When Republicans took the House of Representatives in the midterms, the widespread expectation in the political media was that the GOP propaganda machine was about to kick into high gear and generate a firehose of conspiracy theories that would make even Donald Trump's record of lying look feeble. The new Speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, previewed what looked like it would be a Soviet-style war on truth, from rewriting the history of January 6 to pumping out lies about federal "assault" on conservatives. The expectation was that this would be a robust and terrifying effort that not only wowed Republican voters but successfully bullied the mainstream media into elevating Republican lies out of fear of being accused of "bias."
I don't want to speak too soon, but so far, the Republican noise machine has been — dare I say? — underwhelming. Last week was supposed to be a banner week for the two biggest propaganda initiatives started by McCarthy's caucus. However, the efforts went over like a wet fart in both cases.
