As an avid gamer, Erik Balsbaugh had noticed the political climate among his fellow “Call of Duty” enthusiasts had been shifting for some time. “I saw people who were, [during] the Obama era, die-hard liberals, slowly start becoming much more reactionary and conservative,” the longtime Democratic operative and campaign consultant said.
But it was one moment in particular that hammered home just how much virtual ground liberals had conceded to the terminally online right. His 11-year-old son started questioning why they had a yard sign for Angela Alsobrooks’ Senate campaign because she was a “tax cheat.”
It turns out his son was watching a “Roblox” streamer on YouTube who likened his cheating in the game to Alsobrooks’ property tax mistakes in a quick aside. The MAGA-fication of this world was so complete that Republican talking points about a race in Maryland were seeping into casual conversations about a video game platform marketed to kids.
