In this intimate, two-handed edition of Posting Through It, Jared and Mike try to figure out whether the MAGA movement is actually faltering, as some news coverage would suggest.
The short answer is yes: poll numbers are sagging, the economy is slumping, influencers are turning on one another, and the rhetoric has grown so absurd that less-online working people can no longer follow it.
The more nuanced answer is that while the MAGA movement may be faltering, it could also be more dangerous than ever — precisely because of that chaos. The hosts close out the episode with a look at a corner of 4chan that serves as a "factory floor" for AI deepfake pornography.
It’s a weird time. But at least the Dow is over 50,000... right?
Links:
Jared's latest at Open Measures: This 4chan Board Became a Factory for Explicit AI ‘Deepfakes.’ Nobody Is Stopping It.
Join us in Washington, DC, for the release of Mike's first book, "Strange People on the Hill": Politics & Prose, April 11 @ 5pm (Free)
Transition Music: "The Grind" by Closed City Terror