[Note: This is an update of an article published on June 23, 2023.]

Looking out over the societal landscape of today’s United States, it’s impossible not to notice how angry many Americans are.

There’s a large swath of (mainly White) Americans who seem to be angry almost constantly — and feel totally justified in their anger and rage. They know, without any doubt, that they’re just so right about all the major issues wrecking our society. [Nope, not really.]

They’re furious because they know for sure that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ — and Donald Trump has been our ‘real’ president ever since 2016. They eagerly await his triumphant return to the White House — which he never should have left — on Jan.20, 2025.

They’re furious because they know there’s a massive ‘Deep State’ conspiracy to attack and undermine Trump.

They’re furious because they know for sure that the ‘Biden crime family’ has weaponized the Federal justice system to persecute Trump and his MAGA movement.

And … they know for sure that global warming and ‘climate change’ are a vast, Democrat-led hoax.

And… they know that the ‘fake news media’ are constantly deceiving Americans with sneering, liberal-leaning ‘fake news.’

And… they know that COVID-19 vaccines, vaccines in general, and public health mandates are dangerous to people’s health and freedom.

And… they know that the evil U.S. government wants to take away all the guns of average, law-abiding gun owners.

And… they know they’re always being persecuted and ‘canceled’ by nefarious anti-American forces — Trump’s ‘enemies within’ — including the press, ‘leftist’ media, and many others on Trump’s long enemies list.

How *wonderful*!! These ‘true believers’ and ‘patriots’ are all chock full of absolute knowledge. There’s no doubt at all, ever: They are being persecuted mercilessly and our nation is being destroyed!

Partisan ‘true believers’ are incredibly dangerous

But there’s… a problem. A major one.

The truly gigantic problem is that none of these things they’re so angry about are actually true. Not one.

Nada. Zero.

It’s not a matter of interpretation or party affiliation, and it’s not up for debate. It is a matter of due diligence, fact-checking, and being well or poorly informed, though.

There really IS such a thing as ‘truth,’ there are such things as ‘facts’ — and objectively speaking, not one of these things is true or factual.

Yet tens of millions of people believe all these lies, falsehoods, and paranoid ‘conspiracy theories’… which together keep them constantly riled up and incredibly angry.

These folks are always … SO FRIGGIN’ ANGRY! And almost all of them voted, of course, for Donald Trump — their vengeful, paranoid ‘savior.’

What the hell?! What the hell is really going on here?

How the far right became mainstream

One thing has become abundantly clear over the past decade: this destructive pattern is the direct result of several decades of far-right indoctrination and brainwashing… most of which passes for ‘news’ on far-right TV, radio, and Internet sites.

Plus, the entire Internet — Facebook and ‘X’ especially — is today’s lawless ‘wild west,’ where anything goes and the bigger and more sensational the lie, the more clicks it gets and the faster it spreads.

Ah yes, lies and lying. Once upon a time, the ‘Grand Old’ Republican Party (GOP) stood for morality and the rule of law — but over the past two decades it moved steadily to the right, and along the way adopted a sleazy, amoral ‘might makes right’ mentality.

Then, of course, the rise of Trump, MAGA, and ‘Trumpism’ pushed the needle even further to the right — and the craven GOP tagged right along.

Or rather, it’s been a horrifying mutual enabling scenario: The GOP enabled Trump, who then turned around and ‘captured’ even more of the GOP… who then proceeded to support and defend Trump no matter what idiocies or illegalities he committed… and their ‘hero’ then gave them three new conservative Supreme Court justices and proceeded to bully and name-call them into total submission… and today Trump ‘owns’ the GOP, which slavishly supports and defends him no matter what!

And Trump continues to model being a compulsive liar and seditious ‘anti-establishment’ instigator — and many ‘loyal’ Republicans are directly emulating him (think Speaker Johnson, Gaetz, Boebert, Greene, and others). He himself is in no way a ‘patriot’ — but he deliberately keeps our right-leaning ‘patriots’ constantly riled up and infuriated (and ready to do his bidding).

It’s amazing that he hasn’t gotten lots of Americans killed yet — but it’s probably going to happen at some point.

Oh, wait. It already happened. Due to his terrible leadership and science-rejecting stance during the COVID-19 pandemic, he contributed to hundreds of thousands of ‘excess deaths’ (preventable deaths) in the U.S., which had the highest death toll of any nation (by far) from the pandemic.

We’re seeing the horrific result of decades of far-right brainwashing

Most Americans still don’t seem to ‘get it,’ but the gradual destruction of many Americans’ trust in our government, news media, public health system, and election systems is having deeply disastrous consequences.

And this destruction is no accident: it’s the result of a loose-knit but real right-wing conspiracy that’s taken three decades to come to full fruition (starting with Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, and accelerating with the rise and overwhelming influence of far-right media).

Yes, the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that the Clintons talked about in the 90s is real and powerful.

And it’s been… extremely effective. By now many Americans have been thoroughly brainwashed into believing and endlessly regurgitating paranoid far-right beliefs, ideals, and ‘talking points’ such as:

· Climate change is just a liberal hoax; they (you know, the evil leftist ‘they’) are trying to shut down our oil and gas industries.

· Every investigation into Trump is just a %&$#*! ‘witch hunt.’

· Trump is blameless and a true patriot, and is being unfairly persecuted.

· The 2020 election was utterly fraudulent and ‘stolen.’

· LGBTQ+ people are pedophiles who are ‘grooming’ our children to be gay.

· Democrats are pedophiles who worship Satan and drink our children’s blood!

· ‘Liberal’ educators are harming our (white) kids emotionally by teaching them about racism, sexism, and LGBTQ+ issues — and are grooming them to be both gay and ‘socialists.’

· Pushing for greater economic equality and fairness is anti-American and totally ‘socialist.’

· The leftist media are constantly targeting and ‘canceling’ conservatives and conservative views.

· Donald Trump is the greatest American president, comparable to Lincoln.

· Democrats and liberals support ‘open borders,’ are creating a huge wave of illegal immigration, and are pushing for the ‘Great Replacement’ of Whites by colored people.

Etc., etc., on and on, ad nauseam.

A massive ‘bait-and-switch’ shell game

But what’s even scarier than the absurd beliefs and paranoia many Americans are now spouting is this: Many very real, dangerous events and trends in our world are being completely ignored and/or deliberately denied.

It’s a massive far-right substitution and ‘shell game,’ in which illusory and paranoid beliefs are pushed hard — for political gain — while what is really happening is obscured, covered up, or denied outright.

This leads directly to a crazy-making and dangerous final result:

People are utterly convinced and furious about all the wrong things — illusory, unreal things — and simultaneously are wildly misinformed, uninformed, or deluded about crucial issues that deeply affect our world (like climate disruption, racism, oligarchic capitalism, growing poverty, misogyny, etc.).

Many of these ‘illusory things’ have been deliberately turned into divisive culture war issues — and there’s so much intense overemphasis on this manufactured ‘culture war’ that many people are clueless and aren’t upset at all about vital issues they really should be angry about… which was the far-right plan all along.

“Don’t look over there, at all these real, difficult social issues; instead, look over here, where we TELL you to look!”

They’ve been hoodwinked by a huge, ongoing ‘bait-and-switch’ operation.

But, to set the record straight:

• No, the government is not looking to take away Americans’ guns. Almost every recent law affecting gun ownership has loosened the rules and expanded gun rights (unfortunately).
• No, climate change/disruption isn’t a ‘hoax.’ Rather, climate change and disruption are all too real and are ramping up much faster than even the most alarmed scientists thought possible. The time frame for massive disruption has moved from 2100 to 2050 — and now, more realistically, to 2030–35.
• No, the Feds aren’t trying to hoodwink America into shutting down fossil fuel use and ‘going Green.’ The truth is, we should be moving in that direction, fast, but we’re not. The Feds and the oil and automotive industries are all dragging their feet, big time.
• No, LGBTQ+ folks and teachers are not fiendishly ‘grooming’ our children to be sex slaves or convert them to ‘gayness’ and perversion. LGBTQ+ folks are simply living their lives, just like everyone else, and they’re no more ‘perverted’ or abusive than heterosexuals — and sometimes less so. (Think: disgraced preachers and politicians.)
• No, traditional news media are not assaulting us with devious ‘fake news.’ The people who are assaulting us with malicious ‘fake news’ are far-right groups and media, today’s seditious GOP, and especially Donald Trump.
• No, the 2020 election was not fraudulent, as was proven in over 60 court cases. The true, real fraudsters are the far-right folks (like Trump and Kari Lake) who keep lying about voter fraud and working overtime to convince Americans that our entire election system is broken and ‘fraudulent!’

I could go on and on. But you get the idea.

The greatest political scam in American history

Scarily, the far right has been so successful in its multi-decade brainwashing scheme that it has turned American society upside-down and inside-out. Today, lies are often seen as truth, and the truth is condemned as lies. Scientific realities are dismissed and denied, while paranoid idiocy and pseudo-science rule.

Our national government is seen as the ultimate ‘bad guy’ — while the real bad guys are busy undermining our government and society, and replacing the crucial foundations of democracy with racist, misogynist far-right ‘ideals’ and laws (such as restrictive, oppressive voting laws and punitive, Taliban-ish anti-abortion laws).

I have no problem at all with people being righteously angry about injustice, racism, ecological destruction, misogyny, vast wealth inequality, etc. — and working hard to right these wrongs. In fact, I admire and celebrate it.

What I do have a major problem with is people denying the truth and being constantly enraged about — and acting on — huge quantities of made-up, manipulative B.S. and hateful lies… all of which end up promoting the far right’s racist, mean-spirited agenda.

If you’re going to be enraged, angry, furious — don’t waste your time and anger on total B.S. and devious, seditious far-right nonsense.

If you’re going to be enraged, angry, furious… at least be enraged and furious about things that are real, accurate, and truly matter — and that support democracy instead of fascism.