Outlets such as Breitbart and Fox News, and talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage have crafted a powerful counternarrative, downplaying or discrediting developments in the Russia probe.
"Fox and Breitbart are providing a kind of air cover for the politicians who are standing with Trump right now, helping keep the Republican Party largely solidified behind Trump," said Nyhan.
On a recent show, talk radio host Laura Ingraham described the investigations as a cynical effort by liberals to distract the White House from its agenda. "This is what their game plan is; this is part of the resistance," she said.
Conservative sources frequently describe special counsel Robert Mueller as part of a conspiracy aimed at bringing down Trump.
"Mr. President, fire Mueller," demanded radio host Savage. "He's a political hack. The American people will be behind you. Don't worry about the fake press."
Conservative sources also work hard to discredit mainstream news sources, identifying them as corrupt or biased or part of an active conspiracy. A Pew study released in May found that only 42 percent of Republicans now believe the media should play an active "watchdog" role monitoring politicians. Only 11 percent of conservative-leaning voters believe traditional media sources are trustworthy.
One voice that is considered trustworthy for many conservatives is that of Limbaugh, the radio host who is viewed as sort of the conservative movement's Walter Cronkite.
Limbaugh tells listeners that the Russia probe is part of an effort to delegitimize Trump and his followers.
"Trump voters are never going to fall for this collusion story and are never going to buy into this notion that the Russians rigged it with Trump," said Limbaugh this week. "They're never going to buy into it. Because it makes them illegitimate. And they are not illegitimate. You people who voted for Trump are not illegitimate."
Conservatives have claimed for years that the mainstream media has a liberal bias, that was what gave Roger Ailes the excuse to create Fox News.
And now they have their own alternative universe of "news" and "facts" which rarely, if ever, line up with the actual factual news.
For them there are no actual facts, only opinion, and THEIR opinions are right, and all other opinions are wrong.
It is essentially a faith based understanding of reality.
Which should be clear once you recognize that Fox News and the other Right Wing news outlets are closely modeled on Pat Robertson's 700 Club.
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