Ever since the “Stop the Steal” campaign in the aftermath of the 2020 election, the relentless barrage of election lies from Donald Trump and his allies have been like a river carving a gorge out of a mountain, dramatically reshaping the land long after the water itself has passed. Conspiracy after conspiracy appears, roars across social media at top speed, then is exposed and falls apart. But the dissipation of the individual conspiracies—the foundering of the court cases, the recantations from media companies that spread them, the eye-popping defamation settlements—do nothing to rebuild the trust already eroded as they flowed by. Among Republicans, belief that the 2020 election was stolen is more fundamental than ever—carved into the bedrock.
Good metaphor. Egger clearly feels the chaos archetype vibe along the lines I described it a few weeks ago.
The landscape has indeed been dramatically and permanently changed, and it's not over. Question is what will be left to build on in a post-diluvian world. What will have the staying power and what will be washed away forever? And what new thing--for good or ill--might emerge to occupy this flooded-out space?