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WaPo Publishes Editorial About ‘Deprogramming’ Trump Supporters

This is precisely the sort of rhetoric that fuels the hate and division that we see in America today.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump have long complained about their treatment by the mainstream media and the infotainment industry, and not much has changed in the week since Joe Biden took over at the White House.

At first, the media was at least somewhat coy about their feelings.  They would refer to the MAGA movement by their educational median and income level, believing that these denotations would allow the pundits to insult Trump’s base stealthily.

Then, as Trump’s exit from office turned rocky, a new sentiment emerged.  No longer was the MAGA movement simply a political entity, but, instead, the media began using terms like “deprogramming” in an effort to insinuate that conservative voters were somehow brainwashed.

This dehumanizing language continues to make the rounds this week, as the Washington Post publishes and editorial that furthers the cruel idea.

On Monday, the Washington Post published an op-ed by columnist Brian Klaas whereby he expresses the near futility of attempting to “deprogram” millions of Trump supporters, claiming that many have “gone far enough down the rabbit hole of conspiratorial thinking.”

The essay, titled “‘Why is it so hard to deprogram Trumpian conspiracy theorists?” depicts millions of Trump supporters as so devoted to “dangerous lunacy” that nearly all hope is lost of bringing them “back to reality.”

The language was shocking, to say the least.

Referring to President Trump as “a conspiracy theorist in chief” who “injected the toxin of baseless conspiratorial thinking straight into America’s political bloodstream,” the essay claims that while only hundreds stormed the Capitol, “there are millions of Americans who share their views.”

“So, do we have any hope of deprogramming the millions of Americans who are devoted to dangerous lunacy?” asks Klaas. “Don’t hold your breath,” he declares.

It’s almost impossible to quantify the sort of agitation that claims like these can conure within the conservative ranks, which, in turn, only further fuels the divisiveness within our national political scene.

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