Thanks for sharing. I thought this wikipedia article was really interesting and it led me to this other article [1] by Bruce Schneier about how to combat the firehose, and one by RAND [2] (which IIUC is the genesis of this 'firehose' term).

[1] https://www.lawfareblog.com/toward-information-operations-ki...

[2] https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html

your tribalism is showing

Your unwillingness to see that the GOP is in another league than the Democrats on this front is showing. As someone sitting outside both camps, you can't really "both sides" this one.

> the GOP

True but trending that direction for a long while. I feel like one person in particular really gave them a leap forward and had been a blatant liar his entire life. Anyone care to guess who?

Hillary Clinton?

My point being is that both sides are full of liars. They're politicians, they're famous for it

If we’re being honest, citizens want them to lie to some extent. The want a visionary president to say they’ll fix all the world problems in a way that is acceptable to their voters. The voters completely ignore than no one person can do much of anything. They will be at the mercy of the government process and the people within. All with competing objectives. But, when asked during a debate, what will you do during your first 100 days in office, you can say “it depends” which would be the honest answer.

That said, lying and weaponizing misinformation are two completely different things. Bill Clinton lied about cheating on his wife. Trump lied every single thing. This is the guy that drew over the Hurricane map because he knew better where the hurricane was heading. When you apply that alternate reality to things like questioning the election results and whatnot it’s quite a different level of dishonesty.

How can any serious person compare the level of honesty between the two?

More importantly, in this political environment, people are voting against candidates, not for them.

Any view of Republican voters as a personality cult misses that conservatives have spent decades in hold-your-nose-and-vote mode.