She got half of Burgerland to think that everything they don't like is Russian propaganda, that the evil Russians helped Trump steal the 2016 election, Russia Russia Russia, it's the ultimate thought-terminating cliche now. And even in the face of cold, hard evidence to the contrary (ie: Mueller report, off the top of my head) Libs just stomp their feet and insist that it's still RUSSIAAAAA!!!!!1
I guess Bill O'Riely would be the Republican equivalent of her, but his oafishness and toxic masculinity got the best of him and he ~~ended up losing everything~~ got a multi-million dollar severance package from Fox News and then faded into irrelevancy.
Seriously though, I can't think of anybody that could rival Maddow in terms of how effectively she brainwashed tens of millions of Burgerlanders into believing an absolute, absurd fantasy. You can't have anything that resembles a level-headed discussion with any Lib anymore, largely due to her influence (and others of course, but I feel like she's the most prominent figure in this regard).
Can you think of anyone that could rival her impact? Who else would be in the same league of propagandists in this day?
EDIT: Obviously I forgot to mention Tucker Carlson, but he also got kicked off Fox lol
My impression is it's less about pushing Trump and more about causing conflict within the US. There were Internet Research Agency(commonly called a troll farm) linked accounts pushing both sides of the COVID stuff, both sides during the BLM protests, etc.
Dems blaming things on Russian disinformation plays right into that goal, too. If you want to rile up the US populace, make people feel like everyone they disagree with is brainwashed by evil outside forces. Republicans did the same shit with TikTok, blaming China for young leftists, trans people, etc.