This is a serious question I’ve been wrestling with for months. It’s not just about Democrats, Trump, or 2028—it’s about the long-term viability of truth, rationality, and consciousness-based governance in a society where the information ecosystem may be too far gone. Leo, you’ve said many things in past posts that opened my eyes to this: In 2020, you warned that “half the country is stuck in a right-wing brainwashing alternative media echo chamber that has rotted their minds.” After the 2024 election, you cited social media epistemic rot, algorithms, and influencer/podcaster populism group-think as one of the two main reasons Trump won. You’ve compared Fox News brainwashing to what you saw growing up under the Soviet regime—and even said it wasn’t much better. That stuck with me. It helped me understand that what we’re dealing with isn’t just political disagreement—it’s epistemic collapse. But here’s where I’m now stuck, and where my deep concern comes from: If reality-based leaders—who oversee a stable economy, restore inflation, and pass progressive policies (like Biden/Harris did)—can still lose to someone like Trump… then how does truth ever win again? Inflation had been normalized for over a year and a half by late 2024. The economy was strong. Unemployment was low. Wages were up. The policy record was one of the most pro-worker agendas since LBJ, if not since FDR/Truman. And still—Democrats lost. Not just because of Kamala Harris being a mediocre candidate (which I get now), and not just because of lingering inflation pain. I believe the deeper problem is this: We now live in a media and emotional environment where truth, performance, and policy don’t determine public perception—narrative does. And the right-wing narrative machine is: Decades ahead Emotionally compelling Identity-reinforcing Constantly evolving through social media, TikTok, AM radio, influencers, podcasts, and outrage-driven YouTube content I used to think the growth of progressive- or Democrat-aligned media was a sign of hope. And yes, there has been some encouraging progress—more podcasts, YouTube channels, independent journalists, and cultural figures who are trying to push back against right-wing dominance. But the more I sit with it—and the more I see how many millions still enthusiastically support Trump or live entirely inside right-wing media bubbles—the more I worry that it may already be too late to catch up. The Left is so far behind in narrative infrastructure, cultural saturation, and emotional media literacy. And it takes years to build trust-based media ecosystems. I’m not sure the timeline of political reality matches the timeline of narrative repair. You’ve often said you can’t control free speech. That it "finds cracks like water." But this isn’t censorship. It’s voluntary informational capture. People are being propagandized not by force, but by choice, habit, and emotionally gratifying identity content. Yes, the Soviet Union was more repressive and top-down and ultimately couldn’t sustain the illusion forever. But what if the American right has created something more durable? More decentralized? More personalized? More emotionally effective? You also said that "without inflation, Kamala might have won." But I can’t help asking: Why did Truman win in 1948 after 20% inflation? Why did Reagan win in 1984 after peak 14% inflation? Why did Bush and Obama win re-election despite weaker economic conditions than Biden? In my view, the answer is that voters in the past were not as poisoned by social media outrage cycles and algorithmically distributed misinformation. They didn’t live in fully fractured, closed-loop info ecosystems. They could feel change more clearly. That’s why I’m so worried about 2028 and beyond.
Not because I’m attached to “Team Blue.”
But because I fear we’ve crossed into a new phase of mass consciousness where truth simply cannot travel, no matter how well someone governs. So my core question is this: What does a conscious, reality-based movement do when the population it’s trying to lead is living in a fabricated narrative, immunized against performance, and rewarded for tribal rage? How can someone like Newsom win the presidency in this rigged media environment? This feels bigger than politics. It feels existential for truth itself. I’m not looking for a comforting answer. I’m looking for clarity—on whether there's still a strategic path for reality-based movements in this new environment, or if the rules have changed too radically for truth to win again.