I think we realize now that they know we know, and they don't care. The brazenness with which they behave is a power move.
I don't know that it's always flaunting power. They're still very capable of scraping by because most people usually don't know that something happened. Or, for something like this post's story, it's not terribly important.
As you've noted, information can spread fast now, but it still needs to be captured (filmed or documented) and shared to reach people. It has to overcome the volume and prominence of seemingly unlimited other information sources. And oftentimes, it will need to break through a person's preconceptions about the subject, which likely requires a steady supply of digestible related information.
With that said, it's a little difficult (well, extremely difficult because of my cowardice in social settings) for me to mock normies for not knowing information that is not present to them.
I don't necessarily disagree, it's sometimes a result of their strong sense of invulnerability and overconfidence rather than a conscious power move. Occasionally a bad take or stupid moment will slip through the media filter and when they can't lean on "Republicans pounce!" (in the US) they'll report on the "controversy" or how outraged people are - usually because it's embarrassing them a little too much. Then the politician will be forced to apologize with a wink and a smile. If that doesn't work and they continue to be an embarrassment, they'll find something unrelated like a sex scandal or bribery to take the actor down and replace them with a new actor.
Either way the more we can force that to happen the better, although it doesn't compare to pitchforks and torches at their doorstep. At least it gives us more stories to show to people who are willing to look.
I don't know that it's always flaunting power. They're still very capable of scraping by because most people usually don't know that something happened. Or, for something like this post's story, it's not terribly important.
As you've noted, information can spread fast now, but it still needs to be captured (filmed or documented) and shared to reach people. It has to overcome the volume and prominence of seemingly unlimited other information sources. And oftentimes, it will need to break through a person's preconceptions about the subject, which likely requires a steady supply of digestible related information.
With that said, it's a little difficult (well, extremely difficult because of my cowardice in social settings) for me to mock normies for not knowing information that is not present to them.
I don't necessarily disagree, it's sometimes a result of their strong sense of invulnerability and overconfidence rather than a conscious power move. Occasionally a bad take or stupid moment will slip through the media filter and when they can't lean on "Republicans pounce!" (in the US) they'll report on the "controversy" or how outraged people are - usually because it's embarrassing them a little too much. Then the politician will be forced to apologize with a wink and a smile. If that doesn't work and they continue to be an embarrassment, they'll find something unrelated like a sex scandal or bribery to take the actor down and replace them with a new actor.
Either way the more we can force that to happen the better, although it doesn't compare to pitchforks and torches at their doorstep. At least it gives us more stories to show to people who are willing to look.