Trump’s ‘narrative warfare’ manufactures support

2026-02-05 - 09:46

MANILA, Philippines – Donald Trump sustains power in no small part through “narrative warfare,” not brute force. Drawing from a new Nerve report on his first 100 days, it shows how a flood of executive orders becomes instant “content triggers” across social media. Influencers and algorithms amplify emotional, reactive takes, crowding out debate and facts. Each platform plays a role: Facebook reinforces Christian nationalist communities, X accelerates viral political framing, YouTube builds cinematic myth-making, and TikTok turns politics into memes. The result is fragmented realities and self-sustaining support clusters that don’t need majority approval — only enough belief to keep power intact, bypassing democratic debates to establish a king-like rule for the American President. – Rappler.com