Politics has become about setting a narrative which can help one to win an election or achieve political goals. It matters little whether that narrative is true, a lie, factual or fake. The narrative is instilled in supporters in such a persistent and repeated way that the supporters become very convinced of it being the only truth. As supporters become vehicle, willingly or unconsciously, to propagate this narrative through whatever means necessary, especially social media, they feel that they have a personal stake in it and its failure or defeat becomes personal defeat or failure. It is not limited to volunteer supporters only, but general public supporters also feel the same way. Any contrary argument, fact, evidence, or truth has no meaning for them. Repeated contrary arguments further harden their position and accepting mistake or correcting the course becomes almost impossible.

It is more often a trait of a populist leader; whose rhetoric and rosy promises diverts the public attention away from scrutinizing false narratives.

Prime example is Trump’s “Stop the Steal” narrative. Despite no evidence of election fraud and many courts decisions of no fraud, more than 70% of Republicans, and even some Democrats believe Biden stole the election. Unfortunately, after Trump, some other world leaders are also shamelessly following Trump’s path.

F. Sheikh