between the Berners and the burned-out — that’s being manipulated and exacerbated. Elizabeth Warren and the Pocahontas saga.
Fuck all of it.
The only way we’re going to win in 2020 is together. Conversations about our candidates need to start with “oh, he/she is a GREAT candidate, and would make a fantastic president.” Disagreements have to be policy-based and rational. Personal attacks, infighting, bullshit news stories about eating salad with a comb — all of it can be amped up, manipulated, confused, and obfuscated for the purpose of keeping us divided and weak, and then Trump will just soar to victory.
My candidate is GREAT. Your candidate is GREAT. Keep the argument there. Ignore the rest. 80% of it is bullshit.
And by no means should you give up and say “oh dear.”