THE MESSAGE OF RIGHT-WING PROPAGANDA: YOUR ENEMIES ARE EVIL AND YOU'RE REALLY SMART

Putin critic Alexei Navalny has died in prison, and the right has settled on a response:

As the world reflects on the murder of Alexei Navalny at the hands of Putin, it’s worth remembering that Democrats are actively doing Biden’s bidding as they also try to imprison his chief political opponent, Donald Trump, remove him from the ballot, and ensure he dies in prison. https://t.co/lLd13ATUdT

— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) February 16, 2024

See also Dinesh D'Souza:

The obvious point of this propaganda is the obvious point of all Republican propaganda: to tell Republican voters that their enemies are unspeakably evil -- much more evil, in this case, than Vladimir Putin.

The less obvious point is to reassure Republican voters that they don't need to trouble their silly little heads over geopolitics, because the actual nature of Putin's reginme is much less important than the fact that DimmoCRAPs suck!

This is exactly how Republicans responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine: by telling GOP voters that their key takeaway should be Why do globalists care so much about Ukraine's border when they don't care what's happening on our border?

When something newsworthy happens in another country, ordinary Americans don't want to bother learning about the relevant issues. That's like honmework! Republican propaganda assures them that they can reduce anything that happens in the world to a metaphor for domestic politics -- and the key thing to understand about domestic politics, of course, is that Democrats are really, really bad. Keep it simple!