I had already written this post in my mind before I read the Politico story, published about an hour ago.
Trump Has Scored a Famous Victory Over the MAGA Influencers. Or Has He?
Today, the talking heads are talking nonstop about how Trump seams to have beat the Epstein conspiracist MAGA influencers into submission—and how they’re singing a different tune from the one they sung on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and part of Monday.
And whether or not Trump’s effort to tell his base to forget about Epstein will work or not.
The answer is that it all depends. It depends on whether the lunatic part of our American brethren and sistern will choose to believe Trump or whether they will choose to believe what they have believed about the pedophile ring coverup for the past decade. And a basement full of trafficked children in a Washington pizza restaurant that doesn’t have a basement.
That’s because the term “influencer” is inaccurate and misleading. The MAGA influencers don’t really influence. What they are good at spouting back to their listeners and viewers what their listeners and viewers want to hear.
As I would have said back when I was practicing antitrust law and relying on forensic microeconomists, the influencer competition for market share is fierce, the market is dynamic, and entry is easy. Just video yourself on your smartphone, post the video on YouTube, and start making money.
Given the market structure, given the incentives, and given the Zeitgeist, it is inevitable that some would-be influencers are going to come along spouting the theory that the pedophile ring has got to Trump and that he has gone over to the dark side.
I didn’t predict—though I should have predicted—that Nikki Haley would be among the first to stride across the stage in her high heels and begin the competition to sell alternative conspiracy theories.
Others will follow. Many others.
Game on. Now it’s up to the base to see which competing conspiracy appeals to their deformed, paranoid minds.
Facing MAGA 