Remember when Trump said, "I love the poorly educated?" What he really was saying was, "I love the fvcking stupid." Not all Trump supporters are stupid but the core of his MAGA base is simply not very bright and none of Trump's campaigns would have gained any traction without millions of low-information voters.
Case in point - - last week's debate. You know, the one where Trump got his clock cleaned. Within 36 hours of Trump's humiliating defeat on the debate stage, there were social media posts, most prominently from some idiot who calls himself "Black Insurrectionist," with "Breaking" or "Just In" "news" claiming that an anonymous whistleblower from ABC News had come forward with a signed affidavit attesting that Harris had been given the questions in advance. A few days later, Marjorie Taylor Greene amplified another social media claim that the purported whistleblower had just died in a car crash. All of this was bullshit. First, the affidavit lacked a notary seal and was bogus. Next, Greene walked back the claim that the author of the bogus affidavit had died. Next, even the far-right misinformation website, the Gateway Pundit, called the story a hoax. Finally, ABC News issued a statement categorically denying that Harris had been given the questions in advance.
But by that time, the fake story had been widely disseminated and taken root, and the low-information Trump supporters had already processed it as gospel.
The Trump people are well aware that this tactic works with low-information people who are unwilling or unable to look beneath the surface of a sensational social media post. Hell, just the other day, JD Vance, in responding to questions about the bullshit "they're eating our pets!" claim, acknowledged that the campaign will "create stories" to get media attention. Translation: "we'll make up all kinds of crazy shit because we know social media will be all over it and MAGA will lap it up."