“The absurdity of it all boggles the mind,” said one senior administration official.

National security officials are used to shaking off absurd conspiracy theories, but the latest rumor that’s gripped MAGA world just hits different.

The claims by Fox News and far-right influencers that pop star Taylor Swift is part of a Pentagon “psychological operation” to get President Joe Biden reelected, and somehow rig the Super Bowl to benefit Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and Swift’s boyfriend) Travis Kelce, has been met with forehead slaps in the national security world.

“The absurdity of it all boggles the mind,” said one senior administration official, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. “It feels like one of those ‘tell me you are a MAGA conspiracy theorist, without telling me you are a MAGA conspiracy theorist’ memes.”

  • GilgameshCatBeard
    64·
    11 months ago

    That’s my dad. Trump is a god to him, and anything negative said about him is a liberal plot to stop him from his patriotic duty. The cognitive dissonance that man shows is baffling!

    • TurboDiesel@lemmy.world
      46·
      11 months ago

      My stepfather is like that. I even tried to use his own logic to help him see most of these conspiracies are dumb; “you said yourself that the gov’t is incompetent. So how can they pull off a conspiracy at this scale if they can’t run the country?” - stuff like that.

      It doesn’t matter, he’s fully drank the Kool-Aid, so I just keep him at arm’s distance now.

      • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
        28·
        11 months ago

        Rules of fascism

        #3: “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”

        #4: Disagreement is treason.

        #8: The enemy is both strong and weak.

    • Tristaniopsis@aussie.zone
      185·
      11 months ago

      Thank goodness my Dad never went down that path, but honestly if he did I might just punch him straight in the face.

      • OlPatchy2Eyes@lemmy.world
        957·
        11 months ago

        Violence is bad and you should rethink your attitude towards people on the Kool-Aid. Anyway go ahead and explain me the paradox of intolerance like I haven’t seen it a thousand times, I don’t care.

        • JimmyBigSausage@lemm.ee
          9·
          11 months ago

          I had to block my dad’s emails for awhile. I just couldn’t believe they just kept coming and coming. And while trying to be a good son and available should he need me, I just had to risk going no contact for awhile. Now I basically gray rock everything. 🫤

            • JimmyBigSausage@lemm.ee
              9·
              11 months ago

              “Gray rocking, or the grey rock method, is a tactic people may use to deal with abusive or manipulative behavior. It involves becoming as uninteresting and unengaged as possible so that the other person loses interest.

              Some people anecdotally report that it reduces conflict and abuse.”