If one wonders why his followership does not disqualify Donald Trump for his grotesque lies and the vulgar name-calling he constantly employs, one conclusion is obvious: His followers live in a reality of their own, which has its own logic and truth. With the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine during the Reagan administration in 1985, media got permission to disseminate polarized opinions – and no longer had to cover oppositional arguments. This drastic shift led to the emergence of “reality entrepreneurs,” like the radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who established an echo chamber for their audience in which ultra-conservative opinions were constantly reaffirmed and reinforced, and in which all contrary evidence and counterarguments were debunked as fake news – the product of enemy propaganda.

In the current presidential election campaign many reality entrepreneurs are contributing to reinforce the MAGA echo chamber – with Trump himself taking the lead on his “Truth Social” website. However, this conservative effort, which extends into the alt-right movement, is no longer as homogenous as it once was. Claiming that Haitian (legal) immigrants are eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs is just another grotesque lie (and J.D. Vance has admitted the “fictional” character of this “news”), which takes the attention of the national media hostage. When hurricanes (whether it is “Helene” or “Milton”) are then charged with being controlled by the government, the difference between “fictional” fake news and conspiracies is effectively negated.

Conspiracy theorists like Marjorie Taylor Greene stir up some controversy even within the MAGA echo chamber, but they are a logical consequence of the MAGA reality entrepreneurship that deals with the important task of distracting attention from real world problems – problems for which their political opponents might actually provide persuasive solutions. This media strategy – most effectively applied by Steve Bannon – is called “bullshitting” or as he phrased it himself “flooding the zone with shit.”