It’s not just Rand Paul and Tucker Carlson — it’s the entire GOP and, to cut the bullshit, GOP fascist, um, systemic infrastructure — but Senator (ugh) Paul’s reaction to the FOIA release of Fauci’s emails and Carlson’s general dickishness are good enough examples of how they expect the media (Carlson is NOT media–he’s a propagandist and a dick) to uncritically accept and amplify baseless allegations.

The FOIA request demonstrates Fauci is pretty much the same person you see on television.

Tucker Carlson’s nitwit comparison of public health measures to Jim Crow segregation regimes is, to put it nicely, batshit insane.

But thanks to decades of both sides reporting, “Fauci’s emails” will get at least a few media cycles if not the Full Hillary, while vaccine-passport outrage will get lost in the memory hole as soon as they find another hook.

Neither will face consequences for pushing this garbage.

The same dynamic is how we’ve been force fed decades of supply side economics arguments, despite clear evidence it’s…also bullshit.

It’s also how the GOP can get away with false claims about non-existent voter fraud when the truth is they keep losing free and fair elections.

They can only win by exploiting anti-small-d-democratic devices like the filibuster, gerrymandering, and the Electoral College.

And it’s also how they can get away with inciting a riot when, despite all that, they lost.