[quote=“MEBuckner, post:72, topic:853550”] I really wish I knew if these things are even reaching their target audience, and if they’re having any effect.
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Anyone know if these ads are running on Fox News? Because that is their target audience. I would not know since I never tune to that channel. Maybe I’ll take one for the team here and watch sometime.
Running them on CNN, NBC, etc. would be a waste of resources, as most viewers of nearly every other (fake news) network is already in the never-Trump camp.
They are. They’ve run at least a couple during “Fox & Friends” which Trump watches religiously.
They probably could except then it’d just be news stories about how FOX needs to protect the fragile snowflake president from the scary ads. As long as they’re not making blatantly false claims, FOX probably figures that their money spends the same as anyone else’s.
They definitely are, and in fact the LP targets their ads to whatever Fox affiliate is in Trump’s current time zone (DC, Mar a Largo, etc) just to fuck with him.
I know of no reason why they’d be legally required to run the ads; as I understand it, the FCC’s equal-time rule only applies to candidates, not PACs or other non-candidate political groups.
The fact that Fox News has, indeed, run the Lincoln Project ads is interesting, in and of itself.
I think the mere existence of this group points up a long-standing theory of mine: practically nobody who wields real power in this country would benefit from a Trump dictatorship, and they know it. How does he seem so untouchable? His enablers in Congress. What do they get out of it? Tax breaks and federal judges. What benefit do they reap if Trump wields absolute power? Not a damn thing, and they will likely take massive losses because of it in personal power and wealth. And they are acutely aware of all of this.
I’d worry a lot more if Trump was at all likable or respectable, or if he ever gave the slightest indication of caring about anyone but himself, or if everyone were morally driven like (megachurch) pastors. But they’re not. They only care about what Trump can do for them, and he can do nothing good for them wielding any kind of power outside the system.
The only difference in these guys is that they’ve decided he’s more trouble than he’s worth. I think this shows that Trump is at least a little more vulnerable than he appears. There will come a point, sooner rather than later, when his Congressional and media “pals” will cut bait with him. Then he’s got nobody.
I don’t think it’s that interesting. They, and the president, would be blasted and mocked for refusing to run the scary ads that make Trump sad. And there’s no reason to NOT run them except that they make Trump sad. Plus the whole “lol fair & balanced” aspect if they won’t accept any political ads critical of Trump – despite it already being a joke, FOX still likes to pretend. The negatives of refusing the ads just outweighs the benefits of refusing them.
I think it’s an aspect of what Leaper discussed above - the people behind Fox News are some of those Republicans who have figured out that Trump is bad for them.
Fox isn’t just running the Lincoln Project ads. They’re also actually starting to call Trump on some of his BS, and reporting on polls that indicate that Trump is likely to lose in November. Trump himself has complained on Twitter about how Fox News isn’t helping him win like they used to.
They’re not at the point of going Full Democrat or anything, but it’s clear that some orders have come down about distancing themselves from Trump.
It only makes sense if you accept the theory that this is a rearguard action by a party seeing the mood and demographics of the country turning against it. Trumpers may sneer at polls and studies which show the electorate changing with every year but the people in charge of the GOP understand the realities and they are currently grabbing at everything they can to retain blocking power in the Democratic-dominated election cycles ahead.
The neverending concerns about “socialism” are stupid but largely honest. But mostly stupid.
Or possibly the other direction: they started realizing that Trump may actually lose, and started trying to give a little distance from Trump, which led Trump to reject them.
Either way (or both), they’re not longer as tied at the hip as they used to be. Fox actually had people on supporting wearing masks, for one thing.
It bothers you that it plays fast and loose with the truth because you actually care about the truth and base your voting more on rational thought than on blind emotion. But you are not the target for these ads. You’re going to vote for Biden no matter what the Lincoln project does.
These ads are aimed at people who are actually considering voting for Trump. People who have assigned the choice of who to vote for to their amygdala. If they cared about truth they wouldn’t be considering Trump.
I agree that in an ideal world, ads like those of the Lincoln project would be roundly rejected by voters. But we don’t live in that world, and unilateral disarmament by refusing to use these tactics while the Republican continues to run a campaign based on fear and loathing is a losing proposition. As far as a concern that the Republicans can use this as part of their campaign of false equivalence, they are already calling the Washington post and New York times lying fake news, so I don’t think that this will provide them with any new messaging opportunities.
