Rumors on X Are Becoming the Right’s New Reality

Political influencers, elites, and prominent politicians on the right are embracing even pathologically outlandish claims made by their base.

Unverified claims that spread from person to person fill voids where uncertainty reigns, are as old as human communication itself.

Political elites are openly legitimizing what the X rumor mill churns out when it serves their objectives, authors say.

In the 2020 election, Trump and his political allies set the narrative frame from the top: Massive fraud was occurring, Trump claimed, and the election would be stolen from him.

Yet online rumormongering has immense value to right-wing propagandists, says Julian Zelizer .

Zelizer : 30 percent of the public and 70 percent of Republicans still believe the Big Lie that Democrats stole 2020 election.

As Hurricane Milton roared across Florida , social-media users fantasized, absurdly, about government control of tropical cyclones and making death threats against weather forecasters.

The question is whether refuting rumors is worth the potential personal cost? Without a concerted push to defend truth, the rumor mill will continue to churn.