This article starts with a sample of disinformation through history, from Roman times to the George W. Bush era. Next is a review of the taxonomy of disinformation, followed by a look at its deployment by the Trump campaign and the political right wing. A survey of recent academic research into the mechanisms of disinformation is next, and we conclude with some questions for the future.

The topic for today’s article comes from reader NP, who suggests that Trump’s ascendancy “is almost entirely attributable to the subjective and objective effects of the COVID years.” These effects, he suggests go beyond economic factors to include

… fearfulness and trauma that Trump tried to deflect to The Other; the hatred of “elites” who were blamed for lockdown, and, of particular import, shutting down schools, which led … to the explosion of “parental control” of schoolboards, curricula, etc., which [in turn] fed anti-trans fever…. [I]t’s no accident … that the online bro-culture, hyper-masculinity, sports and health supplement culture was fertile ground for ivermectin-esque challenges to what “they” were telling you about COVID, including, of course, vaccines (and of which Trump was a prominent part, which explains his current Cabinet appointments, who were people, like him, that the “elites” mocked). There’s also an intersection … with evangelicalism: recall the flurry of cases where public health rules were challenged on religious freedom grounds. And … even though Trump was in power when much of this was going on, he was a conspicuous critic of his own government’s response, thus cementing the paradox of Trump as Outsider while running the government.

So with that framing, let’s begin.