I believe we're both on similar sides of the fence so this could be a little bias but do you think this misinformation stuff became worse since Trump came around?
The machine that surrounds Trump will certainly have amplified, distorted and added to the sheer weight of lies. Trump and his organisation/surrounds certainly create a large amount of disinformation, and that only serves to be amplified incredibly quickly.
It all feeds off itself, the common factor here is that the origins and intent are malicious. Lots of bad actors, opportunists looking to gain from the chaos caused, and many of them delight in seeing democracy and society fracture and break down. The majority of this that spreads within western culture seems to emanate from those right leaning and the far right.
I had the privilege of visiting this museum in Munich a while back -
https://whichmuseum.com/museum/ns-d... Munchen is,and social consequences of Nazism.
They lay out in the open how the german people fell for Hitler and the Nazi party, and the museum is dedicated to highlighting the pitfalls of fascism and authoritarianism. I read very carefully the exhibits and timelines, and Trump is following the blueprint almost exactly.
I've no doubt others are too. It's horrifying to watch in real time - the othering of groups, cultures, sowing foment and hatred, creating division, encouraging people to think of others as less than human.
Sadly we see aspects of that here from those on the right too, just not as pronounced.
Another aspect which is a symptom of neoliberalism is the "What's in it for me" mentality - the cult of individuality. Community, cooperation and a cohesive society is a threat to this ideology.
Humanity has been here before, sadly many times. The thing is if there's will, political will, this could be stopped.