Subject: Re: The Fight
Me, quoting an as yet unnamed source:America is in an emergency. (Hint - it's Rachael Maddow.)

Mike Johnson, just today: People recognize that this will be the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and maybe of the last century or more.

Dope: America has problems, yes, but these are fixable, and in some cases very easily.

Clearly, Dope is not representative of the bulk of the GOP. So I'm going to dismiss his response and carry on. And since there were no other responses, I'm going to take my OP as roughly correct.

First up, you can watch Rachael Maddow's comments that I quoted here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
The part I quoted starts at about the 6 minute mark, but I'd recommend the whole conversation.

What Rachael is describing sounds very much like a Christian talking about their faith. Our souls are under attack from evil. We need to destroy (really, understand and contain) that evil. The evil is within each of us and we can't get rid of it. We need someone to come in and slay that evil once and for all. That someone, that savior, is God, so to be saved we have to put all of our trust in this savior. I believe this is a significant reason that the current GOP appeals so much to the evangelical portion of Christianity. The story is the same. We need a savior for our soul and we need a savior for the country.

This view of the far right is not something that can be countered with truth or facts. Trump has literally become their savior and no one else can cure the evils that they see invading the US. Cult is an apt description of this situation.

My concern - and one that I think is shared by many - is that this GOP cult is willing to disassemble our democracy and the entire republic, if needed, to cure the evils they are seeing. They are willing to give up most of their rights (except guns, of course) to allow this savior to save the country. They don't care that the loss of women's bodily autonomy will lead to the loss of their own bodily autonomy. They don't care that the loss of some peoples' right to vote will lead to the loss of their right to vote. They don't care that what they are proposing is exactly the same (under the guise of a different religion) as what the Taliban are doing or what Hamas is doing, or - perish the thought - what Israel is doing: Turning religion into government.

Since this view isn't going to be countered with facts, the endless correction and fact checking is not going to convince most cult members to change their mind.

So what to do?

Strangely, I completely agree with Mike Johnson. This coming election may be the most important election in our lifetimes, if not the history of the USA.

The fact checking is still useful for the portion of the country (somewhere between 1/5 and 1/3 by my reckoning) who is still on the fence. They need to hear that the lies are lies. They need to hear what the GOP is willing to do to our democracy just to win an election. They need to know that what has made the USA great is not just winning elections, but losing elections gracefully, then doing better next time.

On a more practical level, I'd avoid protracted conversations that boil down to arguing truth vs religion. Instead of attempting to correct the poster, address the audience and show the lies as lies made in an attempt to gain power. Call out the false equivalencies and the outright misstatements of facts without attempting to convert the writer, but to sway the audience.

Above all, vote and get your friends and family to vote. Help them plan to vote. Help them navigate the obstacles that will be put in the way of voting.

--Peter