The 2020 Election Is Going to Be So Ugly

[Content Note: Racism; racist images at shared links; misogyny.]

Brian Schwartz at CNBC reports: "Donald Trump's campaign is looking to beef up its communications team to prepare for an onslaught of attacks from Democrats running in the 2020 campaign, CNBC has learned. Trump's team has been interviewing dozens of candidates for positions ranging from communications director to press secretary."

Positions that will be filled with people dedicated to: 1. Defending Trump; and 2. Attacking his opponents. Emphasis on the latter, given that Trump is the God-King of Projection. That the assertion is these folks are being hired "to prepare for an onslaught of attacks from Democrats," we can safely assume they are actually (primarily) being hired "to prepare for an onslaught of attacks on Democrats."

Meanwhile, here are three other things I read this morning:

1. Will Sommer at the Daily Beast: Hillary Clinton Blackface Hoax Explodes After Virginia Scandals.

2. Jane Lytvynenko at BuzzFeed: This Altered Photo of Women Lawmakers in KKK Hoods Is Spreading and Twitter Is Refusing to Stop It.

3. Ciara O'Rourke at Politifact: Viral Image Falsely Identifies U.S. Congressman as El Chapo.

No, that is not Hillary Clinton in blackface. No, the female lawmakers who wore white to the State of the Union weren't also wearing Klan hoods. No, Nancy Pelosi and Beto O'Rourke were not posing with El Chapo.

But lots and lots and lots of people believe all of those things to be true.

Trump's base in particular are primed to distrust legitimate news sources and believe outrageous claptrap about anyone they perceive to be an "enemy" of Trump. And he is going to continue to foment that distrust at every opportunity.

And we learned from the 2016 Democratic primary that there are a lot of fawning bozos who latch onto a candidate and believe all sorts of ludicrous lies about that candidate's opponent(s), to the point where they even become "unwitting agents" of a foreign adversary interfering in the election.

So there is going to be a lot of subversive election meddling, along with an elevated amount of the usual dirty campaigning, cynical deployment of oppo research, and straight-up ratfucking.

The only thing that will save us is critical thinking and self-control, both of which are in terribly short supply these days.