DISTORTED REALITY IS HOW REPUBLICAN VOTERS -- AND TRUMP -- SELF-SOOTHE

We all know that Donald Trump lies to himself in order to get through life in a world where some people don't believe he's the world's most remarkable human being. He tells himself he's ended eight wars, dropped gas prices to below $2.00 a barrel, and lowered drug prices by mathematically impossible percentages. When his polls are bad, he just makes up a new approval rating that's much higher than pollsters' actual numbers. A normal president would understand that some people won't agree with what a politician does. Trump can't bear that.

And we also know that Republican voters prefer a media diet that tells them exactly what they want to hear -- that everyone who agrees with them politically is a person of pure virtue, and everyone who disagrees with them is a figure of pure evil. I've always assumed that they maintain this worldview merely because they want to believe in their own moral superiority. But they clearly need more reality distortion than right-wing narratives can supply. They need the world to look the way they want it to look.

That's why they love AI, and why this story isn't surprising:

The White House posted a digitally altered image of a woman who was arrested on Thursday in a case touted by the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, to make it seem as if she was dramatically crying....

The woman, Nekima Levy Armstrong, also appears to have darker skin in the altered image. Armstrong was one of three people arrested on Thursday in connection to a demonstration that disrupted church services in St Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday. Demonstrators alleged that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, was the acting field director of the St Paul Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office....

The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, posted an image of Armstrong’s arrest at 10.21am on Thursday, less than an hour after Bondi’s announcement. The image shows a law enforcement agent, face blurred out, escorting Armstrong, who appears to be handcuffed. Armstrong, dressed in all black, appears to be composed in the picture.

A little more than 30 minutes later, the White House posted another image of Armstrong’s arrest in which she is crying. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reposted the image. The image posted by the White House is altered....

To Republican voters, this is what should have happened. Armstrong shouldn't have been calm and composed. She should have been owned. MAGA/GOP propaganda promises that everyone Republican voters hate will be made miserable in the glorious reign of Donald Trump, and it's almost unendurable if the evil libs don't appear to be suffering.

This is mild compared to the usual AI slop Republican voters enjoy. Here's a tweet from a long-time Trump cheerleader who's been nominated to be ambassador to Malaysia:

President Trump is immune from corruption because he can’t be bought. pic.twitter.com/D4JfINcvwP

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) January 18, 2026

Think about what you're witnessing here: Adams is ascribing a high level of virtue to Trump, and his "evidence" is an encounter that's completely made up.

This is a template for a staggering amount of pro-Trump propaganda. Here are just a few examples from a pro-Trump Facebook account:



(And yes, I know what you're thinking about that last one.)

In the real world, consumer prices seem high, there's unrest in the streets, and America seems perpetually on the verge of war. Republican voters' self-esteem would plummet if they had to live exclusively in the real world. Fortunately for them, they don't. They can live in a fantasy world where Trump is good (and thus they're good), while evildoers (and demons) are suffering. But this means, in the long run, that they need to remain in this world, where the object of their adoration isn't a normal, flawed human being but an inerrant god. I don't think they can tolerate reality anymore.