Criticism of individual Supreme Court decisions by the democrats is evolving into something far dangerous than mere criticism. It’s become an organized effort to portray the Court itself as illegitimate whenever its rulings conflict with progressive political goals. Recently, the man who stands to become Speaker of the House and 2nd in line for the presidency, Hakeem Jeffries called the Court “illegitimate.”
This, combined with proposals to “pack” the Court, restructure it, or even weaken constitutional constraints, are not simply expressions of disagreement but attempts to undermine public trust in the Court itself. The thinking is that before voters will accept altering or expanding the Supreme Court, they must first be convinced the institution itself needs a complete overhaul.
The specious attacks on anything that Donald Trump holds dear been going on from the moment he descended the elevator at Trump tower to announce his candidacy for president in 2105. The Left’s modus operandi is clear – whenever they lack solutions to the nation’s problems, vilify, vilify, vilify.
The president has been the target of the most vicious political attacks ever directed at an American president. Racist! Fascist! Dictator! Nazi! A threat to democracy! – accusations amplified daily across much of the media and by democrat leaders. And now they’re going after the Supreme Court.
Numerous sociological and psychological studies reveal that repeated exposure to the same narrative — whether in advertising, social media, sports commentary, news, or politics – significantly influences beliefs, perceptions, and behavior. This phenomenon is neither new nor controversial and the debate is always about how much influence exists, rather than whether it exists at all.
Research has found that people are more likely to believe statements simply because they hear them repeatedly, even when those statements unsupported. Familiarity creates a feeling of truthfulness. The brain tends to interpret repeated information as safer, more credible, and easier to process cognitively. Studies dating back to the 1970s demonstrate this effect, and more recent work has shown it remains powerful even when people initially know the statements are questionable.
Advertising operates on this principle. Companies spend billions repeating slogans and brand imagery because repetition increases recognition, comfort, and trust. People may think they are immune to it, but research once again reveals that repeated exposure greatly affects purchasing decisions and brand loyalty. Political messaging uses the same mechanism. A slogan repeated thousands of times across television, podcasts, speeches, memes, and headlines becomes psychologically “available” in people’s minds, even among those who dislike it.
Media organizations may not always tell people what to think, but they are remarkably effective at telling people what to think about. If certain themes dominate coverage day after day, people begin to perceive those themes as the most important issues in society regardless of objective statistics.
Repeated narratives predispose people to interpret future events through a preexisting framework. For example, if a public figure or organization, e.g., the president or the Supreme Court, is constantly associated with words like “corrupt,” “dangerous,” or a “threat to democracy,” later news about that person or organization tends to be filtered through that lens.
Social media then amplifies this and when people encounter the same claims from news outlets, influencers, friends, memes, and celebrities the narrative gains psychological weight simply through ubiquity resulting in people judging the importance or likelihood or something based on how easily examples come to mind.
All of this doesn’t mean people become mind controlled. We all have agency, skepticism, personal experience, competing informational sources, and ideological filters. Interesting too, research has found that repetition is disproportionately effective when the audience is ill-informed and, or emotionally involved.
Quote of the day: “Progressivism isn’t about helping the poor, it’s about taxing those they define as rich; look no further than ‘blue city’ homelessness, crime and public schools. – Thomas Brace