Thanks for this!
I remember before the internet and Rush Limbaugh was becoming a thing restaurants that catered to business lunch crowds would broadcast his noontime program over the PA system. They even promoted this with "Lunch with Rush" ads on the stations that carried Limbaugh. I think this faded because in the end they saw this as…
I remember before the internet and Rush Limbaugh was becoming a thing restaurants that catered to business lunch crowds would broadcast his noontime program over the PA system. They even promoted this with "Lunch with Rush" ads on the stations that carried Limbaugh. I think this faded because in the end they saw this as a money loser...kind of like Rush's very brief foray into late night TV. But for a time it was hot.
This was before Newt Gingrich credited Rush for the Republican sweep of 1994.
I bring this up to illustrate your point about incubation. A discreet collection of white men listening to Rush over lunch doesn't have the amplifying effect of current social media platforms.
Yup. Tucker Carlson/Steve Bannon are the new Glenn Beck/Alex Jones who were the new Rush Limbaugh/Lou Dobbs. That's the demagogue progression. The demagogues know that the audience/eggs are there, and if the demagogues provide the right incubation via messaging, they will become powerful beyond their wildest dreams in the form of wealth and influence. The incentives sort themselves out for both sides. The demagogues get rich and powerful and the resentful audience finally finds a *community* of confirmation bias (like-minded individuals). That's the mutual agreement between both parties. GOP politicians capitalize off of these cults because they know these people are motivated voters, so as long as they get some red meat tossed their way via campaign virtue-signaling they will be a high turnout voting block for said politician.
Trump and most MAGA pols/candidates understand this new rule well: virtue-signal on conservative grievances and the incubated cults will turn out in high volumes for you. The demagogues capitalize off of the cults of grievance *they* build for money and influence, and the politicians capitalize off of the cults that the *demagogues* build for votes and donations. That's the GOP Grift Venn Diagram.
Thanks for this!
I remember before the internet and Rush Limbaugh was becoming a thing restaurants that catered to business lunch crowds would broadcast his noontime program over the PA system. They even promoted this with "Lunch with Rush" ads on the stations that carried Limbaugh. I think this faded because in the end they saw this as a money loser...kind of like Rush's very brief foray into late night TV. But for a time it was hot.
This was before Newt Gingrich credited Rush for the Republican sweep of 1994.
I bring this up to illustrate your point about incubation. A discreet collection of white men listening to Rush over lunch doesn't have the amplifying effect of current social media platforms.
Yup. Tucker Carlson/Steve Bannon are the new Glenn Beck/Alex Jones who were the new Rush Limbaugh/Lou Dobbs. That's the demagogue progression. The demagogues know that the audience/eggs are there, and if the demagogues provide the right incubation via messaging, they will become powerful beyond their wildest dreams in the form of wealth and influence. The incentives sort themselves out for both sides. The demagogues get rich and powerful and the resentful audience finally finds a *community* of confirmation bias (like-minded individuals). That's the mutual agreement between both parties. GOP politicians capitalize off of these cults because they know these people are motivated voters, so as long as they get some red meat tossed their way via campaign virtue-signaling they will be a high turnout voting block for said politician.
Trump and most MAGA pols/candidates understand this new rule well: virtue-signal on conservative grievances and the incubated cults will turn out in high volumes for you. The demagogues capitalize off of the cults of grievance *they* build for money and influence, and the politicians capitalize off of the cults that the *demagogues* build for votes and donations. That's the GOP Grift Venn Diagram.