Lowering my ethical standard for the lies of politicians and leaders I like. Yep, I know I'm a human when I do that, knowing that I am doing it. Isn't that what meta analysis is for?
like that time when my hero, Obama, was campaigning for his first term as POTUS, and he was asked if he supported gay marriage. That was a Darwinnian IQ test question, sort of like when a policeman asks if you have been drinking. Everyone who has an IQ greater than a morons', know what the answer to both questions is.
15
Trump's sucker base will leave him only when the economy collapses. And even then, many will still believe the unbelievable.
77
If this is reality as we accept it, then Republicans win, because they spread fear, and that is EASY and LAZY to spread. You can find plenty of examples of these truthy lies from the left, but the right have INSTITUTIONALIZED this at the expense of the ruination of white America's morality. I have always wondered how mid 30's Germany managed to pervert the souls of so many citizens, and we get to see it up close.
96
I am surprised that more comments haven’t focused on “When President Trump retweeted a video falsely purporting to show a Muslim migrant committing assault, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, defended him by saying, ‘Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real.’ ”
Uh, no. That is a blatant example of “We know the truth and here’s our demonstration. It’s not? Oh, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the truth.”
There is no dissuading true believers. We can only overwhelm them in the court of public opinion and at the polls.
And where are those tax returns?
58
And 82 percent of Republican are satisfied with Mr Trump.
29
Another subtle attempt at false equivalency. If President Obama had told 2400 lies or mistruths in his first year in office he would not have had an 82% favorability rating among Democrats. If a Democratic President with a Democratic Congress had behaved in the manner Trump has he would have been impeached in short order. A Democratic Congress would not let a Democrat in the White House appoint such a deeply flawed cabinet. None would have been confirmed. Now, the real reason Trump has an 82% favorable rating among Republicans is they watch Fox News and listen to the Rush Limbaughs of the world. What we can take as lessons from the election of Obama and the resultant election of Trump is that racism and misogyny are more deeply entrenched in our society than any of us knew or even imagined.
113
Those who support/ignore the lies of Trump - perhaps fill their own lives with the lies they tell (using lies as their base for living).
32
When that fine day arrives, the Prevaricator-an'-Thief's epitaph: "Here lies Donald John Trump, as always."
47
This is yet another article that describes a study that completely misses the point. Trump does not exactly lie. He says whatever he believes will, in the short term, be advantageous for him. Often, that means doubling down on the same false statement over and over. And so, he, and his team doubled down on the inaugural crowd lie promoted on Day 1 by Spicer. But I suspect, most people, like me, heard that the MLK bust allegation was false and simply accepted that fact. These two incidents are therefore not parallel, especially based on the difference between thousands of lies on one side vs. few lies/reliance on facts on the other side. That's the problem with false equivalence. It starts with the premise of balance, but the "impartial" study is structured in a way that presumes we all derive our interpretation of reality primarily based on political leaning. Sorry, only one side does that and you are feeding that beast with your "balance".
46
trump seems to be a cultural hero to his base. The more anathema he is being judged by the majority of the body political the more his devotees cling to him. The real dangers are self evident in having a serial liar as the "leader" of our nation. That is what happened in Germany in the 1930's and this president is knowingly or not using the carbon copy of that time. And it of course gets worse the longer he stays in power.
This is definitely a psychological phenomenon that many societies have struggled with and which our founders were deathly afraid of occurring. The checks and balances were unfortunately never anticipated to become useless due to one party having such total control of all of it. This includes the judiciary and the press along with the the main branches of our government.
We are also seeing the complete backfiring of the electoral college, twice in sixteen years. Along with active voter suppression through onerous voter registration and gerrymandering the nightmare scenerio is almost complete.
There are still remnants of the judiciary and the press that continues to place serious obstacles to the complete collapse of our democracy. But as we descend into monopolistic, wealth driven fascism and a segregated, minority ruled nation the perils of losing our nation to authoritarian rule becomes ever more present.
56
I don't think Trump diehards care about the truth one way or another as long as he continues to perpetrate acts leading to the achievement or perpetuation of their fixed goals, which include hatred, misogyny, and the elevation of the almighty gun. If he and his wealthy friends become billionaires along the way, it doesn't matter to them.
41
Liberals tell falsehoods too; they just get caught less because they are smarter.
For example, I frequently read that the Constitution gave the Supreme Court power to strike down laws if they think the laws violate the Constitution. False. The power was invented by the first Chief Justice, Marshall. A more subtle falsehood was to say that the power was established once Marshall invented it. In reality, his pronouncement was so controversial that the power was not used again for several decades, until the Dred Scott decision where Southern judges used it to void abolition legislation.
I've also read that if Roe vs Wade were overturned, abortion would become illegal. False. It would simply return jurisdiction over abortion to the states as it was before 1973. What frightens liberals is that they would no longer be able to challenge state abortion laws in court
10
The reason they accept the lies is that they want them to be true.
35
The sun does not rise and the sun does not set. No matter the evidence it is the most common description of how day and night come about. All of the 2400+ lies told by Trump mean little or less to those who felt alienated by "the establishment." Romney's 43%,Clinton's "deplorables",and like comments serve only to reinforce millions of the existence of a supercilious class which cares not a wit for the interests of the common people.Record profits willingly reaped for the media by covering every last outrageous comment or act only end up celebrating Trump as a plain speaking folk hero. Trump is ours,and if he is able to make peace on the Korean peninsula then he may be unstoppable. We are paying the price for failing to teach critical thinking in our schools,and there is nothing that makes a democracy better than an educated voter able to critically understand the issues. Evidence and inference is not a system of belief
15
Trump supporters will start to mind his lies when they realize his promises of reopened coal mines, the return of factory jobs, better and cheaper health care for all and the tax cut didn't help him and his rich friends turn out to be as hollow as his assertion that he would be too busy working to play golf.
15
That's a good start, Daniel, but I don't think you took it to completion. I believe these Trump supporters use "What it COULD be" to justify their fears and insecurities that must remain out of sight because they are embarrassed to admit who they really are:
It's ok to change Voter ID laws because of how we think someone MIGHT defraud a vote, even though there's virtually no evidence of voter fraud. MIght something else -- like racism or xenophobia -- be driving the need to engage in such mental leaps in logic for the purpose of rationalization of something darker and deeper?
I think what's really going on is sublimation in the presence of latent fears du jour that people know are wrong and still try to rationalize with their smokescreen excuses.
Saying that Muslims COULD be a threat is a way to expesss latent xenophobia that a person would otherwise be reluctant to openly admit. Let's make homosexualtiy illegal (or at least gay marriages) because IF everyone was gay we'd have no children, and that COULD be the end of mankind on earth...when the real agenda is simply a flaming homophobia that must remain hidden just out of sight. God forbid that such frightened people would actually expose themselves for the bigots that they actaully are.
People will rationalize their weaknesses into strengths at every opportunity. Trump, et al. just facilitates and exposes that dark side of humanity.
17
The reason Trump's supporters don't mind his lies is much less complicated than suggested here, and you don't need a professor to figure it out. His supporters believe his lies because he's a white man, and they believed Obama was lying about his birth certificate because he's a black man. And I disagree with commenters who claim that Trump's supporters will eventually "turn against him" when they "find out" that his policies will hurt them. His supporters are willing to forego pro-worker government policies and benefits as long as "those people" (brown, black, immigrant) are also denied those same benefits.
39
Shouting out "Empire" inside one, is like Shouting out "Fire" in a burning theater ---- and does not violate, but instead honors the First Amendment of the Constitution in our once promising (and sometimes improving) 'perfection of democracy' of, by, and for the people, under the "consent of the governed"!
3
Brilliant. The lies are illustrations of fictional stories that could or might be true, and they reinforce pre-existing beliefs and therefore are true in spirit. This is terrifying.
16
While it rings true that this administration is exploiting a human weakness to lengths not seen before, the results of the research apply to all of us, not just Trump supporters. Are we more willing to accept a falsehood that "rings true" if it confirms our own bias? Has this common human tendency gotten worse in all of us since the rise of the Tea Party and the personal attacks on Barack Obama (birthers)? Those are questions this excellent research has not answered, yet. I think those questions matters.
Were our personal bias and willingness to accept falsehoods less in 1971 until Nixon's resignation? Was the fact that we trusted the publications of the New York Times and Washington Post during both, the Pentagon Papers and Watergate scandals influential on our own integrity?
3
In conclusion, how do the evangelical preachers teach their congregation to serve the truth when they promote such a liar, and how do parents encourage their children to speak with kindness and wisdom when they voted and support such a poor leader who has no problem facing the truth, keeping his word and honoring his bond with his wife (wives)? Character is no longer important; we are now serving another god.
Indeed, God save us.
15
I'm not surprised by the findings. What I'd like to know is how each side behaves when confronted with their bias. I suspect there lies some serious deviance.
In my experience with Trump supporters they are like the super market tabloid reading set. No amount of logic sways them. They can't be reasoned with and they can't be made to fell badly. Much like their king they are circular, ill-informed and conspiracy minded whether there is actual support for their opinions or not.
We should be reminded that there are two sides to a bell curve and half of the participants fall on the low-end of the scale.
12
I am a Canadian with an American wife and a mostly American family. I have lived in America and believe that if it wasn't for the lies spewed forth by your two political parties America would still be able to lead the world into the future.
If all Americans had the benefits of a liberal democracy and weren't shackled to the need to struggle of providing basic health , education and welfare the intellectual and creative potential of America may have made our world the place that would serve as tribute to liberal democracy.
I remember Nixon and I remember long lineups at the pump and I see what liberal democracy has done for us and what neoliberalism has done for you.
America is sick, it cannot understand that the stress of an economy that does not allow for the security of liberal democracies has wrought. I cannot imagine the cost to creativity and social harmony of neoliberalism. I can however watch the insanity of an impotent and incompetent government and it informs me that the imposition of constant stress on the American electorate has destroyed a country the world once trusted and respected.
Trump is not a problem he is an opportunity to look into the mirror and decide whether the hand to existence of too many of your citizens really makes for a healthy society. Mr Trump more than anyone ever before reflects the madness of devotion to quantity rather than quality. Donald Trump has stripped back the fancy branding and packaging and let us all see the decay.
19
Friends, family and others who have voted for Trump - as dug into their vote and support for Trump - no matter what - because they do not want to say - they made a huge mistake - having then to deal with their own integrity, morals and values ---- I saw the same thing happening all around me as a little white child growing up with family, friends and most adults around me - in the Bible Belt of Kentucky during the Civil Rights days --
People would quote the Bible as easy as breathing - then - without hesitation - say something hateful - lying - Trump and his supporters are these same people - except - now is is across the whole country - the whole USA.
Even though I was a child - I recognized hypocrisy - then - and - now that I am grown.
10
Trump has always been about entertainment.
His base is fulfilled and happy to participate at his events. And they’re free!
But to be honest, this strange and baffling administration has become some kind of warped entertainment for me too. The other night I joked that I was going to “watch the administration” as I settled in to watch an hour of TV after dinner. To be honest, I wince as I admit that I follow the Trump administration’s daily antics partly because they satisfy some perverse obsession.
6
Not quite the same, but I once had a professor who discussed: Can a lie tell the truth? He told of a photo of the liberation of Paris in 1945, just after FDR had died. The photo, published in US papers, was of a woman in front of the former US embassy, which had an American flag flying. Tears were streaming down her face. The photographer said, "He was a great man, wasn't he?
The woman looked at him in misery and said, "My feet are killing me!"
4
Whatever the "Republicans" believe and/or whoever they are, they are one thing- loyal. For many of them to stray away from their know-it-all-already/ that's-human-nature/ people-become-rich-and-successful-because-they're-smarter/ white-people-really-are-genetically-superior-and-better-looking-too
is fundamental and even more important than their faith in God (who has to be white, handsome, and thin). And even among some "educated people", I listened (with dismay) to successful business people on NPR the other day extol the wonderful politics of DT, linking it to big economic growth numbers since he took office. They admitted his speaking style was "bombastic" at times, but his success in business was all they really cared about, and that he instilled confidence in others leading to increased hiring and low unemployment. Obama led us out of the Recession, bailed out the auto industry, and laid the groundwork for future growth, but to them, the promise of "deregulation" and tax cuts under Trump was far more important. Who knows whether or not this growth spurt is for real- there's growing uncertainty out there as well. As for all the lying, cheating your way to the top, sexism, racism, bigotry, etc. the topic never came up. A woman owning a big restaurant chain was proud to say that she congratulated him personally when he came to town for an event. She's rich, so she blissfully ignores all the rest. Some of us can unfortunately rationalize anything.
7
"2,400 false or misleading claims" is itself a misleading claim! Believe it or not, many uneducated, Trump supporters find it easy to recognize when numbers are used to give an appearance of empirical rigor. EVERYONE could be interpreted to have made 2,400 false OR misleading claims over their last 400 days. There's a world of difference between a "false" and a "misleading" claim. In the eyes of many Trump supporters, the elite are blinded by their own indoctrination. Their education seems to have only facilitated this! In their eyes, Trump is not like them. But he is more in touch with the truth than are most politicians and journalists. They know they are not xenophobic; they (especially southerners) know there's an important difference between exaggeration and manipulation. Trump exaggerates - his opponents manipulate.... afterall, they are the ones that 'always' seem to conflate the two when covering Trump.
3
Trump has 82% Republican support because he has told his supporters he will Make America White Again, that he is pro-life, and pro-gun. Finally, they have someone speaking their language. They don't care what else he says. The lies don't matter.
Since the economy has historically performed better under Democrats (GDP, job creation, stock market, and deficit reduction) there is no argument for the "rural whites are suffering" narrative as a reason to vote Republican. To the extent Republicans support tax cuts for the rich and cuts to their own benefits, that's the price they are willing to pay for their social agenda.
They don't mind that scapegoating immigrants is directly from the demagogues handbook and ethically repulsive. Immigrants have nothing to do with what ails white rural America, especially considering most immigrants are clustered in cities. It's white executives who are offshoring and automating their jobs, and they just voted to give those people a big tax cut.
Fox News told them to be angry, Trump told them to be angry, and despite record economic conditions in place since around 2014, they bought into it.
12
Scott Adams describes Trump's approach far more succinctly and accurately as an effort to only be directionally correct with his hyperbole. Thus one ends up discussing the topic or theme that Trump lays on the table irregardless of the proclivities of the media not to have that discussion.
3
The problem is that people in Trump's entourage don't tell him about or dare to remind him of his lies. Perhaps they lie to him too, like Brad Parscale, his 2016 digital guru, who gives Trump "a perpetually rosy assessment of his poll numbers," telling Trump that his numbers have “never been higher.”
It looks as though many Americans can't handle the reality or truth and they prefer to believe in anything as long as it doesn't cost anything or contradict their beliefs.
9
That’s okay, they’ll come smack up against the truth next fall.
7
The continuous search for explanations for the acceptance of the bizarre actions of trump remind me of helicopter parents who don't care about truth - blaming teachers, coaches, principles - anyone but their brat for his/her failed grades, cheating, bullying, whatever..... In this case republicans stubbornly defend their brat in the white house in order to preserve their status via racism and tax cuts for the top 1%.
23
Actually, you need to co-vary IQ with vulnerability to what-might-have been fiction to understand why Trumpees believe their man. It explains most of the dynamics at work. Plus, Obama and his press corp didn't spew deliberate lies everyday, so you don't really have a baseline for non-republicans.
8
Oftentimes, people who are amoral are mistaken for geniuses simply because they are not inhibited by a conscience or consideration for others.
7
"... co-vary IQ with vulnerability to what-might-have been fiction ..."
That's pseudo-scientific nonsense unless you rigorously define "vulnerability to what-might-have been fiction" and explain how you would measure it.
The Trump supporters I know don't believe he lies. Cult 45 members worship at the feet of Donald Trump.
11
I know this is true of a certain proportion of his supporters - they will believe anything he tells them. It's mindblowing -- and really dangerous. This is how authoritarian rulers get more and more power.
10
45's supporters also don't mind that Gorshsuch is sitting on a stolen seat in the supreme court and is illegitimate. They KNOW that it was not right, but don't care, as long as the injustice goes their way. To my mind, this is a serious lack of morality.
33
The fact that Donald Trump is a dangerous, lying, immoral buffoon is no surprise to the GOP. Their crime is that they've known it all along That was made obvious by Senator Corker, and the response from the senators who said it is easy for Corker because he is not running. These un American GOP traitors have put party over nation, and decided that the nation comes second to their careers which might be threatened by the radical Trump loving base of their failing party.
14
A lie is just a lie. If people truly believe a lie then they are simply ignorant; if people pretend to believe a lie then they are simply dishonest; and if people are giving the president a pass on lying regularly for any reason whatsoever, then it is simply an indication of moral degradation of the entire society.
31
As a Trump supporter, who holds two post-graduate degrees, I can say we just don’t care.
We don’t care if he had sex with women other than his wife - can you say Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Clinton.
We don’t care if he lies about unimportant things - every president since Washington has lied about unimportant things.
We do care that Trump supports law enforcement.
We do care that Trump doesn’t attack men as naturally inferior like they were black men and this was 1860.
We do care that Trump doesn’t attack white folks like they were black folk and this was 1860.
We do care that Trump doesn’t cringe in terror every time a criminal, minority member or woman claims “victimization” to obtain special privileges simply because they’re criminals, minorities or women.
We do care that Trump claims to want to stop the invasion of our country by every poor, uneducated, sick, pregnant or terrorist who wanders through our undefended borders.
We do care that Trump seems to want to stop forcing us to pay taxes to support every lazy whiner who claims to be “disabled”, or “gender confused”, or has elected to live life as a drug-addled parasite.
We also understand that if Trump’s politics mimicked Obama’s, the liberals wouldn’t care about Trump’s lies about sex or how many people attended his inauguration either.
Hopefully, that clears up your confusion.
12
We get it. All the principles conservatives profess to believe and insist Democrats adhere to are suddenly and magically irrelevant as long as it’s your guy violating them. Understood.
18
You don't care if he lies about "unimportant things." Does that mean you care when he does lie about important things, or that if he lies about it, it must not be important?
If you care that he supports law enforcement, then what do you think of his constant attacks on the FBI, the Justice Department, the CIA, etc.? Or is that OK because it's unimportant that the president routinely trashes law enforcement agencies to protect his own hide?
There's no confusion whatsoever about what Trump or a Trump supporter thinks about "disabled" people, poor people, people who aren't men or aren't white, immigrants, etc. We all understand now that white men are the most oppressed, impoverished demographic in American history (but not victims!). Obviously no white man has ever used drugs, or has ever received unemployment, SNAP, Social Security, disability insurance, or any public social service.
So enjoy the lies he tells and the ones you tell yourself. You'll be wallowing in them before his term is over.
P.S. I'd have been embarrassed and appalled if President Obama had been so self-delusional, grandiose, and insecure that he needed to lie about the size of his inauguration crowds. Of course, that was back in olden times when we didn't expect--or accept--that the president of the United States of America would be a pathological liar. Or that a thrice-married, adulterous president would treat women with open contempt. But it's great that you're cool with it.
23
"Post graduate degrees"? From where, Trump University? I suggest you go to Donald and ask for a refund of your tuition.
Did you also forget? Trump doesn't pay taxes either.
15
Please not the OK sign in the Trump photo.
------------------------------------------------------
Why don't Trump critics also use the OK sign?
What if critics used the OK sign all the time? For example, they could quote a Trump lie and follow it with OK, OK, OK?
What Trump does, is he EDITS the truth, so that the media and his followers are always tuning it. That way, he gets attention, all over the media, all other the nation, and all over the world.
Why don't the Democrats fight back and get media attention, with gimmicks like the OK sign, etc? Hello?
3
A lie is a lie no matter what your political affiliation is.
21
There is a lot of lying in the world. Some of it is called lying, but most of it is called other things -- public relations, advertising, salesmanship, promotion, putting the best face on things, accentuating the positive, forgetting to mention the negative. Giving a false impression without actually lying is . . . a cleverer way of lying; lawyers are trained to do this and spot it, attack it, and defend it. Lawyers are not allowed to defend a client they know is guilty, but they are allowed to communicate to the client not to tell them, and they are supposed to use any defense that will produce doubt about the client's guilt whether they believe this defense or not.
Trump is open about his lying. I do not know if he has claimed to be the most truthful person ever, but such a claim would be typical.
Many trumpsters think the establishment lies to get its way and justify its positions, and there is much truth in this. So they are not disturbed by Trump, and find it exciting that someone is lying back. They trust him to be on their side, and for some reason are not worried that his commitments to them are lies -- promises that he has no ability or intention to deliver.
6
Trump uses disinformation very well. It is up to an informed society to stomp out his lies and punish the GOP for protecting him.
17
A case can be made that he is simply doing a lot more of what politicians before him have done.
The simpleminded will say only liberals lie, or just conservatives but "I did not have sex with that woman" is as big a lie as anything the president lies about on a daily basis. Of course Bill Clinton was punished for his lying.
It's also possible the president is so unfamilar with the facts that he doesn't he is lying. By now, people either know about the constant lying or don't care. The even bigger danger is that sensible people will descend to his level and everything we hear will be like a weather forecast; it could be true, right?
1
I enjoy his lies. I'm not taken in by them, and they make Times commenters go crazy.
11
Do you hear what you are saying:
The President lies. This is wrong.
We don't allow our children or our co-workers to lie. When you lie to authorities, it is a crime.
20
And if ifs and buts were candy and nuts ...
1
For some reason, I flashed back to 2003 when The New York Times was touting the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein. The Times didn't question the indisputable truth supplied by the CIA, among others, of WMD, AND Saddam intention to use them. From this truth, The Times wholeheartedly supported the neocon calls for regime change in Iraq. Tom Friedman preached that suppressed Iraqis were just dying for freedom and democracy...What odd things lie in the Truths we believe.
8
What this study does not appear to tell us is why, at this historical moment, we have a president who can lie with with such relative political impunity. Unfortunately, we can't go back in time and ask people similar questions at 10 year intervals.
4
"... a president who can lie with with such relative political impunity."
As the OpEd makes clear, not everyone sees "lies" where Trump-haters do.
1
At what point do his targets step up and claim defamation in consequence? He's free wheeling without accountability, ever.
3
The mere fact that a man like Trump has made it as far as he has, sums up how our society and our culture is to the point of being so deeply divided, it may never be repaired.
Trump is not the fire, he is the gasoline. He nourishes the deep seeded hatred and resentment toward anyone who is non-white, non-straight, non-Christian, which in turn boil to the surface. The lies only serve as a mechanism to allow these cancerous attitudes to flourish.
When Trump is footnote in the history books on what can and will go wrong with unchecked power and propaganda, we as a society will need to take a long hard look our values and beliefs. What brought us to this point? Are we a nation of, by and for the people, or are we a nation of sheep who follow a charlatan with blind faith? We will need to "Make America Great Again", without all the lies, fear and rhetoric he provides.
9
Sadly, we seem to be a nation mostly of bigots or those who condone bigotry.
7
When the NYT admits that Obama lied about keeping our doctors and plans, I'll take it seriously when it comes to "lies".
6
Odd. I WAS able to keep my doctor under the ACA. So who's lying?
11
That's all you have on Obama though. It doesn't bother you that trump lies like he breathes? I'm willing to concur that every politician, every leader does lie. I also see that in America we have a culture of lying...white lies don't matter....ummm Hope Hicks concurs. I think that is the saddest part, that our culture no longer accepts responsibility for their actions.
3
3000 lies to one miscalculation. Guess who has told 3000. (So far).
5
Look at it this way: You like Hillary and Obama's lies so we like Trumps.
Goose-gander.
7
When Obama said that, it was true. Then, insurance companies changed their policies and companies changed their insurance coverage. I myself have had several "primary care physicians" over the years - even before Obamacare - as my company shopped for cheap insurance. Nothing has changed in that respect
8
Well to use the GOP’s favorite example of a Democratic lie: You _could_ have kept your doctor under Obamacare if your doctor had signed up for the insurance company that was offering it.
7
Comparing the few falsehoods of Obama and Hillary (mostly unknowingly) to trumps thousands is like comparing jay walking to serial murder. The other big difference is that they, like most normal people, don't consider political lying, commonly called propaganda, to be an acceptable, even preferable, debate and PR form.
16
Did you mean to say that people who believe lies after lies after lies have a disconnect with intelligence?
9
I obviously cannot prove it but those people who believe something could be true are probably people who play the lottery or gamble in casino because it could be true that they would beat the odds and become a winner.In many facets of the human experience people would rather hope for an unlikely truth rather then face a hard, cold fact.
8
Also, a common excuse for Trump’s lying is that “all politicians lie”, and examples to support that argument are available for any political figure. Of course, that is like comparing Michael Jordan to other basketball players. Trump lies on a scale beyond any standard and that seems as revealing and important as how his lies are perceived.
9
I haven’t done a scientific study, but my sense is that everyone knows Trump lies. Everyone also knows he cheats on his wife. Everyone knows the Russians attempted to manipulate the election and that the Trump campaign was all too happy about that.
The difference is simply between those who care and those who don’t. The biggest divider there is whether you support the Trump agenda or not. All the Republican base really cares about is that the judiciary is conservative so it overturns Roe v Wade, that “entitlements” get cut back (except the ones they need, of course), that guns are easier to get than a can of Coke, and that taxes get cut for rich folk (because, of course, they all expect to be rich). So long as Trump delivers on those things, he could, well, shoot someone in 5th Ave. and they’d still vote for him. The lies and moral depravation are just noise.
The demographics are not favorable for those who don’t care, hence the desperate efforts to gerrymander, disenfranchise, and deport.
It’s a Faustian bargain. Time will tell if they can ever recover their souls.
28
Do I believe it could it be true that Trump removed a bust of MLK from the Oval Office? — Absolutely. Why would I think it? Because Trump has exhibited racism through most of his life in the public sphere.
Would Trump supporters believe he removed the MLK bust? Of course they would. In fact they would be dissappointed if he did not. Why? because the Republican base is comprised of people who see African Americans as a threat to white supremacy.
Call it confirmation bias if you will. It simply displays the level of racism that exists in this nation.
14
Trump will continue to denigrate the underpinnings of our Constitutional democracy out of ignorance and because it suits him. He is an amateur and has surrounded himself with political amateurs that he trusts. Trump thinks running the US government is like running his failed family businesses.
But the most serious problem is that we face is the continued blind support for Trump by the Republican Party leadership What incentive do Republicans have to admit that their chosen leader Trump is a traitor? That he violates the Constitution in multiple ways daily? That Trump’s extreme narcissism completely blinds him to the realities of our democracy? The members of the Republican leadership are far too busy pressing for more massive tax cuts for the rich, privatizing Social Security and trying to kill Medicare/Medicaid. They are consumed by eliminating programs that assist poor children, programs to protect the environment. The Constitutional crisis created by Trump’s refusal to obey US Constitutional law, such as the emolument clauses, is useful to them as a distraction while they continue to generate their own brand of economic and social chaos.
Only 29% of the US electorate helped place Trump in the Oval Office. To remove the current threat to our democracy we must remove Trump and the Republican Party from control of our government This means turning out the vote starting in 2018.
13
Actually, only 22% of Eligible Voters voted for Trump.
5
What we are talking about are weak minded people who can't understand that when one gives up their intellectual integrity they have compromised themselves and surrendered an ability to think clearly.
12
"Blame the human ability to imagine what might have been."
I'd rather blame it on F(alse)ox news, hate radio, and the rest of the republican propaganda machine.
I keep imagining what might have been had Al Gore been inaugurated in Jan 2001 instead of bush ii.
But then we wouldn't be living in quite such interesting times, would we?
10
Further to the Al Gore election in 2000, what if Bill Clinton had done the admirable thing and resigned?
Gore could have run on the successful 8 years.
No Iraq War. No Isis. And hopefully no Trump.
2
The NYT counts Trump calling Maxine Waters a dimwit a lie. Trump stating the obvious that Clinton is a crook, also counted as a lie.
You have your fake scorecard, much like your fake Hillary is a shoe-in polls.
Most Americans just nod in agreement with Trump and smile as you whine.
9
It was so much better when we had Obama who did not whip up this kind of hatred. At least then the hatred was coming at him from the sidelines; now it's coming directly from the President. What an awful role model for our children and our country.
16
"Most Americans just nod in agreement with Trump ..." Is that why Trump lost the popular vote by three million to Hillary Clinton--even with all that Russian electoral sabotage? And is that why Trump's approval ratings are consistently under water and seldom breaks 40%?
Not easy to respect an opinion which does such violence to the facts.
11
If Clinton is a crook, and that's a big if since there is no factual evidence to support she is or was, what would Trump and family be in comparison? Maybe things are different in NH. Maybe gross hypocrisy is embraced as intellectualism and the inability to assess facts and truth passes as reasoning. Or maybe, you've just verified the author's premise.
6
When will the left learn that they love him because he gives the middle finger to the establishment and the elites? It’s more about them than it is about him. This is just another dopey analysis of psychobabble designed to make the usual people feel superior to Trump supporters.
8
A celebration of bigotry, Whiteness, low information,
and intellectual under-achievers like we have rarely
seen........well maybe not.......
He's been trying to become one of the elites since
he left Queens to conquer the real movers and shakers
in New York........Having failed....and he has....He has no choice but embrace the
wanabees....no one is left....and all they have to do is wait for the bus with their name on it to run them down........check your paycheck......check his
8
Giving the finger to the elites? The Trumps just hosted their first State Dinner and the only people who were invited were their staff and the CEOs of giant corporations.
11
thank you
another exampl: D Brooks mentioned the salad bar at the restaurant chain Applebees
Applebees don't have salad bars, and liberal pundits savaged Brooks
but the idea expressed an essential truth, which is something lib pundits missed
If I may, the Novelists F Maddox Ford wrote many memoirs, and his position, was,iirc, that a lie that illuminates the past is better then a mundane accurate account
2
What others say & do is their karma, how (& if) we choose to respond is ours.
Take the high road, be a role model for enlightenment & kindness, leave room for the moderates of other opinions to stay in dialogue.
Disagree, yes. Attack, vilify, make wrong or worse, make bad & you cut off communication, cause the others to circle the wagons, thus becoming part of the very problem you seek to solve.
3
Lies, like mental illness, run on a continuum from being slightly neurotic to being completely out of touch with reality. Since Trump is on the pathologically extreme end of the lying spectrum, his supporter's tolerance for such distorted truths must have a payoff. The compensation may be in having your angry president indignantly railing at how you are getting screwed by those illegals taking your jobs and raping your women, and those elites making you feel stupid, and the press daring to report on the Russian "witch hunt" and that egregious war on Christmas. He legitimizes and validates those lies to oneself and, thus, makes accepting his lies a small price to pay. If this intellectually, morally and ethically shortchanged man is your choice for President, it is because he supports those base animosities, in a mostly self deluded narrative of victimization and abuse.
10
Or, we Trumpies just get off on y'all lefties' constant conceit of pretending to have a clue about us or anything. Keep it up. SNL is getting stale. Thanks.
2
Actually, many of us on the left enjoy a higher standard of living than most of you on the right, so the last laugh is always ours, and at your expense. I don't need the ACA, I don't need the low paying job you cry and beg for, I won't have to drink your filthy water, eat your poisoned foods, or live in your rusted out, opiate-infused forgotten hovels of education-hating, gun-loving, god-fearing (when it's convenient) dim-witted fools. You, however, will.
1
Trump is a cult leader in so many ways. He alters current facts and morphs history. My Trump supporting neighbor stood in his drive way recently declaiming that Hitler was right. He saw this coming in 1932. Hard to imagine that this English immigrant could speak up for both of these dictators.
5
It's not how falsehoods could be construed as true but the significance of the behavior . If I am interested in the actual inaugural numbers and in Trump's veracity, the number of folks counts for me .But if I am supporting my guy for President,hoping he changes my world in the ways he promised, what he is doing is a demonstration of his power. As a psychologist, I heard complaints from parents that their children were lying. These parents acted on the fib and threatened their child with punishment . But such an approach provoked more lies as the child defended his position, avoided punishment by lying even more. But what was also happening was the child's claiming to be a certain kind of person. Helping the parents appreciate what their child was struggling with helped them respond in a very different way. The child who fibbed that he picked up two one hundred pound boxes in the basement, boxes his father struggled with the day before, was not about what was true but was about the child's claim to be a person his dad would be proud of, clarified the approach to this child. This is not about Trump's people fooling themselves about what is the case. He is their guy and sees the world as they do. They dismiss what the mainstream media claims . They like his claims to power, their claims to power. This is not about a set of facts. It is about who is in charge and if that guy is for you and rarely has anyone so powerful been for you, you will hold on to that dearly.
4
I would find it hard to believe that among the many faces and supporters of the president are any citizens in their mid to late 80's and 90's. Those in that age group know that during WWII the only information about the war came from newspapers or radio or simple word of mouth. The free press was our bulwark against any and all propaganda. They would be astounded at the attacks on the press that currently go on. The president's voters and supporters never experienced the significance of a free press. Any one can see what is evolving here. You banish the free press and you wind up with a country akin to Russia, where anything goes except the truth. We are perilously close to reaching a tipping point relative to the free press. If those between 30 and 80 have overlooked that part of the first amendment or decided it was not that important to the present circumstances, decades from now if we don't confront these attacks,they will suddenly see that freedom of the press is no longer the distinguishing mark of a free and enlightened people.
9
"If it is not true it is very well invented"
(Giordano Bruno; Italian philosopher; 1548 – 1600)
2
There is a much simpler explanation for Trump supporters: they love the in-your-face irreverence that Trump shows to the liberal and progressive population of this country who they feel are causing white prairie-loving Puritanical America to become second-class citizens. The lies and antics of Trump are central to their support! They are feeling empowered and released of their anger and resentment. So it's not about the lies being excused or ignored...it is about the lies being the linchpin of their support.
7
Interesting thing going on - among the trump supporters and trump leaners I know, I have noticed they are not watching the news as much. When I ask them about something current on the news, I keep getting told that they didn't see it, didn't have time to watch the news, etc. (and most of these people were news junkies). It seems to me a clear case of avoidance. When trump had his call-in meltdown on Fox the other day and one of these people missed it, I suggest that we could watch it on you tube. He flatly refused. They may know he isn't what they wanted or expected him to be, but they are avoiding the issue. (for as long as they can)
13
The best thing any of us can do is learn to meditate and practice self-awareness. That's our only hope for seeing through our own biases and gaining clearer perception. Humanity is doomed if we don't have a tsunami of raised consciousness.
4
When people are misinformed democracy suffers. It doesn't matter how or why they are so, the result is the same.
5
There is also the attempt to find equivalency as a way to rationalize the lying, such as "but Hilary lies all of the time" (without providing any details or examples).
4
Thanks for explaining this. I was trying really hard to understand, which is hard to do when you respect Truth.
"People tell you who they are, but we ignore it - because we want them to be who we want them to be."
-- Don Draper
5
Trump is not a politician but an entertainer and marketer, two professions whose essence is selling snake oil, the selling of images, fantasies, and hope, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Selling snake oil is one of the world's oldest professions. People buy snake oil because they want it to work, and even if it's not working, they continue to hope it will. People will continue to sell snake oil as long as people continue to buy snake oil, which likely will be forever.
How many who reject Trump's snake oil nonetheless buy the snake oil from Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, Bank of America, credit agencies, DNA testing businesses, and many others that their data is private and secure? For the most part, people believe what they want to believe, mostly that which feeds their hopes and fears.
5
In an environment where we each have our own religious excuses and we each may carry a gun into a grocery store, and we each have artificial online profiles and we each get participation trophies (likes), of what importance is a shared truth?
Isn't my opinion the only one that counts? Isn't that the essence of Trump?
2
These explanations/excuses sound very similar to my mediocre or poor-performing students: "I meant to turn it in but ---my car broke down...my computer crashed....my (some close relative) had a hospital emergency, etc. A pass is expected because a meritable rationale outweighs the reality.
2
Donald gets away with lying in part because he relies so heavily on the use of arbitrary rhetoric that may be great for stirring animus in his supporters, but is basically meaningless in any objective sense. Vague phrases like "fake news" or "deep state" are totally dependent on what the listener wants to hear. Any interpretation may vary from one person to the next and may change at any given moment. "Lock her up" may be great fun to chant at rallies, but it doesn't translate to evidence. As has been said before, trying to get facts or truth from Trump is like nailing Jello to a tree. The only time it may happen is when he's under oath on a witness stand, and he's lying when he says he would welcome that.
3
This is a factual claim not intended to be antagonistic.
The vast majority of Trump supporters are religious (Christians) and are comfortable pretending to know things they don't know - believing in a fiction. So this naturally dove tails into not minding Trumps continuous fabrications.
If no one really demands facts for their beliefs - this is really a utopia for Trump to thrive within.
7
He loves the uneducated and the religious.
He hates anyone who reads stuff.
1
"Could have been true" isn't a thing...it's lying. The entire Trump mania — aided and abetted by his morally challenged staff — of dispensing with the realities of true and not true has no upside but many very serious negative consequences...short term and long. Trust is easily lost and very difficult to regain. But only intelligent, intellectually honest individuals comprehend this. Those who don't simply do not have an ethical compass. Trump is truly the liar-n-chief, and his supporters are no better.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
2
Nope~
Trump supporters do not mind the lies, racism and threats because the are the same kind of people.
It has nothing to do with "Alternative facts" or "if's".. Lies are lies: period.
5
The people who voted for Trump were entirely aware of his character flaws when they did so.
His lies are no more numerous than those of his opponent.
It was judged, that Hillary Clinton was a far more dangerous choice for President than Donald Trump.
Trump's lies are a function of his flawed personality. Clinton's lies are cold, calculated, and sinister.
3
Trump's campaign colluding with Russian agents to dish dirt on Clinton is about as cold, calculating and sinister as it gets.
7
Do people remember how Bill Clinton assured people that his nominee for Surgeon General had not done abortions? A little investigation turned up dozens of abortions. So was Clinton lying or gullible?
1
Sure sounds like an extension of the confirmation bias: you only see what confirms your view; if it could have confirmed, it doesn't matter if it is a lie.
4
So now for Trump supporters the lies and half-truths the president tells on an almost daily basis are acceptable because they 'could be true.' Eighty-two percent of Republicans support him. The Republican Party is no more than a shell of its past. Sad.
3
Trump supporters would rather have him than a liberal. The hate liberals to such an extent that the prefer to shoot themselves in the foot than support one.
8
That’s exactly correct.
1
Trump supporters don't believe what he says _could_ be true so much as they believe it _should_ be true, that it _needs_ to be true. This explains their ugly xenophobia, disassociation from reality, denial of change and any facts that doesn't suit their deeper insecurities and needs.
“Wittingly or not, Mr. Trump’s representatives have used a subtle psychological strategy to defend his falsehoods: They encourage people to reflect on how the falsehoods could have been true.” Using this technique, Ms. Huckabee-Sanders snows the American people whenever she steps to podium of the briefing room. She is a veritable one-woman blizzard of white lies on behalf of this Whites ‘r Us presidency.
The lying president opted for the safety of a rally in Washington Township, Michigan rather than attend the White House Correspondents Association Dinner. However, his lying surrogate did attend the dinner where Michelle Wolf spoke truth to power:
“I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.”
4
Political leaders lying is as American as the Declaration of Independence which most people believe was the basis for our democracy with "liberty and justice for all." No, the Founding Fathers were white supremacists who created a republic strongly favoring rich white men who owned property some of which was other human beings.
1
So, to sum up.
People think it's OK to lie if the lie produces an effect that they believe is beneficial.
People think it is NOT OK to lie if the lie produces an effect that they believe is detrimental.
So, as usual, we are just all looking out for number 1, and we are bending society's moral rules to do so. Not surprising.
2
Movies, television, etc, have made fantastical plots come to life in a convincing way, blurring the line for many people between reality and fantasy. For example, trump and many of his supporters have a obsession with conspiracy theories, the ultimate "it could have been" fantasies. Even the most preposterous lie can be seem possible when the proponent nullifies any evidence that their lie is false. For example, when President Obama produced his birth certificate proving his citizenship, the conspiracy theorists deemed it a fake. No need to believe the truth if it doesn't fit your narrative. People like this have always existed but not in places of power. This is what we have become....
4
According to the Washington Post. That is where you go wrong. And read the so called falsehoods. Trump says the trade deficit with China is $500B rather than $310B. Crowds at the inaugural, understated by the left, overstated by Trump, but not really a substantive issue. Perhaps you should look at the left’s falsehoods, “ You can keep your doctor”. The big lie on the left now is the Russian Collusion conspiracy theory. Until you drop that, no one on the right will listen to you.
2
So one "lie", which Obama probably thought was true when he said it, vs a torrent of daily lies by Trump.
And so far the investigation has yielded many indictments and a trove of information, all in the interest of our national sovereignty (and we have yet to learn the full range of its findings). Most on the left are not touting a 'collusion conspiracy theory." Patriots on the left and right want to know the truth about what happened during our election.
3
WHAT LEFT? The SDS isn't soliciting members these days, and the American Communist Party is a minuscule, fringe organization.I suppose if one is far enough right, every thing else look like the left.
1
But if we drop it, won't that mean Russia has won?
2
If good and evil are relative (as many Liberals say), there is no reason why truth should be any different. Keep your morals to your self, has been the left's mantra. Now the Conservative mantra is "Keep your facts to yourself". What's good for the goose, is good for the gander.
Trump lies, his supporters stand fast, ergo, his supporters must be terrible people too. Every Sunday viewers can watch talking heads pontificate on and hope for, impeachment even there's no evidence to do so. One can always hope and pray.
Many Trump supporters have no problem separating the lying, cheating man from the politician who takes on the liberal progressives in Washington along with the mainstream media who constantly have him in their cross hairs. As Mr Effron likes to infer, Trump's supporters are are simply to stupid to recognize the subtle psychological strategies being used against them.
For those who elected him there was no option with Clinton being the only other choice along with the Democratic party developing chummy relationships with Wall Street and Hollywood. With the likes of Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren or Cory Booker, there still will be no legitimate choice for conservatives. The media completely missed the Trump phenomenon and we could very well see a repeat of same.
Too many Americans just love to be lied to and buy into the Trump, Republican or Democratic party line! Others have no intellectual curiosity to investigate and refute the lies or half-truths or know the other side of the story.
Russia meddled in our election and must be punished. How many elections did the U.S. meddle in over the years, including Russia, or overthrow an existing government? The list is too long for the 1500 words. How many wars did the U.S. enter after telling citizens they attacked US – Vietnam, Iraq come to mind. Our economy is doing great when it is almost totally driven on debt!
We must find a way to hold self-interested and self-enriching Politicians and their staffers, from both parties, personally liable, responsible and accountable for the lies they have told US, their gross mismanagement of our county, our $21T and growing national debt (108% of GDP), and approximately 80T in future, unfunded liabilities jeopardizing our economic and national security, while benefiting themselves, their party, and special interest donors.
http://www.USDebtForum.com
3
There is no doubt that we will always get "some" people to think of truth in one way and "some" others to think of truth in another. Just imagine all the wars which have been fought in history. Two factions actually believed in opposite truths to want to kill the other!! Nothing can be worse than that.
It is my belief that leveling the "knowledge" base so we can communicate and debate without physically fighting is probably the safest outcome we can expect in a civil world. That is why a UN was created. However, wars have still not ended!!!
I think it is very presumptuous of the Left to think that energized voters will automatically vote Democrat at mid-terms.
You want real change? Then vote against every incumbent regardless of party affiliation.
5
I have read many, many of the comments. Are we sure this article is only about Trump?
By the way, politically, I'm a progressive Democrat living in a red state.
5
For the first time in decades, members of what has come to be called 'Trump's base' have someone they believe supports them, no matter what. And that's the rub.
Irregardless of Trump's history of blatant lying, exaggerating-his daily, reckless spinning of falsehoods, his base will not desert the first candidate they believe has their best interests at heart. And why? Because they have no alternative candidate to hook their 'dreams' to.
Add the notion 'no matter what Trump says or does', he is consistent in his message and they like that. He is a master at pushing all the right buttons, primarily telling them what they need to hear, be it the truth or a falsehood. He's hit upon a winning solution and until there is just something so egregious as to cause this 'base' to take pause, there is going to be a 40/60 split in our nation.
Bottom line, come November every vote will count unlike never before.
11
Never mind the quality of Trump's lies; look at the quantity. Total snow job.
2,400 lies in 400 days? Impressive - averaging six a day. That would keep the White Queen busy (“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast”); the rest of us just can't keep up.
You make an interesting point about the quality of lies. But to once say something wrong that could be true could be a mistake, while to keep insisting on something that is plainly impossible, thoroughly disproven, or contradicting what you just said, can't be explained away like that. It's just lying, a deliberate and outrageous assault on the truth. That's what Trump does. That what he does all the time. I'm sick of it.
10
In other words, that 82% of Republicans who approve of Prez Trump are ALL in this "could have been true" frame of mind? Does this qualify for mass hallucination? Is partisanship/
tribalism the most important motive among folks with the rightwing gene? Is believing more important than knowing? One can only wonder.
5
Of course, the first test one makes of an assertion is “Could it be true; is it at least hypothetically possible?” In some arenas this test is followed up by additional tests that decide whether belief is justified.
But in the Trumpian case, cynicism about motives intervenes, and when Trump claims conspiracy or “alternative facts” it is the mission that decides belief, not tests.
3
This is exactly what makes Trump so dangerous and a bigger threat to this country than any terrorist plot. How is it possible for the leader of this country to conjure fabrications that undermine it's existence and get away with it?
He has tossed around the word treason casually when it appears he is committing the most grievous acts of it.
Those who don't address the Russians are equally as duplicitous. The victory by Republicans was blatantly associated with them. Their failure to address and prevent the same has to be related to their desire for further success in 2018 despite undermining our democracy.
Trump's speech last night was abosulte despair, the corruption in the Justice, FBI, the Meuller investigation, his hands tied by the evil Democrats, he has been exonerated by the Congressional Committee, yet the witch hunt continues.
He claims to be a victim of a persecution. People were canonized as Saints over their beliefs in God, their loyalty to him rather than princes and Kings. Trump manipulates his base, I am your Savior, without me you are nothing. He is a 21st century Elmer Gantry that Evangelicals have replaced as their God. They discard all values that religion is supposed to exemplify, to simplify....treat people as you want to be treated with dignity, honesty, respect.
Despite technicalities lawyers bring up, this Administration and Repubican Congress have committed acts of treason.
The hot seat Sarah Sanders sat in was well deserved. She earned it.
11
"When judging a falsehood that maligns a favored politician, we ask, “Was it true?” and then condemn it if the answer is no. In contrast, when judging a falsehood that makes a favored politician look good, we are willing to ask, “Could it have been true?” and then weaken our condemnation if we can imagine the answer is yes. "
These are not entirely comparable. The contrast should have been between a falsehood that maligns a favored politician and a falsehood that maligns an opposed politician.
Another way of comparing would have been to compare positive falsehoods of both favored and opposed politicians.
I myself judge negative falsehoods more negatively than positive ones, regardless of whether I support the target of the falsehood. A careful research questionnaire would have separated the type of falsehood from the type of target.
Maybe the study did, but the reporter didn't catch that distinction. (See, I'm giving the researcher the benefit of the doubt.)
3
Lies are everywhere in politics.
Kanye and Candace are calling out some of the largest lies ever told. I am from the Democrat party and I want to help you.
This awakening in the historically Democrat base is a wild card for the next election.
If only Trump can capitalize on it.
4
Huff some more dope , ken, you don’t sound crazy enough yet.
1
Trump supporters seem unable to connect his lies to policies that do harm to them. The promise of better cheaper "beautiful" healthcare that covers everyone. Trump's claim that the tax cut would be bad for people like him him and best for the middle class. As long as they fail to make this connection they will continue to be entertained by his freak show.
6
The problem with the assertion that the lie "could have been true" is that it authorizes intellectual laziness. Stereotyping. Tribalism. Mob psychology.
We imagine political opponents are criminals. We imagine black guys waiting in Starbucks are a threat. We conclude that any lie is evidence of every lie.
We presume every [insert enemy here] is guilty of something and therefore we are right to impose punishment.
Isn't this how we justified lynchings?
6
Trump's 'base' is a minority. They were the same people who supported Nixon after Watergate. They will always be around. By the luck of tech, propaganda on scales unimaginable two years ago and with foreign interference, they won by a very slim margin. That will be corrected this year, next year and the year after. These people supporting him are corrupt and dishonest and must be beaten back at the polls. Everyone needs to get out and vote.
6
Many commenters are saying "Oh yeah, well Obama and Clinton!"
Everybody lies, my issue is Trump has lied far more and in more damaging ways than any other president. You literally can't beat Trump.
5
The "Press" is our only way of staying ahead of exposing this administration of it's authoritarian and fascist tactics. Through your editorials and articles the "Times" is educating the public as to the direction this country is heading. For instance Micheal Hayden's editorial in today's paper is a perfect example.
Stay on it. Thanks.
2
Sociological experiments aside, the appeal of Trump is that of a golden mirror: no matter how deep the outrage of his acts, his supporters can smile and tell themselves, “I’d do that too, if I were him!” Has there ever been a rich and powerful man so easy to identify with?
2
It is hard sometimes to understand if Trump is outright lying or poorly informed in many of his statements. As this administration continues to spread misinformation and mistrust I often think of my own parent(s) (Trump supporter) whom like many other parents would not never would have accept lying for any reason. Most would want their children to achieve things by respectable means. In fact I know they would not agree with the statement, "The end justifies the means." Yet, they and many others are willing to ignore this.
Kids so not live in a vacuum. They are aware of their parents' hypocrisy. What sill they teach their children?
1
No one wants to lose face or admit they have been fooled. The few remaining die hard supporters of The Con Don and other radical democracy-destroyers would rather keep their heads in the sand while OUR United States of America is destroyed than admit the truth.
The Con Don is a dangerous, chronic liar. He's just like many children. It's NOT okay. It's beyond mind-boggling that he is sitting in OUR white house.
Dictator Gover Norquist said it all - they do not want anyone who can think. He and his Robber Baron brethren will tell them what to say and fox so-called news will keep the lies alive. It's not sad. It's criminal.
6
Trump supporters feel marginalized and scared of changing demographics. In short it's racism and homophobia. Trump is the personification and their hero. Truth and facts are powerless against such pernicious hatred; it's beyond tribal and almost primal. These supporters actually believe their lives are in jeopardy and Trump inflames their fears.
"We are a nation of laws" is perceived as part of the problem since it guarantees equal rights to people of color and gays. Blooming fascists like Trump test the limits of the Constitution and the laws of the land. Congress has been bought. There is only one antidote to this frightening , gathering storm and that's the ballot box.
9
At this point, both are indoctrinated and can not be objective. The Left (my "side") probably more so because the weight of the media and political establishment happens to be here, these days. As a Bernie supporter and democratic socialist who lived 7 years in VT (and about 20 in Europe), I've been living in Trumpland for 4 years and I believe you've taken the narrative about Trump supporters hook, line and sinker. You should be relieved to learn that these people are not consumed with fear and hatred - they are good people that sometimes have dogmatic, sappy, or thorny exteriors (as do some NYers), but INSIDE they are often quite impressive (i.e. faux 'southern charm' is an exception.) To me, it's the opposite case with many liberals - sophisticated, reasoned and ethical exteriors, but behind this it can be pretty self-serving.
The republican party - always the party of morals - has no right anymore to judge anyone ever.
13
Trump supporters don't mind his lies because it's not his lies that they admire. They admire the no apologies, in-your-face-attitude Trump has when he lies and when he insults - and they admire it even more when he gets caught in a lie. This Trumpian attitude ABOUT lying makes it look to him- and to them -AS IF he is winning every argument with a slam dunk.
They think he's killing it when he calls Comey a slime ball and a liar. This is precisely why Trump's supporters thought that he did so well in the presidential debates. He called the other candidates insulting names and he reduced all policy arguments to a slogan such as, "Build the wall." He brought Bill Clinton's female accusers to a national debate with Hillary Clinton, when Trump's own stink from the Access Hollywood was still reeking. What did that show about Trump? He's a big hypocrite with a lot of gall. What did Trump's supporters LOVE about it? He's a big hypocrite with a lot of gall, AND he's entertaining. They love that Trump has found a way to shut down all debates with the experienced, the experts. He lies. He insults. He blames someone else. And when he's caught in the lie, he double-downs on it. He's the ninth grader who calls his teacher names in class and refuses to work, and all of his friends cheer him on. Trump has given people a false sense of empowerment: deny, lie, insult, blame, accuse, lie.
Refuse to show your tax returns! Forget about competence.
And they love him for it.
16
No one lies more than Trump.
So, is this an indication of how ignorant people are?
Utter madness, the decline of Society
13
oh how i hate that stubby little finger in the picture. how about this? anyone that uses that gesture is lying.
4
The bowling ball example is an exaggeration. Conservatives get that. We get that he is uses hyperbole and he uses it a lot . The left likes to believe everything he says should be 100% accurate when their candidate can lie be caught in the lie and they flat out ignore it like not mismanaging classified emails or rigging a primary. I bet almost half of those “lies” were hyperbole or twisting of his words. How about how many times your staff have deliberately misrepresented what he said(this is a lie by the way) or inaccurately reported something? You are worse than any conservative that you have decided are sheep. You are creating sheep. Stop trying to practice hitman journalism and get back to really reporting on things.
3
Ask yourself if all the Russian meetings, Flynn lying, Manafort connections to Russia, etc. were done by the Hillary campaign what you would be saying.
For the exact same circumstances, Republicans would have impeached Hillary already.
5
So the lies about Trump University didn't bother you?
Is the press practicing hit man journalism when they reported Trump defrauded 7,000 of his biggest admirers
out of all or a huge portion of their savings? The settlement was $25 million and most people recovered less than half of their money. And Trump only settled because he was about to be inaugurated. He refused to admit wrongdoing (a Trump "victory").
These people really were defrauded by Trump. these are real lies that had a real, destructive effect on people. And you can bet that in Cohen's records, and in Trump's tax returns, there are a lot of other ugly truths that are worth reporting.
5
This is the end game of our long term lack of regard for morality, civility, respect for others and for civil discourse, and, yes, manners, in the exultation of the individual and her whims. We respect no one, hold no one to any standard of morality or behavior-- unless it suits our own world view,or our own political view, or our own gain. The ends justify the means now, and no one realizes that it was ever different, or should be. Many leaders, church leaders, institutional leaders, have lost their way. All morality is relative. Ayn Rand would be proud.
We have become very corrupt.
14
Do Christians still accept the Ten Commandments?
Like to not bear false witness?
Just wondering, because I do.
17
The Evangelicals have dropped the Ten Commandments for MAGA.
But there are Christians who refuse to buy what Trump is
selling.
4
Some people enjoy being lied to. Simple as that.
5
Yep. LOTs of people, actually.
http://seniorjunior.blogspot.com/2018/03/folks-prefer-lies.html
2
High school course requirements should be increasingly be strengthened to include greater attention to government and its impact. There is far too much that the general population doesn’t fully understand. It’s hard to imagine how democracy can be by the people without understanding the parts and functionality of its workings.
11
"These results reveal a subtle hypocrisy in how we maintain our political views. We use different standards of honesty to judge falsehoods we find politically appealing versus unappealing."
DUH. They had to do a STUDY to figure that out? The message is simple enough.
We give people we like a "pass" and we are very harsh with regard to people we do not like. When people we do not like do the slightest thing in a manner that we can think is incorrect, we jump all over that. Sometimes, they do not have to do ANYTHING to become the focus of some people's ire.
Want an example? Here you go.
President Obama committed the unpardonable offense of being POTUS while Black.
Republicans sent around some of the most vile comments about him, and about Michelle Obama, in emails. I know, because some of my Republican friends sent them to me. (We never talk politics. No point.)
Want another example? Here you go.
Donald John Trump is an egotistical megalomaniac with a desire to be a dictator. That is an observation that I can support with observable facts, but 1500 characters is not enough space to lay out the argument.
Deal with it.
I am a well-educated (3 postgraduate degrees) hetero, senior white guy, married to the same lady for over 50 years. And I am a proud, unapologetic, in-your-face liberal Democrat. (It is my parents' fault.)
Biased? Who, ME??
Don't blame the poorly educated for their biases. They are just expressing human foibles, like everyone else.
10
With apologies to Gertrude Stein, a lie is a lie is a lie, no matter what alternate reality one can conjure up to make it appear plausible.
10
Oh please. This is so silly. The crowd size, if exaggerated, was made up by tv viewership. And who cares. No one is hurt by a little puffery. On the other hand, “if you like your health care plan you can keep it,” was a blatant harmful fraud. The so called “Iran Deal” was a huge mistake with a large pay off to Iran in pallets of cash and economic advantages for the EU. The end of Iran’s nuclear program was as Ben Rhodes admitted, “a lie.” Trump voters are able to distinguish substantive improvements in their lives from campaign rhetoric. Not so much for Progressives.
3
And Trump told you he was going to give you the best healthcare ever, with lower premiums, lower out of pocket, and more people covered.
But the real problem is the Republican tax plan.
They will add $10 Trillion to the debt over the next ten years. That is $67,000 per tax payer.
You, your children, and grand children will be paying for this.
Reagan cut taxes and got 16 Million jobs and a huge increase in the deficit / debt. It’s the reason they put the debt clock in Manhattan.
Clinton raised taxes and got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan and balanced the budget, zero deficit.
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and we got 3 Million jobs. He took Clinton's zero deficit and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. And he also gave Obama the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. He gave us the "jobs killing" Obama-care and we got 11.5 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush. And 20 Million people got healthcare.
And now with Trump, Republicans have done it again, cut taxes and increased the deficit / debt. And I expect worse job creation than Obama.
Already the 2.06 Million jobs in 2017 was the lowest since 2010 when the recession ended.
But people never learn.
7
Instead of asking a social psychologist who many have ideologically-interested motivations for his analysis of why Trump supporters tolerate his persona, why not just ask someone who supports Trump?
Ask me.
Some part of Trump supporters is encouraged by the narrative that Trump has created about lost American glories that he seeks to recapture, those “traditional” values and folkways underpinning an apparently happy and prosperous society that once made the non-pale, non-male and the sexually non-cis invisible. These are the “salt” types who believe that “what this country REALLY needs is a few MORE rednecks”.
Don’t be fooled that this represents all or even an overwhelming majority of us. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t even represent TRUMP, who telegraphed very different and far more mainstream attitudes before he went in search of a base that could be stirred enough to help make him president.
The rest of us tend to believe that we had arrived at an historic crossroad, at which as a nation and people we were so ideologically polarized, and so evenly divided, that we risked never being able to move forward in ANY direction again. Our parties had become worthless and we had become frozen in time: we broke our politics badly.
7
We see in Trump an historical discontinuity from which we will emerge soon to (hopefully) politics that work again at moving us forward through rational compromise; and presidents who rely more on standards of probity and character. But a catalyst and accelerant were needed to force that transformation, and … there was Trump. We took the shot at saving ourselves; and, so far, most of us haven’t regretted the gambit. The system needed a shock to re-align itself, and Trump, in his clown-make-up and the general recognition (and concern) that Bozo possesses such immense power, provided that shock.
Then, it helps that Trump is moving us in a direction approved by most of his supporters: less excessive regulation and lower taxes, particularly on corporations, to spur innovation and energize capital to risk itself; a more balanced governance of our trade relationships to better defend legitimate American interests; an insistence that atmospheric carbon isn’t going to be dramatically reduced SOLELY on the backs of Americans; movement of our federal courts to a more traditional “referee” role in our governance rather than the making of law that is the proper role of an elected Congress; a refusal to accept that borders and immigration laws are obsolete; and the willingness to cease endless foreign can-kicking exercises favored by allies who are not paying to keep the West free, while avoiding general conflicts that are so costly in American blood and gold.
3
Dear Richard,
We have crossed comments before.
You seem articulate.
But you are truly being conned.
Trump doesn't care about you or America. He only cares about himself.
Trump will go down in history as one of the worst presidents ever.
In the meantime, Republicans have been using these culture wars since Reagan, further if you go back to the Southern Strategy, to get people like you to vote against your own economic self-interest.
Republicans are hurting the country so the rich can be richer.
And Trump is continuing that Republican work.
It breaks my heart to see what Trump and Republicans are doing to our country.
We are the richest industrial country on the planet GDP / capita.
We have places with infant mortality worse than Botswana.
We have the highest incarceration rate in the world.
Our education for working class is pathetic. Have you noticed the states except Colorado with the teachers striking are all Republican controlled have been cutting taxes and not investing in education?
You can keep "winning" but you are losing in the long run for your children and grandchildren.
6
This sounds like the Vietnam-era explanation, "we had to destroy the village to save it."
Trump and his cohort insist that everything be evaluated on its financial value. The so called "Left" insists that everything be valued based on its societal value.
I submit that the lies coming from the left more often result in and support both overall financial (benefiting the most people) and societal value (benefiting the most people). The lies coming from Trump and his cohort more often result in and support very narrow financial (benefiting only a small number of people) and societal value (benefiting only a small number of people).
A lie that benefits the most people financially and societally is not going to be viewed overall as a lie than one that benefits only a small number of people. Hence, those small number of people have to whine and yell to make the lies they support appear more valuable.
I don't listen to anything Trump has to say simply because he lies a lot and repeats himself. He is not the only person in his administration that does that. It can also be said that those who are in control of the current congress also fits into this pattern. The only politician that I listend to and greatly admired was the former governor of New York - Gov. Mario Cuomo.
2
The entire article was about it, and yet somehow the author never once mentioned the word "truthiness".
3
The late psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled (1978), also wrote People of the Lie (1983), a study of malignant narcissism that chillingly describes our Liar-in-Chief to a T. The basic premise is that the Lie is at the heart of human evil. Peck also points out that this evil is contagious and corrupting. That assertion is borne out every time a Republican "leader" lies to praise or protect our Person of the Lie, and every time his supporters cheer him despite knowing that he lies. They have been infected; they have been corrupted.
20
Your typical Trump supporter, 30 years ago, would have been that loud obnoxious uncle that everyone dreaded coming to family gatherings, where he would rail against change and all the things that he didn't understand and left him feeling stupid.
These people need to be given some hot cocoa, put in a comfy chair and told to be quiet.
Oh, and we should also change the law fixing the number of House seats at 435. We should be at half-again that number by now to have equal representation. Wyoming punches WAY above it's weight class due to unfair representation apportionment.
12
"People believe what they want to believe, and disregard the rest" .... Lyrics to some tune (who?)
Elvis sightings, magic garden with a talking snake, birtherism, the great ignorant infantile white hope, Zeus, Jesus, Allah, Ganesh, exodus, Noah's ark, Angels, Devils, heaven, hell, trickle down economics, ...
Can you please increase my maximum comment size to one billion characters? It's going to take a few months to complete this list.
People will believe ANYTHING!
9
Simon and Garfuncle
The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel. "I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"
1
Telling the truth is more complex that this associate professor imagines it to be. The NYT runs a narrative of injustice. The world, as the Times implies it to be, is always running against the poor, the black, the gay, the marginal. Why is the paper that lives on high end products, fashion, million dollar properties such bleeding hearts? Because it's a winning business product. The NYT appeals to the richest people in America. These people feel a little bad about being so rich: so the Times provides what they need: a little comfort, as they go shopping for shoes and gloves. That's really what the NYT is all about. A high-end fashion medium that appeals to the guilty consciences of people who know that the world is filled with horrible pain...So what does the NYT provide as an explanation for this injustice? Well, it's the red state idiots who are to blame. NYC, LA, etc: they are noble places...It's they who will provide some answer to a world in pain and famine and unending injustice....But when exactly will this happen? Well, just vote Democratic and find out...It's just around the bend...
4
You mean people that support Trump are simply more religious than their political counterparts ? Religious people have an affinity for nonsense.
7
there are a great many people who believe in "heaven" and "hell." do they really think there is a heaven and hell? probably not, but it might be true. "facts" have never been facts in many peoples minds. trump's way of viewing the world is not unique, as the world is discovering. hang on tight, people. "we're in for a bumpy ride."
4
Let's stop pretending anything deep is going on here. Trump supporters don't care that he's a pathological liar because they are, too. They see him get away with the most blatantly obvious bull repeatedly and hope they can do the same.
24
I never realized there were so many different ways to pat yourselves on the back for losing.
Cheer up and take another bong hit, everyone gets an award.
5
The article is essentially a continuation of the denigration of the cultural and intellectual qualities of Trump supporters that led to his election, a political "analysis" which benefits no one especially politicians looking to win elections in a broad context.
The fact is that most of them know Trump, know that more often than not he lies when he claims to be on their side, but face the dilemma of having to decide between a party that has rejected and despised them, and one which, derived in great part from their social cohorts, is more likely to act in accordance with their interests.
4
Didn't despise them prior to trump. Actually, I had quite a bit of sympathy for their situations. Believed affordable healthcare would help. Now, definitely despise them for willful ignorance and putting our nation at great risk.
3
"a disgusting newspaper like the New York Times". Who said that ?
Answer - A nefarious bugger who is now POTUS.
He has the demeanor of a buffoon. The folks that support him....
the same pile that griped and grumbled for the entire 8 years that Barrack Obama was president. The Horror.
11
'"a disgusting newspaper like the New York Times". Who said that ? Answer - A nefarious bugger who is now POTUS.'
I can find no evidence that Trump ever said what you have in quotes. Cite a reliable source.
2
Many in this 'pile' voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012...... tiresome.
The same reason Cory Booker supporters don't mind Cory's lies.
7
Little kids display this type of behavior all the time.
1
It's not the "Art of the Deal" so much as it's the "Art of the Con" and the ability of the Con Man to sell you (or your brain) a bill of goods or convince you that drinking the poisoned Kool Aid is alright because the false Prophet says so.
We need to equate support for tRump as that for any cult, some religions and indeed, political movements.
10
Idolatry is stupid because all idols are fake.
1
Or, they are just frightened people with racial animus that get their information from Fox News, the propaganda arm for the most extreme and fundamentalist elements of the Republican party.
14
In other words - you stick up for your guy - on either side of the political spectrum. It's true outside of politics too...
When you really like some one you defend them. When you don't like some one, you do the opposite. It's human nature and it takes, for most people, a considered effort to be truly objective and understand their own subconscious biases.
It's pretty much what makes the world go 'round. Including pay for play in politics.
5
Sorry, I don't get the parsing of a lie. Where I was raised (Vermont) a liar is a liar, is a liar, period. There exists no "alternative facts" ( I find any expression of even the attempt to somehow allow traction to such a term, revolting). I choose to believe the Trump voters must have been very angry (good time to NOT vote) and wanted to send Washington D.C. a message of their anger. Trump is what the
William Jennings Bryant was a populist. Trump is no populist.
Never was. Could never be.
I don't follow the theory the Democrats need to coddle to the areas where Trump gathered the majority of the vote. I believe the current imposter in the Oval Office has made it quite clear he is totally unqualified for the position.
Coal has not nor will ever be "coming back". Trump has populated his cabinet with more "robber barons" than ever present in the 1880's. The turning back the time for environmental standards will take more American lives.
The only 'accomplishment' of GOP control of all the legislative and executive branch, has been a tax bill that will enrich the rich, and screw the lower and middle classes, an saddle taxpayers with over a 1.5 Trillion dollar debt on top of current debt. Please become familiar with your tax obligations for 2018 versus 2017 BEFORE you vote this November.
16
In 1996, a columnist in this paper dubbed then First Lady Hillary Clinton a ‘congenital liar’.
She was exposed during the 2016 as having told some real whoppers.
The public has realized that politicians embellish and exaggerate.
What is obvious to all is that Trump has attempted to fulfill all of his campaign promises.
Taxes, border, Obamacare, regulations, trade, jobs, etc.
8
Nothing he has done or, to use your words, attempted to do, makes America Great. Taxes? That was the Republican congress caving into the wealthy donors that own them, millions for them, a couple of hundred bucks for you, and massive spiraling debt for our kids to pay. All Trump did was sign it into law. Obamacare? On this we could have agreed, Obamacare is expensive, one size fits all, and the only affordable plans are the ones that do not pay anything with sky high deductibles and co pays. I was hoping he and congress would fix it, instead, my bill went up $150 a month. Thanks Donald. Regulations? I don't know about you, but I think the people in Michagen, Wisconsin and PA would be prefer their private internet use not be for sale, they not be open to predatory lending, and we like clean air and water. Trade? Even no brain Trump has finally figured out that a Trans Pacific Trade deal without the US is a great deal for China and a bad one for the US. Meantime, the US is no longer looked to in the world as a source of freedom and leadership, freedom of the press is under assault, and nobody has any plans to stop the Russians from messing with our elections again.
9
"In 1996, a columnist in this paper dubbed then First Lady Hillary Clinton a ‘congenital liar’."
If you are referring to William Safire, he did not say that. Here is the exact quote:
"Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady -- a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation -- is a congenital liar."
Lying about lies is endemic among critics of politicians.
Essay;Blizzard of Lies
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
January 8, 1996
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/08/opinion/essay-blizzard-of-lies.html
It's actually pretty simple. Trump tells the lie, the "mainstream media" is the messenger that calls him on it. After years of conservatives bashing the media as liberal elites, Trump followers, whatever motivates them to follow Trump in the first place, simply trust Trump but not the media.
5
Is critical thinking gone?
1
Gone? I would say it never showed up.
Rush Limbaugh and Fox "News" should have been hounded off the air decades ago.
In other words: Know your Bible! Thou shall not lie!!.....unless of course it's talk radio host or Fox News anchor, or if you've been so completely infected with disinformation, you want to believe the lie is true.
5
Not sure I am buying what Mr. Effron is selling here. I have a simpler theory:
82% of Republican voters want to believe the tripe being peddled by Trump, Fox News and others because it confirms their own world view--Everybody around the world is cheating America and stealing from us and that's why I'm losing my status as a white person in America.
It never occurs to them that, just maybe, they are being out-competed by immigrants who are willing to work harder, get more education and focus on making sure their children do the same. And that they are being out-competed by people in other countries who are also doing the same. Their big advantage--being white--doesn't protect them from being flat out out-worked and out-hustled.
Instead, they flock to Trump to seek protection from employment competition, both domestically and abroad. They want him to build walls. They want him to prop up dying industries, like coal. They want him to start trade wars. They want him to roll back environmental regulations because (I guess) they think they'll get better jobs if businesses can pollute more.
They don't mind Trump's lies because they so badly want to believe them. Because if these lies are not true, they are losing because they are unable or unwilling to do what it takes to win. If his lies are not true, they are just, well, getting their butts kicked. That's a hard thing for them to swallow, so it's just easier to believe the lies.
22
I would agree with you, except for blaming the fearful white poor person for not working. The blame rests fully on the uber rich and corporate leaders who pit low-wage workers against each other. They are being manipulated by the oligarchs in charge.
"Individual accountability" is as much a straw villain as "those [fill in the blank with your favorite group prejudice] are stealing our jobs!" The problem is not people who don't work hard. The problem is a system that refuses to pay people a living wage, a system that allows hedge fund operators (for example) to reap huge profits doing very little work and then taxes them at a lower rate than people doing an honest day's work for a dishonestly reduced pay, a system that increasingly relies on regressive taxes that take more from poor and working families and less and less from rich individuals and corporations that refuse to pay their fair share.
3
Lagibby, you raise a good point with regard to the working poor. I agree with you totally on that.
One issue I would also point out for this group is mobility. Many of them live in rural areas where unemployment is high. But they don't want to or can't move to other areas where there are jobs, like in construction. Our nationwide unemployment rate is 4% but we have a jobs/candidates location mismatch in many cases.
And while I agree with your point, I would also note that many of the 82% are not working poor. They've had it pretty good. They are just scared of losing what they have to people who, frankly, are just much, much hungrier than they are. So they want Trump to stem the tide, put up walls, keep the immigrants out, to protect what they've got.
Trump is following the old Goebbels technique of telling a lie so often that people start to believe it to be the truth. That is troubling. While it worked well in Nazi-era Germany, it ultimately undermines the fabric of society.
With his constant lying, his treats against those who disagree with him, his lack of a basic understanding of our Constitution and how our government is supposed to work, Trump and his minions are chipping away at the foundations of our society on a daily basis.
When he leaves the White House, he will leave a great deal of damage. Hopefully that damage can be repaired.
14
Interesting...
We can't handle your truth - you can't handle ours...
Makes for great conversation...
Oh - no comment...
4
This is nuts - Trump's inital foray into whoppers was about Obama not being born in America. You may think that some
Trumpistas believed this and you may think that some believed it could have been true (but that's kind of a mind bender).
But no one, not you or your useful idiots should take any solace in this. If what someone believes is not tethered to the real world, it can be catastrophically awful. Should Germans in the Weimar Republic not have worried about rising anti-Semitism? Well, guess what - they didn't - they just glided by it.
5
Look to the "Progressive" wing of sheep infested Democrat party for the current rising tide of anti- Semitism.
1
A) Why does the media continue to use the word falsehood instead of the word lie?
B) We are completely hosed.
6
Trump fans wouldn't care if Donald shot someone on 5th Ave. He himself has said so. They also do not care if he takes cash from their pockets and gives it to the super-rich GOP owners that put Trump in office to service the wealthy. Trump's true fans are racists, religious fundamentalists and people with little or no education. Economic issues have always been a cover story. They are fed inflammatory lies and propaganda 24/7 by Fox/Hannity/Breitbart and Donald Trump is now their Holy Saint who can do no wrong. That Trump is a racist, ignorant and a sexual predator doesn't bother these people in the least, even so-called Evangelists. He legitimizes their deep seated hatred for what this country stands for. The Republican leadership is desperate to keep these blind Trump followers on board and they do all that they can to protect Trump for this reason. Trump is indeed the face of the Republican Party of today.
6
Trump supporters can rationalize his lying because they, like he, love a lie when it strokes their personal views.
5
This piece could’ve been written about the venal and duplicitous Hillary Clinton and her supporters, as well.
6
In an attempt at balance, one might ask, why does Hillary Clinton's supporters accept her lies, email etc? If there is no compare and contrast in an article then there is the danger of solipsism.
But if you are on the left balance is not necessary, because if you are on the elite end of the spectrum and up pops one of the 'talking classes' or, tenured hermeunete, or secular priests or whatever, to assure you that there is only one side who tells lies...and that it is those, I can hardly get the words out of my mouth....those... deplorable Trump types. Yes, they naively buy into Trump's 'porky pies' (Cockney rhyming slang for 'lies') where as we on the increasingly secular religious left, at least we have a mission, 'resist' and in that mission there is only one side to be seen, so a faux psychiatric anti Trump polemic that will explain to us how those poor naive people consume lies is gullibly gorged without a mention of what 'our' side do.
Pace Derrida, one has to ask, what benefit; what seductive or intimidating bonus do we derive from this article? What social or political advantage does the writer want to cause Does the journalist want to cause fear, or pleasure? To whom and how does he want to cause discomfort. With his faux psychology does he want to inflame with his lofty proclamations? One can only conclude the aim is to further divide, and to divide further a nation already riven by partisan views. Don't take any notice of this comment I was only joking.
5
TRUMP Has benefited from Russia's crucial role in sabotaging the 2016 election. He won the swing states that gave him the electoral votes by 1% consistently, a highly improbable outcome. Without foreign interference. The 1% margin is not wide enough to trigger an automatic recount. Making it orders of magnitude more unlikely that the results occurred without the calculated interference that Trump bragged about. He said, If I don't win, it's because the whole system is rigged. What he meant was precisely the opposite--that if he DID win it was because the whole system was rigged in his favor. Between that and the fake news, it's easy to see why people support him. Like the Germans supported Hitler because of the use of the Big Lie Theory. If you tell big lies often enough, people will start to believe that they are the truth.
5
Your grasp of German history seems very tenuous. You might want to work on your swimming more before going into such deep water.
Concerning 2016.... retroactive calculations are very misleading - it's a misuse of tools. Take a look at the national map of county-wide, election results for the 2016 presidential election. It's pretty obvious that democracy prevailed here. (The Democratic primary is definitely another story.)
3
Trump supporters don't mind his lies because Trump supporters (for the most part) are not particularly concerned with the concept of 'process.'
The existence of the Trump presidency is substantial proof that a large minority of us do not understand the Constitution, do not care about facts and are willing to be spoon fed a belief system which runs counter to both.
WE torture ourselves to avoid calling it what it is--stupidity. But that is exactly what the Trump phenomenon is-- a congregation of the least of us empowered by the miracle of majority (well, almost) rule.
What I cannot explain is how our Republican representatives , many of them quite intelligent and accomplished in other circumstances, have been willing to enable Trump's disastrous presidency.
6
"What I cannot explain is how our Republican representatives , many of them quite intelligent and accomplished in other circumstances, have been willing to enable Trump's disastrous presidency."
I agree with that completely. It's time we quit calling Trump supporters "stupid," and ask why not-stupid people have enabled this man to rise to power.
3
This piece was not actually written by Daniel A. Effron. It was written by a friend of mine. Mr. Effron hacked into her computer, stole the piece, and published it under his name.
???
2
Hogwash! A lie is a lie is a lie. It's just part of White privilege....if Obama had lied like this?
8
Hillary Clinton is every bit the liar that Donald Trump is.
The difference is that Trump knows he's a liar and knows that everyone else knows - he just doesn't care what others think, whereas HRC does.
Ms. Clinton is a much more capable and accomplished liar than Trump because she actually believes what she's saying. However, this "skill" comes at a price which has lead her to bouts of paranoia and emotional upheaval.
2
Speaking of imagining things, I tried to imagine how much more readable this story would have been if it had been wirtten better.
3
What Nonsense!
The arrogance and self-deception is the base for accomplishment. If you like the results, accept the smell. If you don't like the results invent psychological fantasies.
2
2,400 lies or half-truths in 400 days. This statistic belies all human reason. If Trump had been CEO of a corporation and told this many lies, he would have been fired without recourse. People may accept lies if they are lead to believe it will benefit them in the long run. That's how trickle down economics has been sold for more than 3 decades .. to people who have no other expectations. People vote against their own interests because of lies.
Basing a candidacy on lies is a slippery slope, and history tells us that it true. Hitler convinced the German people that their desperate economic situation was the fault of the Jews among them. Look where that lead.
Trump has done the same thing with immigration, claiming that many immigrants are criminals without any real foundation. Lies and acceptance of lies will have catastrophic results for any nation that tolerates them
History is re-pleat with leaders who lie and cause their countries to fail.
We cannot accept lies from our leaders. Lies are meant to misinform and cause catastrophic results.
4
A very high percentage of Trump supporters also support other theories that require for their validity the abandonment of reasonable thought to "faith" in the absence of such thought. The best example is, of course, Evangelicals.
But the BEST example is the Big Republican Lie, used since Reagan to attract bigots like you-know-what attracts flies: "You don't want YOUR (code for working whites) taxes going to support THOSE PEOPLE (code for non-working non-whites)!"
It's a lie because nowadays, the biggest bunch of "takers" are Retirees, the vast majority of whom are white; and they are being supported by the taxes of "makers", the majority of whom are non-white.
And speaking of faith in the absence of thought, these Retirees still think they are paying taxes that support those despised "browns". What a farce!!!
4
Perhaps they should explain to their fellow Americas how this Lying Trump is better than a "Lying Hillary" Trumps words not mine. Are a women's lies more serious than the lies of an seriously misinformed and lazy loser like Trump.
Professor Effron, with all due respect, you are over analyzing why Trump supporters believe in him. This past election was all about white America giving black and brown America the middle finger. In Trump they saw their kindred spirit, a racist who will make America white again. Nothing else matters to these people which is why he may well win another term.
4
Well, you can rationalize just about anything, and maybe a lot of his supporters aren’t the most honest people.
Don’t forget, they’re the Deplorables!
2
It's bad enough when obedient and ever servile Democrats buy all the garbage that progressive zealots like Sen. Tester say when they attack good people with lies.
But the real unending shame is when media "journalists" with no ethics remaining BUY the lies and then never report or admit it when the liars are found out.
Tester has proven himself to be the very worst - a Joe McCarthy clone but without the excuse of a drinking problem - just pure, raw hatred. So what if what he uses his position to tell lies? Who's going to report it?
4
It's called confirmation bias. We seek out information, or near-information, or utter-bovine-waste-that-looks-like-information which confirms our previous beliefs and penchants.
It is very strong.
It put Drumpf in the White House, and it helps him go on with his slow coup.
3
As a liberal Liberal interested in progressive progress, I am utterly disgusted with the Trump derangement syndrome blinding my side so efficiently that it never attends to real problems and stays stuck on Trump. A complete lack of Democrat leadership is the problem in America, not Donald Trump. Our leadership is owned by Wall St., the military, and the rich.
Everybody at the NYT over 25 years old understands that all politicians throughout history are massive liars, the totality of the job is to lie. In counting lies as this paper likes to do, it shoots itself in the foot, a cost it seems happy with, perhaps because this new & worthless evaluative angle is popular with ... guess who? One side.
Politics is very old stuff, there is absolutely nothing knew under the Sun in it. From Cato the Elder ending every speech with the war cry, "Carthago delenda est!" to the supremely simple heartstring pull, "Hope" all pols lie all the time, because in politics speech is a persuasive lever, not an end. The closest an politician comes to the truth is to say nothing.
~~
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. - H. L. Mencken
"Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." - George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language."
3
For whom was this piece selected for publication by the Times ? What adult sentient person would read the concluding sentence, "Blame the human ability to imagine what might have been.", and not reflected on his or her total waste of time ?
Please spare us future articles where only the credentials of the author are first class. This is akin to speculating on the mental state of a criminal without acknowledging the nature of the crime.
4
So what do we tell the kids who may lie? In circumstances that may be different your lie would be a truth? Trump is a liar and many who voted for him may be sorry that they did it but want to be "right" and have no buyer's remorse or at least not say so publicly. Even Hitler had support from a lot of folks.
It’s funny to me that the New York Times has a sudden concern about truth from the executive branch.
Jonathan Gruber also finds it amusing, probably.
4
Trump is a very unique liar. All people lie, most just not very often. And when any of us are caught in a little white lie, we are contrite and maybe apologize or just move on. When Trump senses you have caught him in a lie....he attacks you! And that goes for anyone-friends, allies, Republicans, and of course the media.
So getting lied to gets you attacked, a true sociopath!
6
That's one explanation. Deliberate blind stupidity is another.
8
A theory of "cognitive dissonance" could also be at work. A hypothetical company survey's it's sales force regarding their opinion of a product they are selling resulting in overwhelming negative feedback. Management however, insists they sell even more of it or suffer job-threatening decreased performance evaluations and/or reduced salary/bonuses. Two years later they are again surveyed and to a person the product receives a high quality rating. The theory postulates that to support their primary need, job security, they unconsciously rationalize the reality of their beliefs to avoid the emotional conflict of selling an inferior product. In the case of Trump, a majority of his supporters need to embrace a leader who espouses their supposed values - oftentimes driven by fear, prejudice, superiority, etc. - exceeds their logic that he is an overt, otherwise despicable lier. Thus, they unconsciously rationalize that he is either telling the truth, or purposely shading it as a "white lie" to an end that justifies the means.
3
In the USA, conservatives and liberals live in two very different mental worlds.
Each side honestly & sincerely can not understand how intelligent people on the other political side refuse to admit that their beliefs are obviously false and irrational "lies".
What is the reason for this? Media theory provides the answer.
The liberal p.o.v. is shaped by print media & its values--objectivity, science, tolerance. Visual, Gutenberg values are embodied in the US Constitution.
Conservative tribal feelings, on the other hand, are a product of the gossip, rumors and panics produced by talk radio. (Mcluhan believed that radio made Hitler possible.) Racist hate radio has poisoned US politics since the 1990s.
There is absolutely no common ground between the two world views, which is why we are in a potentially revolutionary situation.
11
Absolutely. And Mcluhan was right on the mark.
4
Another he lies article.
This penchant for counting the number of times Trump supposedly lies, in article after article, citing fact checkers, acting all upset, isn’t credible.
For the NYT and MSM, who have been willing and enthusiastic participants in the hoax that is the Russian collusion nonsense, to decry others lying is almost laughable.
In a particularly bad week for the Russian collusion nonsense team, it now appears at least Clapper, McCabe, Comey, Ohr and a whole host of others will end up in prison over their role in subverting our democracy.
The public knows the lies told by the MSM and NYT are ultimately more dangerous to our nation than Trump’s petty embellishments.
4
The truth is that humans are primitive animals that go with the tribe, and no matter what, once they decide that a person is in their tribe, they very often fail to leave that person, barring rape or murder, but in the case of this guy, his horrific uncontrolled sexual predatory behavior for the last 25 years, which hasn't stopped, should be enough for any normal person to do so, but normal has long vanished in society at large, when it comes to the larger tribe of political ideals of conservative, Republican, liberal, and Democrat. Maybe that is the underling reason we got to this point in the first place. No, it is not maybe, it is the reason!
3
I think there is a simpler explanation. His supporters know that he'll give them just about everything they want. Warts and all, he's giving them tax cuts, deregulation, a path to religious dictatorship, antiabortion policies, and corporate rule over the nation. So he's a liar, cheat, thief, adulterer; if that type of person were to give me a billion dollars, i too would look the other way. That is, if i were a hypocrite.
1
It was the same with Hitler and his supporters. His incompetent, corrupt regime was built on a Mt. Everest of lies -- monstrous, big, medium-size and small. Virtually everything that he said in speeches, repeated without criticism or even critical analysis by his far-flung propaganda machine -- the Fox News of its day -- bore little relation to reality. But, as Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels often told close associates, if you make the lies big enough and publish them often enough, in time enough people will believe them to turn fantasy into reality; make them true.
My biggest concern -- and disappointment, frankly -- is how the once-august conservative movement and Republican Party itself failed us. Both abandoned their foundational principles. Far from being vast reservoirs of American Exceptionalism, or repositories of patriotism, or even "Christian" values, or acting as some kind of proactive brake or restraining influence on our nascent dictator, they obediently fell into line. Both now willingly perform the roles of accomplice, enabler and co-conspirator.
Without their open assistance and connivance Trump would have been sent packing long ago and the political, economic and social disaster in-the-making dead ahead would be impossible.
3
This is nuts. A lie is a lie. In our world, there's still a right and wrong and lies are wrong. The hoops the author jumps through is just more ridiculousness in a year of them. Trump is a celebrity anomaly the likes of which I hope are never repeated. When you start trying to put a positive spin on the lyingest man ever to take office, you're really lost.
2
What a sorry bunch of fools. How did the USA get so many? I fear we may never fully recover from the damage done to our country and society by trump and his enablers.
4
"We use different standards of honesty to judge falsehoods we find politically appealing versus unappealing." Which seems to be just a longer way of saying: #GOPhypocrisy.
1
Black Matter - Obama lied ALL the time and the media promoted them as absolute truth - example "Global warming is the greatest threat!" (J O K E)
3
I don't believe in this false equivalency.
The only reason I know about the MLK bust is that long after the story was retracted, Trump and his supporters were touting it, as "fake news." It was a shield, for the mountains of lies that everybody in the Trump administration was telling; and as I heard Hannity, et al, flogging it to death (very much like the way Hannity flogged the DNC staffer's murder, and the pee-pee tape debacle, over and over), yes- I did think it was plausible. But it had already been retracted.
Retracted. There wasn't even time to believe it.
Some people in the Trump bubble believed in birtherism.
Even now.
Some believed in Pizzagate.
Those things don't even rise to the level of the MLK bust story. To believe them, and to believe the implausible things many Trump supporters believe, is, as we say in the theater, "to suspend disbelief."
To me, this implies that it's more of a loosely defined cult, fed by the "madrasas" of Fox News and Sinclair, with its followers coming from the ranks of the evangelicals, to give it that hard-edged sanctimony that that kind of hypocrisy needs.
5
First thing a NYT editorial does is reference WaPo factchecking. Good job.
1
Well, why can’t Trump lie, if the Democratic Party can lie about Russian collusion and Hillary Clinton’s email server and the Clinton Foundation?
4
Back in the mid 90s, news organizations - 60 Minutes, notably, comes to mind - came out with articles about how "everyone 'lies'" and that "lying was inevitable and sometimes helpful." Coincidentally, at the time, Bill Clinton - who basically lied every time his lips moved - was president at the time. Food for thought for those who are interested in truth. Of course, most NYT Trump haters are indifferent to the truth, they only want the results of the 2016 election negated at any cost and by any means.
1
Effron: '... Ms. Sanders admitted that Mr. Trump had made up a story about how Japan drops bowling balls on American cars to test their safety, but she argued that the story still “illustrates the creative ways some countries are able to keep American goods out of their markets.”'
Effron didn't do enough research. Times reporter Julie Davis quotes Sanders as saying: "Obviously, he's joking about this particular test".*
The problem is that some people despise Trump so much that they can't accept that he might be joking to make a point. And in the context of Trump's remarks that should have been obvious:
"It's called the bowling ball test, do you know what that is? That's where they take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and they drop it on the hood of the car. And if the hood dents, then the car doesn't qualify."**
Any undergraduate English major should be able to recognize that as hyperbole. Or would it have been more obvious if Trump had said the bowling ball was dropped from an airplane?
* twitter dot com/juliehdavis/status/974364840293814272
** Transcript of Trump’s remarks at fundraiser in Missouri on March 14
Site: washingtonpost dot com
2
Remember when Trump quipped that maybe the Russians could find Hillary's "lost" emails? There are still people who claim he "directed" the Russians with that comment.
Taking jokes seriously doesn't make them "lies". If anything, it makes the accusations a joke.
But many of his lies aren’t jokes. He lies so much how can we tell which are jokes? And do you know for sure he didn't believe the bowling ball test was true? He believes a lot of conspirancy theories like birtherism.
2
It is even simpler that that. Trump supporters are liars themselves. Honor died a long time ago in this country. Let's put that at the top of the list this November. Elect USNA grads" Luria-VA; Sherill-NJ; McGrath-KY; Goodrich-OH. Gee, they are all Democrats, 3 are women. Why am I not surprised?
3
If American are stupid and gullible enough to think like this they will get what they deserve - a second class debtor nation, and it will happen by the end of the next decade. You can deny science, but it will not be denied, you can deny the importance of education, and the uneducated will fail, and you can uphold Christianity as science and law, and the rest of the modern world will leave you metaphorically in the dust you will be.
3
There is another explanation: Effective targeted russian propaganda fed to religious minded anti-reason zombies who intentionally choose ignorance and cult beliefs.
The conduit for the propaganda, Fox "news".
"Republicans" respect for authority really should be called Abuse of Power.
What is a Republican...a gutless loudmouthed bully, ignorant of the matter they are so fired-up mad about.
McConnell is corrupt; Ryan is a coward; Trump is a traitor.
4
Hope Hicks downgraded the lies she told as "white lies". It fits the WH narrative.
A lie is a lie. There is no white lie.
1
To give equal credit, a sister piece is required - Why Hillary Supporters Don’t Mind Her Lies.
6
Thank you for the false equivalence, Philly.
Donald Trump started an entire university dedicated to the Big Con and the Big Lie.
Trump's 'foundation's' main accomplishment is a giant portrait of himself.
The Clinton Foundation has actually helped millions:
52 million children have received access to education.
114 million people can drink clean water
11.5 million people get low-cost AIDS medication
https://www.wired.com/2016/09/unlike-trump-foundation-clinton-global-ini...
Donald Trump is an American disgrace story and America's most accomplished pathological liar.
It's sad that you have fallen for such a lowlife.
17
Crying false equivalence is merely a pathetic attempt to justify applying different standards of conduct based on political affiliation.
1
Very irrational, Socrates. Philly did not fall for CLINTON. They may or may not have fallen for Trump. Not everyone is as one-sided as you are about politics.
Trump's supporters are for the most part not ignorant people so much as bad people. They love the lying.
7
Op-ed writers and tv talking heads seem obsessed with rationalizing why so many people continue to defend or dismiss Trump's breathtaking and persistent mendacity. The simplest answer is that these people are deplorable, as immoral and vain, callous and ignorant as he shows himself to be every single time he opens his mouth or sends a tweet.
2
When discussing things with the other "tribe" I find that, they refuse to accept any of my "facts" since i refer to NYT, Washington Post, NPR , New Yorker etc. They usually stop me as i try to explain something by saying, "we have our facts and you have yours". This means discussion over. They also use stories to verify their belief, the surfer boy using food stamps, the hispanic immigrant cheating on welfare, the drug problem due to immigrants etc. These stories are their facts.
4
Nah. I want the borders closed. Was Hillary Clinton going to do that? No? Therefore Donald Trump. To me, Mr. Effron's essay is just background noise.
4
. . . but isn't it then also necessary to give this very same NYT article headline to our past presidents, so that we can just put an X here in the place of Trump's name and replace X as we go along? But then we have to ask ourselves why we haven't always seen this same title given here during past presidencies: "Why President X Supporters Don't Mind His Lies". Or was it in fact the case that past President X never lied? Or that past President X supporters just didn't mind his lies?
If nothing else, it seems likely that the London Business School wouldn't have accepted Mr. Effron into its ranks if he had included on his CV an article coming out of his new research titled: "Why Obama Supporters Don't Mind His Lies".
And that's when and where we really need to ask, "Why?"
1
Yes, people on both sides tend to rationalize for their side. However, let’s not forget which side belived a fake news story about a child sex ring at a pizzeria so much that one of their members got his gun and went down to the pizzeria to investigate, shooting at people in the process. Please tell me what the left’s equivalent of that is?
5
My opinion of Trump starts and ends with truth, which does not depend on my political party and fantasizing it could be true, like terrorists who blow themselves up so they can cavort with 84 virgins. Do parents tell their children it's OK to lie as long as they can imagine what they say could possibly be true? What a sad state of affairs. The lack of moral compass among a large portion of Americans does more damage to the country than anything Trump and his GOP enablers could do.
3
Interesting because I was thinking about religion as I read this article. Do people tell themselves they believe things because they can imagine they could be true (I’m avoiding calling them lies so as not to offend)?
Let's bottom line it imo, what history has taught us.
It is very much like the abused wife syndrome who lives with the alcoholic husband or the abused husband who lives with the insane wife.
The thing(s) they are getting ie companionship, monetary support, love etc. is more important than the abuse.
Same thing is true here. Social conservative issues, blue color job losses, immigration and with some bigotry is so important they will overlook Trump being a bigot, pathological liar, admitted sexual predator, philanderer, border line Russian spy ego maniac demagogue.
4
Ignorance is bliss has never been true. Trump's supporters aren't put off by his lies because they adore his racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, ignorance, which reflects their personal beliefs perfectly. The truth is inconsequential to these people much the way it was inconsequential to Germans in 1938. Trump's supporters demonstrate America's moral decay. How frightened are the white men who support Trump no matter how outrageous his lies? Very frightened and Trump stokes their fears at every opportunity. Keeping people afraid and giving them someone or something to fear is an old fascist tactic.
1
If your 82% stat holds water, if I were a leftie I would be asking myself, how and why is there that must resentment.
1
We know that Hillary won the 2016 Presidential Election. The existence of the Electoral College being a mere deception, a treacherous "distraction". Accordingly, Trump was unconstitutionally sworn into office by Chief Justice Roberts and has been occupying the White House as a LOSER, a bold interloper, a swindler overriding the popular mandate of the masses.
Start impeachment proceedings immediately! Waiting for the conclusion of the Mueller Investigation is absolutely unnecessary. Better yet, evict this Con Man for the Ages from the People's House immediately, and install the Clintons to where they rightfully belong, back again at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the unwitting victims of a monstrous falsehood. Disgusting!
May this comment be the center of the Democrat platform for 2020! Trump will sweep the country and put all the caviling about the Electoral College to bed.
1
I watched some Charlie Manson You-Tube videos before he was arrested for the Tate murders and can see where Trump got his 'tell people enough big lies and they will believe some of them' technique . Charlie read The Power Of Positive Thinking and dabbled in Scientology during his first stint in the can and when he got out in 1967 applied what he learned to preying on young, troubled women, while Trump used the methods he learned from Charlie to con greedy investors and gullible voters.
“When asked about a false claim that Trump’s inauguration had drawn the biggest crowd in history, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, suggested that inclement weather had kept people away.”
This explanation from Ms. Conway was clearly an outrageous lie. Everyone knows that, like mail carriers, “neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night” could ever have have kept diehard Trump supporters from an opportunity to be in his presence. Pull the other one Kellyanne!
1
You know that our democracy is at the precipice when you have academics writing long articles normalizing Trump's pathological lying.
Trump's supporters don't mind his lies because they have no problem with lies that are used to attack non-white people that Trump voters don't like themselves.
If Trump's lies were slurs about the laziness and greed of white blue collar workers in Michigan, those Trump acolytes would very quickly start condemning them.
They are hypocrites.
4
I, for one, am done with trying to understand the reasoning of Trump supporters. I do not wish to figure them out, nor have I any desire to plumb the shallow and murky cognitive waters in which they wade. I wish them oblivion. And defeat at the polls. They need to be spanked and put to bed without
Fox News.
5
The dumbing down of America, fake news, fake facts, "it could have been true".
1
Contemptible, pathetic, frightening are the words which come to mind after reading this Op-Ed. Something else comes to mind which won't require the bouncing ball, " I'm glad I'm not young anymore".
1
Let's just call it what it is, plain old hypocrisy, which just a fancy way of being a liar. They accept his lies because they have been pretty much telling the same lies themselves for years, and to call Trump out on his lies would be calling themselves out for their own lies.
8
Trump's supporters like his lies because they drive his opponents crazy, and one of the main reasons he is supported is because he is so good at getting under the skin of liberals. If he is able to fill the readers of the NYTimes with rage he must be doing something right.
4
This is exactly the kind of nonsense that explains the contempt many of us feel for the supporters of this President.
2
It's not nonsense. Not in the slightest.
1
You’re probably correct, and I for one appreciate the admission of the nonexistent political sophistication of Trump supporters.
Trump lies because he can get away with lying without any consequences.
Trump's supporters don't mind his lies because they hope that one day they can get away with lying without any consequences.
In other words, Trump's supporters believe achieving psychological, spiritual and moral rot is worthy goal.
Trump supporters are ignorant because they either don't want to listen to the facts or they fear being wrong and facing the fact that they have contributed to the end of democracy Also, like any cult, they support each other in their delusion that his erratic and sometimes downright illegal behaviour is a strategy rather than what it really is, mental instability amounting to the onset of dementia.
Pay attention people and remember in November!
1
"I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest...."
What else is new?
1
Why is the NY Times constantly picking at the scab of Trump supporters? For myself, I don't care about what Trump supporters think, yet these "deep", analytical stories about the minds of Trump supporters just never stop. If you voted for Trump, you failed yourself, and others, morally. If you voted for Trump, I never want to have anything to do with you. You're ethically compromised. If you watched him spew out his poisonous diatribes against women, immigrants, the disabled, the press, Hillary Clinton, the environment, John McCain...and still cast a ballot for him, you are a person I could care less about. NY Times, please stop covering these creeps.
2
The reason Trump supporters tolerate his daily lying is because they actually believe everything he says to be the truth. They are completely ignorant of facts or else they are informed by Fox News, Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh and InfoWars, who also lie right along with Trump. Trump is a propaganda machine and his supporters are true believers of his lies. Some obscure and untrue reasoning for explaining why his supporters accept his lying just makes it worse and pushes towards normalizing it.
2
They don't care because "truth" has little relevence to those ruled by their emotions.
Cognitive dissonance -Confirmation basis and false moral equivalencies help the ignorant -the uninformed and the generally weak minded navigate unfulfilled lives of anger and despair and then there's just plain old fashioned sociopathy.
AND now they have found a sociopath in chief and a GOP and Fox News thrilled to exploit them further!
1
Remember what happened to sharpton over twanna brawley. What he said could have been true. Let’s hope trump pays the same penalty sharpton had to.
I had two immediate responses. The first, & the rational, pretty much echoed Akhenaten2's post (tho I'm not a psych, nor play one on TV). I found the study (not just the outline here) to be, over all, valid and presenting a useful perspective.
2nd response, tho, was more visceral. Found the article, not the study, to be one more nail in the coffin for not reupping my NYTs subscription. I live among vociferous incumbent supporters, in the past year (or so) there have been 6-10 articles (some pure spec oped) that function as apologies for the 25% of USA pop., 33% of electorate that basically to not care how inept the man is. The articles also serve to 'normalize' the administration. No matter what editors believe, among people resisting current prez, embedded among fervent supporters, it looks as if the NYTs is 'going along, to get along'. Prez is 'high status' and to keep playing you have to pay; some 'due' respect.
Regardless of psyche profile racism (& and only slightly behind, misogyny) is a significant reason why the incumbent's supporters do not care about either his truthfulness or corrupt squandering of public commons.
NYTs will not even use the word 'liar' . . . (because they can't determine intent). They are leaving it to history to brand the man as a violent racist & rapist.
Stop apologizing for supporters. Once they demonstrate faith in the systems of 'rule by law' that has held USA together welcome them back into the fold.
The New York Times is far from the bastion of truth as it claims to be. An article like this is not going to make me think otherwise. The same can be said of the OTHER Republicans this article criticizes.
'Nuff said.
1
Garbage in garbage out. If you start with the false premise that Trump supporters don't mind his lies, then any explanation you come up with is going to be wrong.
It is logically equivalent to saying that Trump supporters support his proposed wall to keep out illegal immigrants. But many don't. They support him DESPITE the wall, just as they support him DESPITE his lies.
There are always going to be things about candidates that their supporters disapprove of. So no inference can be drawn from the candidate's views (or character) to the supporters' beliefs.
In the meantime, supporters may not be entirely candid with professors about what they think of Trump, because Trump is giving them most of what they want, and they don't want to jeopardize that.
1
Is this really so difficult to understand. NO republican was EVER going to vote for HIllary. None! Nobody! Nada!. It was irrelevant how awful or untruthful the Republican candidate was to be... they were NOT going to vote for Hillary. Blame the
Dems for fronting such an awful candidate. That is the long and short of it
Are Republicans that uninformed and ill advised? I suppose they are. They must have wanted to give up their health care. They must have wanted to give a big tax break to millionaires and billionaires. They must have wanted to let Putin take over the voting process in the country. They must have wanted chaos in White House. They must want to give school teachers guns; yeah that's a great idea.
I find it hard to actually believe that 82% of republicans support a complete incompetent as the leader of the nation. They need to think for a minute what the heck they are supporting.
This is way too much thinking on something that is not that complicated. Trump supporters know all about his multitude of faults and his terrible personality but to them he is still much better than the open-borders, gender-neutral, anti-white, anti-American liberal agenda. It's really that simple folks.
1
What ever the exact answer(s) may be, it's a good argument for better education. We are way down the slippery slope with stupidity here in this country.
2
Trump has said AND done enough things to impeccable the next 3 POTUS. In spite of this, he continues to get 40% of support. We now know why: a section of white America fears losing "control" enjoyed the past 250 years. Like Howard Beal in Network, he feeds that fear and anger
1
Trump supporters don't mind his lies as long as liberals keep getting upset about them.
3
There is little subtle or in need of psychological study of this “phenomena”. Americans who support Trump do so because he is creating a world, both real and imaginary, that they want to live in. His few acts and many lies create the totalitarian state they desire, one in which the strongman does as he pleases against undesirable people, foreigners and facts. It is important to look at sociology and history, not psychology to understand this phenomenon. People, including Americans, are easily influenced by fear especially in times of uncertainty and want a strong, fearless person to save them. What helps this phenomenon to continue is the fearful press who accept and use terms like “campaign-style rally” when it is more aptly described as a “Nuremberg-style rally” or calling the Neo-Nazis the “Alt-Right”. Trump is showing that we are “The Monsters on Maple Street”. When will we finally have the courage to call out Trump and his people for who they are?
1
The article is very good but the headline is misleading. The author points out that this phenomenon is shared by both Trump supporters and his opponents. The only difference is that Trump tells so many more lies. So it isn't really just about Trump supporters, but you wouldn't know that from the headline. We used to call that 'Yellow Journalism" Shame on you NYT.
1
From the place discovered false equivalence, invented duplicity, and scaled it to global industry on par with the Continental chemical industry...
High praise indeed - even if fake praise...
...
Now that you've confirmed that afterburners can be built onto a campaign promise's exhaust hot air to yield even more thrust, what's next...
Indoor plumbing???
Consider for a moment how the press, from very early on in the campaign, drew comparisons between Trump and Hitler, and claimed that Trump's 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan was about white supremacy and returning to the days of Jim Crow.
Really? So was Charles De Gaulle of France also a white supremacist? Gaullism, according to one biographer:
"the Gaullist idea of France set out to restore the honor of the nation and affirm its grandeur and independence" with de Gaulle seeking to "construct a messianic vision of France's historic destiny, reaffirm its prestige in the world, and transcend the national humiliations of the past."
Gaullism, in short, was scarcely different from "Make America Great Again." And yet, Charles De Gaulle was leader of the Free French, and the very face of the opposition to the likes of Adolf Hitler.
In jumping to the intellectually lazy comparisons to Hitler, while ignoring other populists like William Jennings Bryant, Juan Peron and Huey Long, and figures who wanted to restore their nation to the prestige of a different time, like De Gaulle, the press effectively neutralized Trump's lies. It hardly mattered if he wasn't truthful, when what his supporters read in the NYT and elsewhere about him was invariably untruthful and distorted as well.
2
Are you trying to lump Trump in with these historic figures? None of them were without their problems—yeah, I suspect some had white supremacists sentiments if not labels—but I think they wouldn’t want to be in his company.
People who don’t think it’s unethical to tell lies have no ethics and are liars themselves. I’m tired of articles written to posit why trump voters think or behave as they do.
Interesting research, howsome ever, they are not falsehoods or fabrications....they are LIES, plain and simple. Stop with the euphemisms, already!
1
Another day, another piece about trying to analyze the misunderstood Trump voter. Let's give it a rest. The Trump supporter is a lost cause to whom, as the article "discovers", truth is flexible. Conservatives are tied to ideology, not facts.
Ideology: Tax cuts for the rich boost the economy.
Reality: Tax cuts for the rich never raises all boats, they just make the rich richer and the wealth inequity gap broader.
Ideology: Obama was a Muslim. Trump will bring back Christianity.
Reality: Obama is a Protestant Christian, as is Hillary Clinton. Both attend church nearly every Sunday. Trump never sets foot in a church.
Ideology: Obama lied about keeping your doctor.
Reality: You only lost your doctor if the health plan you were paying for was so poor that the ACA's upgrades wiped it out. But conservatives still would rather pay for a worthless health plan so they can bring up this Obama "lie" again and again.
Ideology: Obama wasted government money by going home to Hawaii twice a year.
Reality: Just look around - $31K dinette sets, first class travel to the eclipse, golfing 4 days a week - but it is not a Democrat in office, so Trump voters don't care.
Ideology: Trump is crude, but he gets things done. #MAGGOT
Reality: Just look around once more - he has accomplished exactly zero for his base.
Let's just ignore the lost cause, post-truth, willfully ignorant Trump base and motivate the complacent non-voter who sits at home failing to vote to preserve his own Democracy.
4
This psychological response sounds similar to the same excuses that abused spouses claim when asked why are you still hanging around? But.. I love him..he will be better..
A lie, is a lie, is a lie!
When the supposed leader of the free world, our country, does it time and time again, and we are okay with it because it feasibly could be true, that says a lot about how ignorant and gullible we really are as a nation.
Personally, I'm not okay with it. We ALL shouldn't be okay with it. It is a national tragedy that so many are okay with the stack of lies, and are willing to look the other way and support it.
If this is how America is supposed to be made great again, we are blowing it...bigly!
1
So the democrats are running a sex ring for pedophiles out of a pizza place is believed because it "could" be true? And Obama was not born in the US because it "could" be true? Come on this article doesn't deal with the true profile of the Trump supporters, the article today that white males are losing the supremacy they have always had is a much better argument. These folks don't care about the truth they want to stay on top.
1
Ugh. I'm exhausted. Can t he just go?
1
"...when judging a falsehood that makes a favored politician look good, we are willing to ask, “Could it have been true?” and then weaken our condemnation if we can imagine the answer is yes. By using a lower ethical standard for lies we like, we leave ourselves vulnerable to influence by pundits and spin doctors...."
"We" don't do any such thing. Maybe low-information halfwits -- those who think their TV characters are real people, for example -- won't listen to any unpleasant news about their politicians, but thoughtful, intelligent people do not think that way. The fact that you voted for a politicians does not mean you are married to him for better or worse. If only the news media would learn that -- and stop acting like everybody that voted for Hillary (or Donald) is forever stuck with that choice till death do them part. This nonsense, I think, began with Bill Clinton -- everybody that voted for him had to be in love with him, and couldn't see his shortcomings. But many of us (most, I'd say) could and did see he was a priapic egotistical creep -- just like our current president.
This article needs to read in conjunction with the other recent study which found Trump voters were not voting out of economic or trade insecurity, indeed many are neither poor nor uninformed, they were voting out if a deep anxiety that the historic majority ethnic group would in the near future, no longer be the majority. Add to that mix the confirmation bias that comes from rationalizing falsehoods with an attitude, that well, it could have been true, like Muslims are coming to kill us, Mexicans are coming to rape us, and LGBT s are coming to destroy the family, and the media despises Jude Christian religion. This is what we are really dealing with.
If you applied the same low standard to your spouse, your co-worker, your teenager, your doctor, your accountant, etc., you'd experience many experiences in life as a sucker and a fool.
Honesty generates trust, and we all want to trust those on whom we depend. To allow the president a pass for the many lies he tells each day is to invite him the unprecedented privilege of making it up as he goes along. Those who accept such a low standard in return for what they need to imagine will be proven to be good for them are suckers and fools.
We must demand the highest standards of honesty and trustworthiness from a president, and call out every one of his transparent lies.
1
They don't care that Trump is lying to them as long as he's making everyone else as miserable as they are.
4
I have a pistol, shotguns and a 22 rifle, I haven't loaded any of them in about 30 years. I know they don't keep me safe. Most Trump voters/supporters I know own and have loaded guns, they imagine this keeps them safe.
They're scared to death of many things and are willing to give up everything to feel safe.
That is what the Trump Presidency is a loaded pistol in the hand of a drunk fool.
1
Interesting column. I would like to offer another motivating factor: Trump outrages those on the political left, and the political right likes that.
2
No puzzle here; human nature is frequently inclined to accept and repeat nonsense that reinforces an otherwise indefensible prejudice. Both the response and the underlying prejudice are invariably driven by unacknowledged fears that dare not risk exposure.
2
America just wants something to justify our tax dollars. At least now we get a show.
1
It's not the "human ability to imagine what might have been" it's the cynical manipulation of a large number of people in order to deceive them to gain power. It is evil, and will eventually end our democracy. All we can do is fight as hard as we can against this re-definition of the truth.
3
How about just call it a lie? That's what it is. The people who fall for the obvious ones do not engage in critical thinking. That's it in a nutshell. There you go--no need for your research...or your column justifying the unjustifiable.
4
A very sad commentary, supported by empirical evidence, that a large percentage of Americans are thoroughly irrational in their desire to live in a fantasyland versus real world. This same fantasyland is how autocrats such as Putin and Xi manipulate and control their people.
3
I think Mr. Effron's explanation has a lot of truth.
Another way to put his point is that Mr. Trump's lies are, or are taken by his supporters to be, not literally true but symbolically true, which ironically may make their “truth” deeper. This is not “truthiness”, which is another way of saying “roughly true” or “directionally true”. This is completely true, to supporters, but at a deeper level. This is a recognition of essence, not a quibble about facts. Mr. Trump’s detractors miss this point entirely.
One of Mr. Trump's secrets is that as a leader he is a very "positive" person. Yes, he does say there are all these problems, and some he blames on his predecessors or others. But then he says, I will fix it. And I know how. (And I am the only one who can fix it). This kind of commitment to results creates followers.
This, it can validly be pointed out, was also part of the secret of Hitler and Mao, whose following was immense, each was a Messiah of sorts. This lesson is probably not entirely lost on Mr. Trump, who is a far more thoughtful person and a student of history than people give him credit for (at their peril). Of course, unlike Mr. Trump, those two earlier leaders were not forces for good, but intelligent people borrow and appropriate from everywhere to achieve their goals.
1
Professors of logic are spinning in their graves. It "could" have been true doesn't cut it for me.
3
Trump supporters believe everything he says. They don't care if it's the truth or not. Trump haters don't believe anything he says. They also don't care if it's the truth or not.
1
Maybe. But do not suppose everyone who opposes Trump hates him.
He's an uninformed moron and bigot, but that doesn't prevent most people (I'd venture) from disliking him based on his disassociation with the facts, his cruelty and prejudice. I don't like that he lies incessantly — a fact, mind, not a perception — that he endangers the country almost daily with provocation, and that he hurts the poor and weak at every opportunity. I don't hate him at at, but I do despise him. Not because of who he is, but because of what he says and does.
Ms. Pea: "Trump supporters believe everything he says."
*****
Uh, no. Trump's supporters can distinguish between an exaggeration, a joke and hyperbole. Repeatedly these subtleties are lost on Trump's critics; yet they consider themselves more intelligent?
Good luck selling that.
Oh, I think you just came up with a fun game! Exaggeration, joke, lie. (The difference between hyperbole and exaggeration is too slight.)
—inauguration size?
—millions of fraudulent votes?
—our trade deficit with Canada? China?
—who’s paying for the wall?
—Obama was born in Kenya?
—Alex Jones is a great guy, I’ll make him proud?
—fine people on both sides?
Wow, we could play this for hours!
In his farewell address, George Washington cautioned Americans against forming factions.
He said that “Party spirit agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”
Now, I fully expect that a typical Trump hater will ignore Washington’s advice and instead focus on the fact that he owned slaves.
People are rooting for their side and nothing else matters.
I don't like, and do not tolerate being lied to by someone I support any more than by someone I don't support. I want the truth regardless of what I might prefer to hear.
What's going on with trump supporters is something else entirely. It's not that they "don't mind his lies", they know he lies and they don't care. He tells them what they want to hear and they eat it up. The real question is, why.
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All politicians lie. Remember " I did not have sex with this women" as just one example. It is hard to tell when any of them is actually telling the truth. Remember, most of them are in politics for one reason and that is to get re-elected. Me first, Party second, and Country third that is the order of priority. It is all about the power that an elected office offers. Once you accept that then you can base your support, not on the individual, but on the platform that they are standing on and representing. In that you have a few choices, Conservative or liberal Republican, true Conservative, "blue dog" or liberal/progressive Democrat, or Socialism which seems to be creeping into our country.
Then, of coarse , there is the media. They will take the facts, or in some cases the fiction , and spin them to advance their own agenda and political leanings.
What happens after this onslaught of questionable information is that the electorate is left wondering just who to believe. My solution to this is to go back to the
Constitution and what the founders had in mind for this experiment in democracy. Then ask yourself one simple question, what platform will guarantee America's survival without going bankrupt in the process. That is the platform you should support.
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I'm contesting the assertion of this article by using the example of Al Franken, whose Senate career and possible presidential candidacy were completely derailed by allegations, many not proven, that he had been guilty of sexually inappropriate behavior.
While I, as a lifelong liberal Democrat, am more inclined to want to believe negative things about right-wingers and Republicans, I still check the facts. And as far as I know, no left-winger has yet armed himself and crossed state lines to rescue supposed child-sex slaves held in the basement of a pizzeria.
5
Despite all of the theories to the contrary, Trump supporters voted for him specifically because they were white people facing the browning of America and they didn't like that future. Obama's election was their Fort Sumter moment. There is nothing in Trump's lies that betrays his promise to "Make America White Again."
2
I am one of such supporters. I liked Obama and voted for him the first time around. He appeared(s) a reasonable man, a well-educated and thoughtful one, and a true gentleman. So did Jimmy Carter, for example. Yet, it turns out, such qualities are desirable in a husband or a son-on-law, but not in a President. Obama was one of the largest disappointments as far as accomplishing anything. His were 8 years of Presidency wasted. Trump, on the other hand, accomplishes. He succeeds. Despite all the dysfunctionality and scandal. The guy really DOES make America great again, week after week. As such, I will hold my nose and vote for His Party in Noveber to give Him more time to build our Country back.
1
In what way is Trump making America great again? He is undoing anything-Obama and President Obama increased the stability of this country's economy. Now we're looking forward to all an increased national debt and reduction of regulations that will burden us even more in multiple ways.
1
Exactly the same for me. Trump was put there to shake up the system and get things done. Little did we all know how one sided our journalist have become and how they will stop at nothing to twist things to stop him from accomplishing anything. Turns out the swamp was wider than anticipated.
Trump is an entertaining comedian, doing excellent parodies of dictators. Everyone knows this. Everyone knows that politicians lie. It's part of the job. Trump's forte is turning lies into comedy. His supporters love it -- and so do his opponents. We all look forward to more of the same -- just as we tune in to Colbert et al (live or via NYT).
The difference between Trump and other politicians is that his lies are obvious and usually insignificant. Most politician's lies are only obvious in hindsight. ("If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.")
So Trump's lies are generally discounted and they don't affect his supporters (or opponents) one way or the other. They rarely if ever have any impact on policy. So lie away, Mr. Trump. It's who you are and it won't change anyone's opinion anyway.
2
Trump's lies/misleading statements: 2400+ and counting by the hour...in just over a year in office.
Pres. Obama's lies/misleading statements: NYTimes documented 18 and Politifact claimed a total of 48.....in EIGHT YEARS.
I recall being a young mother with a neighbor who had two children: one was a sweet, kindhearted young girl and the other was a boy who, according to his parents, could/would never do anything wrong. The reality was, however, the boy had a nasty, mean streak and lied with every breath he took, all resulting in much trouble, anxiety and hurt for parents and children in the neighborhood and at school, and much trauma for his sister (who was often blamed by him and his parents for his behavior/acts). The Family moved rather than face reality/engage in good faith efforts to help their own child. I don't think I need spell out the parallels.
Also, one might consider: if a person lies to you constantly and you know it, becoming accustomed to disbelieving everything they say (until independently verified) seems to me to be reasonable, rational and prudent behavior. On the other hand, if a person is not known to be a non-stop liar, being reluctant to accept the claim that they've lied (until independently verified) is also reasonable, rational and prudent behavior, as is asking the question "why would he/she lie about this".
Trump's cult of personality does not engage in reasonable, rational nor prudent behavior, imho.
1
The poor and minorities have lived with this psychological phenomenon for all times with terrible consequences.
So, perhaps, this suggests that police shoot African Americans because they believe they could be carrying a gun at a higher rate than whites.
Of course, most stereotypes and today's world of internet memes are so believable because the leap of belief in many cases has been culturally ingrained.
I can not be part of this “ alternative facts “ reality .
I don’t recognize this country anymore .
This is not the right direction for our nation .
This America is fake .
2
This article explains nothing, only rephrases the problem for now the question becomes: Why Trump supporters confuse reality with what could have been? Oe better: How can one become an associate professor at a London Business School without an elementary knowledge or capacity to know what it means to understand or explain something?
To a serious person it is obvious already from the article's title that it will be empty of meaning - for how can one know a Trump supporter's mind? If I am not a supporter of something, how can I know why others support it? Instead of pretending that I understand that, I should look for patterns and histories that lead to social behaviours.
And when it comes to Trump's supporters, many serious people, notably Paul Krugman in this newspaper, have been demonstrating that the modern GOP is constructed on lies and denials of reality and truth. Krugman has been arguing this for years, predicting that the extreme (read Trump) would appear and nothing would change. And this is what understanding means: Connecting the new with previous, strange with existing, thus correlating apparently disassociated phenomena. The author ignores completely this elementary fact and simply ignore a vast literature on the subject. Which to me brings a real question: why should NYT publish such a low level article?
1
I think that lying is an art for some people as as such becomes more acceptable. In trump's case he has been a liar all the time he's been in the public eye. Call it charm, call him rascally or whatever, for some it is part of the persona.
For those of us who do not like it that carried over to perceiving him as a POTUS. I do not want a known liar in the WH.
I guess his supporters bought the total package and as such will admire his lying and also be victimized by it.
The trouble with settling for what might be is that often you don't get it and you don't realize that you are being lied to and thus are being used as a tool for Trump to get your vote and support.
By the time this all ends there will be disappointment and likely excuses. Supporters can't complain. They can't rage. They bought it and they live with the consequences they reap in their own lives by accepting lies as the cost of maybe getting what they want. The GOP is proof of that and if they pay a price it is well deserved.
1
"Therefore I lie with he(r) and (s)he with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be." - Shakespeare
Perhaps it is merely a mutual self-loathing that strokes the likeminded ego in such a manner - who knows? I do not find anything redemptive about it, either way. And for untruths to be justified for someone sitting in the highest office of our country ... yeah, no.
STOP WITH THE FALSE EQUIVALENCE! No, democrats don't lie as much as Trump. Republicans don't either. W was wrong about weapons of mass destruction but I believe he believed it. The mistake wasn't just the belief, it was the way the belief came about, and the actions taken based on it, but the belief was real. Some politicians, technically lie, like when Obama claimed people could keep their insurance, but he really thought so and was proven wrong. Trump simply lies out of expediency and the way he's been able to gain power based on those lies has brought us to this scary moment in history. Please don't draw the wrong conclusion from this essay. Yes, we're softer on liars we are fond of, but Trump is out of bounds and there is no equivalent in the opposition party or his own.
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Great article, thanks. Can't argue with the findings derived from your study. May I ask: so why didn't anyone believe what Hillary say? They could have been true too. Or was she disbelieved because she was indeed speaking the truth?
My conclusion from reading this is that Trump supporters are just like everyone else's supporters. Berny supporters who believe his economic mumbo-jumbo because could it have been true, Hillary supporters who believe that all the failures her campaign were because of misogynistic attacks, because could it have been true.
You do have to give Donald credit, he at least doesn’t deny this is how he campaigns, perhaps that bit of honesty is what resonates with people.
1
Can we PLEASE stop dissecting the motives of Trump supporters? I'm so tired of the media's double standard . Where were all the articles about Obama's supporters during his presidency? If nothing else, I wish people would stop thinking of the people who comprise Trump's cult of personality as America's forgotten voters. Nonsense. If anything, they have become the new media darlings.
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Dick Cheney used this approach too, but he called it "the One Percent Doctrine." In fact, NYT reporter Ron Suskind wrote an entire book about it with that title. The One Percent Doctrine , as cited by Mr. Suskind, was "if there was even a 1 percent chance of terrorists getting a weapon of mass destruction — and there has been a small probability of such an occurrence for some time — the United States must now act as if it were a certainty." This doctrine was used in the context of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it applies to what the current occupany of the White House and his enablers are doing as well. It feeds into what their minions WANT to believe, so as long as it's plausible, they don't care if it's demonstrable as fact.
2400 lies in 400 days isn't just a casual relationship with the truth. Lying is congenital with the man. To continue to indulge in the ethical gymnastics necessary to normalize this behavior is to invite comparisons with a cult. But maybe that is where we are; the Republicans have become a cult, with Trump as it's cult leader.
The author’s general conclusion is you're OK with the guy who lies as long as you like his political persuasion. One wonders how such "research" is of any real value when the author himself confesses that "the result is more disagreement in an already politically polarized world." I'm not buying it. I suggest a far better metric worth applying here called the "smell test" and President Tweet doesn't pass it. His lies are beyond odiferous. They are beyond a foul stench stinking to high heaven. Those most eager to serve as his apologists can't seem to hold their noses tightly enough. Leaders we admire are typically people who are honest and have no need for such weak gruel as this that seemingly establishes false equivalencies to justify immoral behavior.
Many people only care about lies when they affect themselves negatively. When they re-enforce their preconceptions they shrug them off as irrelevant.
Eighty-two percent of Republicans think Donald Trump is performing his job admirably. How does one square stark reality with far-fetched fantasy?
In the famous Preface to Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote of “a willing suspension of disbelief.” That describes the Trump voter.
Which suggests that the only way to counter this kind of lie is to go straight for the jugular in response by clearly refuting the falsehood in strongly phrased, and very precise, terms.
No, no, no.
The premise here is that Trump's supporters believe the lies and falsehoods even though THEY know they are false.
But you only demonstrated that the layer of Trump spokespeople, including Simple Sarah and KellyAnne Con-lady, know that Trump's lies are indeed lies.
The Branch Donaldians still take his word as gospel.
Despite bouts of occasional doubt, they are firm in their belief that Trump is right and truthful while everyone else is wrong and lying.
The problem is they see Trump as a victim of dirty politics against the deep state.
This is real in their minds, and Trump can say what he wants.
He has built an illusion of success that is layered upon massive exaggerations and lies about past performance.
We need to focus on dispelling the foundation of his myth, and there are many articles about who he is that date to before 2012, so they cannot be conceived as political attacks.
And we need to take down the layers of intermediaries who sell and spin Trump's lies, from spokespeople to the Russian propaganda arm that continues to collude with him with supportive trolls, bots and fake news articles all over the internet.
1
The author is discussing the idea of "truthiness" which we have realized for a long time.
1
this is the fun of liberal arts -- there is no provably right or wrong answer, the award goes to how clever you are in advocating your position.
So has Mr. Effron uncovered the "secret" of why Trump supporters back him? I doubt it.
Here's my guess. Trump is a stick in the eye to the rich and powerful. Even if they don't actually believe what Trump says, his fans enjoy seeing his targets squirm a bit as they are forced to hear an insult the teeming masses never get a chance to toss their way.
Um, are you serious? “Trump is a stick in the eye to the rich and powerful?” Trump is the most twisted example of rich and powerful. He’s also a con man, and you’ve fallen for it.
1
First, a little background:
I detest tRump and I spend time on Breitbart posting anti-trump articles and debating with deplorables.
At the risk of sounding elitist. which, when you're dealing with everyday tRump supporters is unavoidable, the sad reality is that many of them just aren't that bright. Hence the proverb:
George Washington: I cannot tell a lie
Donald Trump: I cannot tell the truth
Trump Supporter: I cannot tell the difference
Trump supporters are talking themselves into believing his lies because it’s the only way they can justify voting for him.
2
An interesting point. I think that there is a complementary factor involved, too, which is the cynical view that all politicians lie, but it is better when 'your' politician lies than when 'theirs' does. Because in this case, you might be able to fool yourself by believing that even though 'your' politician is lying, at least he's lying for your best interests.
2
"In his first 400 days in office, President Trump made more than 2,400 false or misleading claims."
Most of the commenters identify Trump 'falsehoods' as lies. And I agree, because he didn't (or doesn't) make a mistake, Trump tells lies, deliberately. Why doesn't the NYT call them lies?
All politicians are a bit loose with truth and accuracy. It is kind of the nature of partisan politics (and I think most of us get that). Also we tend to let 'our team' off when they 'stretch the truth' and attack the other side when they do much the same.
What is truly amazing about Trump, is the sheer numbers of lies, and the grossness of them. It is grossness (or size of the lie if you like) that clearly demonstrates that, Trump really is a liar. And, the fact that he is able to apparently so easily just brush off or ignore the truth, while getting minions like Sanders and Conway to support his lies. Is kinda genius while it works.
When Trump supporters realize that he is self-serving multi-millionaire, and not a savior of rust-belt jobs, and of making america great, etc, he will be gone. The result will probably mean that the whole Trump 'empire' will come under pressure too. It won't be pretty, unless of course, you're a Trump hater.
But what about the lies that are about himself?
For example, he has railed at guest worker programs that take away jobs from Americans, yet his hotels and businesses always have guest workers. He rails against jobs going to China, yet his daughter's clothing line is all made overseas.
How can you imagine the answer to be different when he is so blatantly hypocritical about anything that has to do with his family business?
Republicans refuse to do something about Trump, because he is incompetent. Integrity and knowledge are such boring impediments when you have your own questionable agenda; best to have someone slippery, ranting on a TV show and interested only in self-congratulation and fantasies of autocracy to take up the headlines. If he is not hurting your own bottom line or dreams of power, what's the problem?
1
I suggest this study is exactly the wrong methodology to test differentiation between how people perceive and act on falsehoods. The bias that is automatically introduced is well-grounded political beliefs. For example, "my country right or wrong" allows people to defend the introduction of mass bombing (the Gulf of Tonkin incident in the Viet Nam war).
This kind of bias is especially true in an extremely polarized political environment. Most people I know who justify Trump & cover-up crowds' lie just simply hate the opposition: he is lesser of the political evils. The same is true for the opposition: anything that comes out of Trump's, Conway's, and Huckerbee's mouths is idiotic and patently false by definition.
The methodology should have been to test the hypothesis in a set of non-political questions regarding life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
2
In a way this ties in with a Hannah Arendt quote,
“One of the chief characteristics of modern masses… (is) they do not trust their eyes and ears, but only their imaginations. What convinces masses are not facts, not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the illusion.”
1
What was observed in the study Professor Effron describes can be seen as a more complex version of the well known confirmation bias. People understand that Trump uses lies to make a case for what they believe is true: undocumented workers are a threat, the status of the White man is under assault, America is taken advantage by other nations...
But why are they not condemning the liar? According to our believes liars can’t be trusted. Still a vast majority of Republicans approve Trump’s conduct in office, which can be interpreted as that they trust him to do right for the country and their cause.
Trump violates norms and he gets away with it. He does not get punished. His election can be seen as a vindication.
Humans don’t adhere to norms because they have internalized them as guidance for moral and good behavior. They just fear being punished for breaking rules and norms.
The confirmation bias makes people ignore Trump’s lies. But our collective failure to punish him for his lies, puts him above norms. He knows he can get away with murder.
I have seen the "well, it COULD have happened" ploy countless times on TV from the Trumpian advance guard. Besides Sanders and Coway, Steve Moore is particularly apt at spinning such deflected mendacity.
It might well be that the president's true believers justify the lying with their "yeah, but-ism" but doing so demands a prior need for being lied to in order to avoid confronting some harsh realities for which they themselves bear much responsibility.
The GOP has mastered the art of deflecting discontent toward any target but the correct ones, namely the GOP and its gullible acolytes.
1
The next "Gray Matter" piece should be on "Why Trump's critics cannot acknowledge his successes and, instead, can only focus on his lies".
Hiding behind the "Trump lies" narrative may feel like a safe space, but it's fooling no one. He delivers. Deal with it and stop trying to make it about his tweets.
2
He delivers on what? If you only look at the few successes and ignore everything else, then I guess so, but how did you know what you would get before the election? Did you take Trump at his word when he said Mexico would pay for the wall? Did you take him at his word when he said he would be the most LGBTQ-friendly president ever? Did you take him at his word when he said he would release his taxes numerous times? Did you take him at his word when he said he sent investigators to Hawaii to prove Obama was not a US citizen?
You can’t pick and choose.
You're right, he does deliver. A very short list that I can come up with in five minutes: (1) Tax cuts that will blow up the national debt while directly benefiting only already-wealthy Americans in any significant way; (2) the ludicrously unqualified and self-serving Cabinet members he has appointed -- meaning nearly all of them -- and the damage that has been/will be done re levels of pollution, public schools, consumer protection, etc., (3) a marked uptick in international disrespect among our allies based on widespread international comments re the disruption of the Paris & trans-Pacific obligations, the ludicrous number of demonstrable administration falsehoods, the perception that the country being run by FOX-instilled tweets and that the man's mind has unsettling similarities to a weather vane, etc.
Perhaps one of his most significant "deliveries" is the exposure of a minority of Americans of their stubborn adherence to the idea that putting America First means sticking it to Democrats, ridiculing higher education and the positions/opinions of others unlike themselves (especially europeans or others from different cultures) and otherwise blaming anyone or anything other than themselves for their being treated "unfairly" (the redefining of which would be another of his deliveries). That Trump will be a cure is a testament to deliberate ignorance and wishful thinking.
Erasmus:
Millions of Americans hold a very different view on tax cuts. You are entitled to your viewpoint. Your mistake is in dismissing theirs.
This dismissiveness leads to some pretty ignorant thinking. Your problem isn't with Trump. It's with those who hold opposing political views.
They will never blame him for his polices that will bring them to the brink of financial ruin or sickness without their social safety nets. Remember he figured out that he could shoot some one in the middle of 5th Avenue and he would still have supporters. It’s just too bad he didn’t. He’d be in jail, with supporters, but at least not the so-called president.
1
We have a government founded on heart felt personal opinion. Demagoguery was known to James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying an illiterate population can't have democracy. Ben Franklin opined about the fate of the American experiment in democracy. Washington warned us about political parties. There's nothing new in this article. The author is just one of many well positioned social scientists who fail to propose any solution. No new ideas at all. Mr. Efron, we already know most people behave like lemmings. What to you propose we do?
Reference Mr. Trump's meltdown on Trump TV ("Fox and Friends") a couple of days ago: Trump is a conman-cornered. What he fears most is his imminent exposure. It is inevitable, and he knows that.
At some point, only his most deranged admirers will continue their support. America has a pretend multi-billionaire playing President on television, knowing that the game is up.
I admit that I will relish watching his collapse. I worry about the aftermath though.
Do not underestimate the need to conform to the tribe's collective perception of what is true and what is not. And that a constellation of lies perversely becomes the common "truth" if that helps one to fit and follow. An outsider might think of this as tyranny but to the insiders it is freedom and a common front against "them". And it should surprise no one that this need to associate and conform is more common to rural communities which ironically value their independence as individuals. And do not discount the fact that a great deal of capitalist endeavors depend on our being suckers for advertising lies and our need to look past this to be satisfied consumers.
Unreal realities and the voter's wallet overlap. Imagine this. There are real realities and real unreal realities. (Can a calm Donald Rumsfield be propped up in front of a podium to explain today's GOP?)
The GOP must continue to emphasize unreal realities to keep their base attuned to Trump. It's a belief system, and we all know how difficult it is to discard a belief system.
For instance, the GOP claims voters only care about their own wallet. That's a crock of unreal from a party that cares only about money. We voters care about the environment, diplomacy, military, infrastructure, social safety net, health, education, honest politicians, human rights, rules, etc.
These next few elections should be landslides for the Democratic Party. If you're a Democrat running, just talk about the broader implications that an ethical and effective government has on the voter's sacrosanct wallet. Talk about the sorry shape of our nation's wallet.
The nation has a metaphorical wallet, too. Every Democratic stump speech needs to focus on the benefits of a well-run government.
I watched the Correspondents Dinner last evening and in particular Michelle Wolf's routine. Parts of it were hilarious and parts of it at the time seemed unnecessarily rough considering that some of her jokes were aimed at people who were present, such as Sarah Huckabee Sanders. For a brief instant I actually felt uncomfortable for her.
Today I am feeling less empathy for her. Perhaps Sanders should have joined Trump on another one of his Make America Great with lies rallies if she couldn't withstand the criticism. It was a rather mild chastening for her role in promoting disinformation.
1
It's not that difficult to understand that some people accept Pres. Trump's lies. In many ways (ways that very many of us don't want to admit) this country was founded on lies. The lie of the superiority of the white man; the lie of the necessity of slavery for a healthy economy; the lie that over-educating the middle and lower economic classes will lead to a lack of patriotism; and the colossal over-riding lie that government of the people, for the people and by the people isn't really what is meant by the word Liberty.
These people know in their hearts that these lies have aided mostly white males to succeed in America's competitive environment. Why wouldn't they look the other way when Trump lies--they've been doing it all along.
1
I hope we can identify his supporters a decade or two in the future so we will know who to and not to have compassion for when programs retirees depend on are downsized or dismantled. Current day Trump supporters will be the people believing new lies like we can’t afford good healthcare for all and social security had to be cut because it wasn’t sustainable and other hog wash.
1
Effron is making Trump's appeal more complex than it really is. Trump reels in voters for his clear-cut support of racism. Remember the famous quote about race by Lyndon Johnson, as told by Bill Moyers. And then Trump reels in the rich and crony capitalists by promising them more tax cuts and special goodies.
1
If one's loyalty is to one's party and not to one's nation, as is largely true of Trump's supporters, then playing dirty is only bad when other parties do it to one's party. When one's own party plays dirty, that is A-OK as long as it advances the party's interests.
To a Trump supporter, wise policymaking based on facts is not the objective of politics. For them, the objective of politics is for their party to win and for the other parties to lose.
this just continually proves to me that these are people that I do not want anything to do with these people under any circumstances - it would be a waste of time
It isn’t only uneducated people or people with mental aberration who believe Trump’s lies. I have had heated discussions with surgeons, nurses, and others with higher education who believe everything that comes out of President’s mouth. You would think these people can check facts, read multiple publications on subject, before making up thei minds, but they all feel the same way about him.
I cannot think of a time when the words of Mark Twain have been more relevant then they are today.
"It is considerably easier to fool those than convince them they have been fooled".
One problem in American minds is that the degree that something is true is skewed. Yes, there are Muslim terrorists in the world and that may be the "truth" showed by the false instance of an attack, but what Trump seeks to do is to get Americans to think of all Muslims as threats...the same is true of gang members and immigrants. In fact, that is the very definition of prejudice...applying the actions of a few to an entire of group. And it works...the Trump supporters I know see the world as he does.
Trump is president because at precisely the right time, he switched the scapegoat du jour for all our ills away from the LGBTQ community to the immigrant community and left all his Republican rivals who were behind the times flat footed.
1
Trump's supporters allow his "mistruths" and "lack of candor" --descriptors used for "lie" when a republican is not involved -- for the same reasons readers allow the media to repeat uncorroborated allegations and rumors.
To make this a behavior peculiar to Trump supporters demonstrates how animus towards Trump continues to cloud judgment. Most of the Russian allegations were based on what "might be". Few Trump critics had an issue with the truth or lack thereof.
2
This kind or "research" belongs at the end of some local bar, from the mouth of a plumber.
The propaganda that repeats 18 38 times per hour, 24/7, repetition, and the population of 73% of all broadcast stations, that support an idea, and the lobbyists and plants in academia, in science and elsewhere, yes, they have impact. Volume Volume Volume. That's how its done.
It's a lie only if you believe it's a lie.
It's the truth only if you believe it's the truth.
Some people don't care one way or the other if it's what they want to hear, and they will allow themselves to whipped into a frenzy of emotion over absolute nonsense when brought together in a gathering of like minded people. They actually begin to feed off each others excitement, not much differently than at a sporting event.
Trump supporters are convinced everything negative reported against Trump is dirty politics and jealousy.
How about a series of article references and reviews dating between the 80s and 2012, that can show who he is but clearly aren't political?
Start with "Trump Went Broke, But Stayed on Top," from 1992, when we see that Trump was removed from positions of management because he had driven his business $5 BB in the red.
1
What this study really defines is “Human Nature”. Forget politics if possible and think about your favorite food or drink. If you love eggs and you’re told that eggs are bad for you because it has too much cholesterol and that cholesterol in the blood stream can kill you, what do you do? Do you really stop eating eggs? Well, maybe a little, but then an article comes out that says that’s a Myth. That the cholesterol in eggs is actually good for you. Did you really check out the facts first before eating all the eggs you desire? I didn’t. I love eggs. I eat a minimum of 3 eggs everyday. Why? Because I love them and I don’t believe the lies the so-called health professionals have been throwing at us for years. In other words, even if they are right in reality, I prefer being told a lie by the industry that eggs are now ok to eat as many as you want.
Now bring that to politics. I’ve always loved and supported Bill Clinton even when all the negative things came out about his affairs. Sound familiar?
1
Does this mean President Trump could have been a better President? Wow. I would love to imagine that!
Having the support of powerful members of Congress and the extremely wealthy lends credibility to the lies Trump tells. "I want X to be true, and all these very successful people say that it IS true, therefore it's true."
But the erosion of truth is dangerous. Burning witches at the stake, lynch mobs, genocide, concentration camps, Jim Jones -- all stemmed from confirmation bias and corrupted authority. We think such insanity isn't possible today, not when we can check veracity on the Internet, but a small match can start a big fire. Desperation is tinder.
Although there may be some truth to the article's premise, it seems to me Barack Obama had the pulse of these folks even better than Trump. When he mentioned that life came at these people so hard and fast that it was no wonder they clung to their guns and their bibles I believe he was spot on. Far easier to create a villain for one's misfortune than to impugn your own culpability.
There is also the other type of person, who is totally aware of Trump's vile nature and incompetence, yet looks the other way because he garners a financial gain. They are of a cynical and despicable nature, and compose a huge minority in this country. I fear them the most because they know better, but just don't care about the consequences.
At a certain point, I dont care how the Trump voter arrives or justifies their beliefs. I just want truth to matter.
1
Mr. Effron mentions only some of the racist lies Trump tells so often. He is writing an opinion piece, not a catalog.
Racism springs from fear and it seems to me that lies which affirm and exaggerate our fears are a special case. They are easily believed because they validate our fear. And proving that the lie is false does nothing to convince us that our fear is irrational or to help us overcome the fear.
Trump won by validating the fear that his supporters felt. Fear that has been validated is like a bell that has been rung. You can't unring the bell and you can't invalidate another person's fear.
1
trump supporters do not care about anything except getting revenge. For trump supporters, he puts these bad “other people”in their place and that is enough to unite them in their behaviour of supporting trump. Anecdotally, the trump supporters I know personally, in their personal life they do not support people who behave like or say things like trump does. They would not allow their children to date some one like trump, oppose a marriage to someone like trump, would not lie, would not work with someone like trump, etc. but for them the “other people” are worse. So thank you Zappa for your lyrics, “We are the other people, We are the other people, You are the other people too.”
If Trump supporters don't mind Trump's lies it may possibly lie (no pun intended) in their deep-rooted fear of strong, smart women (i.e. Hillary Clinton) becoming President or aligning with a white man who seeks complete domination over his and her life. In the Christian religion, the Ten Commandments is the foundation for those who seek God's teachings. I find it incredibly hypocritical that people who claim Christianity as their religion are Trump supporters (Thou shalt not lie). All anyone has to do is look at the current First Lady's bio to see the irony and hypocrisy of Trump's words vs actions which leads us to his two wives who are immigrants while supporting a border wall and dismissing the Dreamers. If I understand it all, none of the sins matter as long as he's white, wealthy, and male.
Many Trump supporters do not mind his lies because they are desperate for the social order of the 1950s and apart from Trump they see little hope of achieving it. I will not be surprised if these same people will be calling for Trump as President for life and eliminating the freedom of the press in the next year or so.
Boiled down to a simple proposition: Trump supporters don't mind his lies because they DO NOT mind lies.
The ends justify the means.
They are getting what they want and don't mind the cost ... because they don't see themselves paying the cost. Those "other people" are paying the cost, so it just doesn't matter.
Trump perfectly represents the people who voted for him.
If a Trump supporter only gets "news" from Fox News and Trump's tweets, they have no idea what the truth is.
That's not the same as not caring that he lies.
There is no need for a sophisticated analysis to understand why Trump's base behaves the way it does; the combined forces of racism, bigotry and willful ignorance are sufficient.
Trump's base supports his lies and semi-lies and half-truths because they want to.
One must wonder if the false adage "anything is possible" which we grew up hearing from adults factors into those thought that come from the back regions of our minds. At 61 I will not ever be chosen to be Vice President, go the moon or storm the beaches of Normandy. Just additional lies told to us by those placed in positions of authority i.e. even the Fake president.
Make America "great again;" oh, that was just a euphemism for how great we already are, truthfully speaking.....or maybe it's simply possible that it's just an "alternative fact." We're not so great, afterall! I meant, we're really GREAT!
1
A dishonest person is always wrong. Lies will never trump (no pun intended) truth. Besides, what will our president's supporters believe once he's left office? Truth is not flexible.
I wanted to be disturbed by this article but I believe we, as thinking human beings, decide what is our truth and our truth may, indeed, be lies. We have functioned this way long before the current resident of the wh started spouting his lies. If we continue in this vein that we cover absolutely every single petty, silly thing this man does someone will start a movement - he created the universe. Please stop before we get to this point.
1
In other words, those who believe him love living in their delusional world, and that's probably how they live the rest of their lives, deluding themselves about everything.
Hillary Clinton's supporters didn't seem to mind her lies either. She lies as much as Trump, but there's a critical difference between how they do it.
Trump's lies and exaggerations are comically transparent to the point where he knows he's not fooling anyone; furthermore, he's savvy enough to know that his fabrications do not cost him any support.
Ms. Clinton's lies are more insidious and harder to detect. She's more "skilled" when it comes to deceiving others and more adept in misleading people than Trump.
So now that everyone, including the NYT, CNN and MNSBC has established that Trump is a liar, then it should be easy for the Democratic Party to win the next election. All they need to do is find an appealing alternative, i.e., a Party Leader without a ton of political baggage and doesn't lie as much as their former one did.
1
Our President is a committed serial liar and Effron makes it out to be completely normal that millions of Americans find that not just acceptable but psychologically pleasing.
Not so surprising really, politicians have been committed to flimflam, bamboozling, deflection and outright deception through the ages.
Maybe the critical difference with Trump is that he does it so unabashedly and without any pretense about being accurate or truthful in the first place.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, as the line goes, is the rational of those that support The Donald. Are his untruths, big or small, any worse than the big whoppers JFK, LBJ, and Nixon told us about the Vietnam war? Part of the Presidential oath of office must be to distort the truth, as it seems hard to get the "truth", whatever that may be, from any one that has held that office. Perception has a way of becoming reality and his supporters are in the mode.
32
In all the cases you mention, the Truth came back to bite the nation in spite of those willing to believe. That is the point. The sooner you wake up to the distortion, the easier and cheaper it is to correct.
25
it is like no one has read Caro's bio of LBJ, which shows that he was totally dishonest and corrupt
iirc, Caro also mentions that FDR was considered a man whose word could not be trusted
1
Whether his lies are big, little or whoppers is essentially beside the point. What matters is that they are constant and unrelenting. Your argument about the provable sins of the former Presidents is just another false equivalency.
44
Excellent analysis. I have a cousin in the South who was a lawyer, a distinguished Vietnam veteran, FBI agent and school district head of security during his long career. He also has one big problem: he is a self-confessed 100% bigot. During the two Obama campaigns he constantly forwarded the family the worst, lowest claims imaginable. They were so bad I was able to "Snopes" them easily and reply to him that they were provable lies. That didn't stop him. He started sending them with the caption "This is probably not true but you get the idea."
274
"Don't confuse us with facts;
our minds are made up."
32
Does your bigoted cousin have children? Do they share his prejudice?
22
This article makes a point, but misses the most important point.
Trump supporters forgive not just his lies, but all his other flaws and travesties -- incompetence, inconsistency, laziness, egoism, bullying, philandering, profanity, abusivenes, whatever.
And they do so because he -- and his surrogates and spokespeople -- hammer away at a handful of assertions he has already convinced his supporters of, which drown that other stuff out: Immigrants are stealing their jobs and their fortunes; Trump is stopping them. The mainstream is anti-'faith'; Trump is pro-faith. Government steals their money; Trump gives it back. Blacks and other minorities swindle and condescend to the white majority, Trump puts a stop to that. And, most important: Trump is for them, everyone else is against him.
The resistance is focused on countering Trump's outrageous flaws and errors. But each new criticism is only another attack, bringing Trump's base closer to him.
A better way is economically, to push through policies that pipe the country's wealth back from the rich into the general population. Then Trump -- who is doing the opposite -- will be exposed in a way his supporters can't be conned out of. Then they'll leave him in droves.
195
Unfortunately, they won't leave him.
For whomever the taxes don't increase, the tiny give-backs to lower and middle income groups will fade away, and the super rich will keep their millions and millions of dollars in free no-work new money.
When the Republican tax plan's inexorable outcome of crippling national debt comes to pass, they will blame the Dems, and continue to vote against their own well being while the rich snicker and shrug.
38
Most people respond emotionally rather than rationally. Appeals to our emotion out number appeals to rationality. This should surprise me one because emotions deliver instant results...for good or for bad.
But this piece doesn't address the issue of why TRUMP SUPPORTERS are particularly likely to engage in this kind of mental legerdemain and self-deception. What are the motivational underpinnings of this phenomenon? I suspect the mental gymnastics of Trump supporters go far beyond a "we're biased in favor of our guy" effect. When your fearless leader says "drain the swamp," but his associates and appointments are among the swampiest in U.S. history, the "fudging" goes beyond mere counterfactual thinking. Rather, it's in the realm of delusion, and perhaps even pathology.
245
I find it far more entertaining to listen to Trump haters thrash around on the floor and conjure up all kinds of inventive curses and accusations. Sometimes I think the Trump=haters might benefit from an Exorcism. Except we need to wait until "y'all" start spewing green pea soup all over the place( I know...I am baiting you with the use of that low-brow, hated, redneck, deplorable term "y'all") I luv it( another deliberate mispelling....LUV)!!
Y'alls crazy.......KRAY ZEE.
5
Best new name for the deplorables - Cult45.
37
So people lie to themselves to support their ideology. Some people prefer to be uninformed by consuming false facts and trusting transparently biased news reporters rather than spend any time vetting the so-called facts they consume. They continue to willfully follow their favorite talking heads even as those heads are proven to be lying to them.
Last evening, in Washington Township, Michigan, there was a large crowd of people, not sure how large, who were there to hear a man who has proven himself to be a liar of historic proportions. Their love for the liar was evident. The people were excited and engaged. They did not care what the liar said, they were having a good time. It was an event. As long as they continue to have a good time they will continue to love the liar. It's better than TV. It's more satisfying than truth.
168
There's always an agenda at the core of any expressed opinion, an outcome that the individual wants to see to fruition. Truth and facts melt rapidly away, especially where loyalties to a person or a group are concerned. Trump is the culture warrior his supporters hired to punish those they hate. He's their 'thin orange line' and any and all atrocities he commits in the service of the expression of their animosities is excused.
4
Can you define one time that Donald Trump actually broke the law during his short time as president? As near as I can tell...the only person in DC at the moment that is respecting the rule of law...is....in fact.....Donald Trump! Everyone else is using rumor, lies, unsupportable accusations, smears and BREAKING the laws in order to attain one selfish, narrow-minded, REgressive goal......get rid of the President. We're even down to the point of "ends justifying the means" logic.....implying that the President is "crazy" and must be removed to a Soviet Style Mental Health Institution......think, man, think. Open your eyes. There is none so blind as he who refuses to see.......George Orwell, 1984.
Much of your post is difficult to makes sense of, so I'll restrict my reply to your original question. Trump breaks the law on a daily basis by continuing to operate businesses that profit him because of his position as president. One glaring example is his Washington hotel, which survives financially only due to charging exorbitant prices to foreign interests that are there to curry favor with trump. That is a clear violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. It is an easy task to produce a very long list of other violations, which you would likely choose to be blind to. Trump is the political monstrosity that Orwell warned about.
What Prof. Effron's analysis doesn't address is social media and the "group conformity" factor-- people's willingness to "suspend judgement" on fakenews when it comes to them most potently, through their Facebook friends. Most people, with normal Facebook newsfeeds, of family pix/cat memes etc., don't encounter it much-- yet likely we've all been taken aback when a FB-friend shares a false/fakenews post.
Even when we personally disbelieve it, social media "etiquette" has conditioned/trained us to simply scroll past-- rather than to directly challenge-- even the most dubious of shared fakenews/false assertions, for fear of publicly offending/shaming people we know.
Becoming known as the resident "Snopes-er" among one's family & friends does not generate many endorphamine-rush "likes". So "silent acceptance" of "post-truth" has become the default position in our SM intercourse, which guarantees its contagious effect on the body politic.
2
Eventually the truth will win out. I believe Trump's following is nothing more than cult that is glued to FOX news propaganda which is why they believe the lies.
11
What makes Trump haters the angriest is when he tells the truth.
5
This should be a pick. Spot on. I would add that his success is a major contributor to their anger. The more they can make him out to be a liar, the less they have to contend with his accomplishments.
Which is very seldom.
2
Trump tapped into the fact that so many are fueled by hate against others that they don't even know.
An how to use religion to fuel the hate against others.
The lies reinforce the righteousness of their god inspired and commanded hate.
It's in chapter one of how to be a demagogue.
14
Many of Trump’s supporters may not be highly educated but they are not so stupid so as to believe every lie that Trump tells or believe that he is a man of impeccable character to be emulated. Trump’s supporters know exactly who he is, but they like two very big things about him. They really like that he is sticking to highly educated, liberal, and successful people – call this one “The Revenge of the D Students.” Trump’s supporters also really like his crude rhetoric – the more racist, Nativist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and misogynist, the better. Call this one “The Revenge of the Losers, aka, My Failure At Life is Their Fault.” Don’t over think Trumpism, it’s pretty simple stuff.
42
I see this research as suggesting one mechanism for how rationalization works - at least in some contexts. But this requires an important first step; i.e., the liar has to be separated from the lie so that the latter's meaning can be manipulated into a 'white lie.'
Hillary Clinton and Senator Gillibrand's supporters don't mind their lies either. Blind supporters rarely do.
6
When it comes to democrats' lies, intention matters more than veracity. When it comes to republicans' lies, the only truth is the literal one.
2
More superficial false equivalence.
See Brian's comment. Degree matters. The danger created by the lie matters.
Furthermore, if you don't factor the Fox News phenomenon into the equation, you just don't get it.
I'm tired of reading nonsense that equates accepting the science of climate change with denying it, or equates racist, xenophobic, anti-muslim, etc., etc. lies with a mostly false claim about keeping your doctor under the new health insurance law.
This article is clever and, actually, more harmful than helpful.
5
I don't support him or his lies, or hillary and her lies. That people supported him, is I think because he was a tv star in their heads, someone that wasn't like the other liars that they already knew about. Politics has been about lying for so long I am not sure we even know of a Non-liar that is in office. The country lies to itself in actions all over the world. We say our way is better yet we kill other people as if they aren't worth as much as we are.
We have people that say they follow Christ but then hate others and do it so openly that they get bothered about it when you point it out. The nation is in a liars are winners mode of thinking.
We are getting further away from what I thought the nation stood for the further into our deep history I dig, not the glossed over childhood school history that they ply you with in schools, but the deeper darker stuff.
I want things to be different, so I started at my local level. I am not voting for the old guard, new faces first.
6
The absurdity of all this is that there is a massive case of a delusional rationale occurring here. Without question, many of Trump's ardent supporters know he lies. But, concurrently, they believe he won't lie to them.
He inflames their passions about a wall that exists only in his mind. Mexico will never pay for it but he insists to his fans that somehow, some way and some time, it will happen. After 18 months in office, he still has no infrastructure proposal but continues to talk about the great jobs coming soon. He promised he was "going to take great care of our vets" but then nominates a wholly unqualified candidate with no relevant managerial experience. And with these, and all of his other lies, he never fails to finish his false promises with an admonition to "Believe me."
The list of falsehoods and empty promises could go on forever. At some point, we can only hope his base will remember the famous question of Groucho Marx; "Who are you going to believe....me or your lying eyes?"
5
In other words, Trump supporters are ethically challenged.
5
Very simply, they've been brainwashed by FOX "news" and talk Radio. They either think it's all " fake news ", or really, really don't care. The worlds biggest bubble, full of toxic gas. When it finally bursts, they will just blame Obama. Or Clinton. Seriously.
9
I am guessing that somehow you can find a real intrinsic difference between Obama, Clinton, and the Bushes......all of them being arrogant self-absorbed Ivy Leaguers .... pretty much the same as Donald Trump. There's your delusion.
There is no typical Trump voter. There is a myth that his "supporter" is typically an unemployed coal or steel worker who feels discarded and disregarded. There were such voters, but they exercised influence disproportionate to their numbers because of the Electoral College and because of the onslaught of Russian bots and trolls on their districts. So, what about the majority of Trump voters and his lies? Rudy Giuliani doesn't care. Nor does Chris Christie, nor all of the right wing bankers, business executives, and traders. Biblical Evangelicals and Papal loyalists made their bargain, swapping Christian love of neighbor for a chance to undo Roe V Wade. Paul Ryan may care about the lies, and he’s getting out. But we don’t know how he views the lies—as an assault on what: conservative values or Christian values? Since he has just done one of those “firsts” that mark the Trump era—Ryan fired the House chaplain—it’s fair to assume that his devotion to the message of Christ takes a distant second place to his devotion to Ayn Randism. Truth is a variable anyway, while a tax cut is something we can take to the bank!
9
I really don't care anymore why Trump supporters support him.
20
Nor do his supporters care about their critics.
1
Dumb is easy. Not learning about all the various issues we face is much easier than trying to. So, many just slide through this political life.
That is a terrible citizen, terrible American and cancer on the noble body of democracy. This is certainly not a 'patriot'.
Economics shatters the world. Now billionaires and falling middle classes are the current wave. So, what do we expect?
If we love money but not each other then the mad wolves will win, just as they are. We seem okay with concentrated wealth, income, property and power. To try and deal with that is SO hard. Better to watch sports or modern soap operas (so well acted!).
Trump is the definitive leader of losers: lost in greed, avarice, self-love. Even the evangelicals follow.
At least the veil of 'moral superiority' is off the Republicans, right-wing, conservatives, patriots, evangelicals. That's good. Now we can see we're really all the same. We need to take that into our economic lives, as well.
When will we love each other enough to create a real, compassionate world, with safety and beauty and equality being our guiding lights? When will we fight the billionaires and their lawyers and politicians for the wealth they took from the whole; ruining this place?
Well, whenever we do, we can then begin creating the 'more perfect Union'. We can.
5
One would think that an academic from the London Business School would recognize a corollary to the escalation of commitment (or sunk cost fallacy) when he sees one. The rabid orangutan's lies are no different to supporters of rabid orange orangutans than Jim Jones calls to drink the kool aid. Attempts to "normalize" this behavior is what is meant by another individual and group trait, banality of evil.
6
Mr. Effron, you could have made your point with a paragraph simply referencing 'cognitive dissonance.'
Most of us outside the Kool-Aid drinkers know the problem.
Don't come to me with only the issue; come to me with a potential solution.
5
I grew up being told by my parents and my church that it is a sin to lie under any circumstances.
My parents are dead and christianity appears to have evolved.
5
It is easy to be stupid. It’s preferred to verification and reference. Technology just speeds up the speed of our preference the way sugar disrupts body chemistry. Could it be the organic growth of falsehood, the disruption of truth until the truth is reality? Nope. Truth is the cost of the lawyers in a court case. You pay for truth. Nothing’s changed except that civic life has become poorer.
2
It helps me to remember that it's commandment: you shall not bear false witness.
3
You do realize the republican party has been lying to Americans since Ronald Reagan and they are still believing it.
7
Maybe ... maybe not. Professor Efron is looking for a sensible explanation where one is not needed and, hence, likely irrelevant.
There's a simpler possible answer: His supporters simply don't care that he lies. The evangelicals who back him will continue to so long as he's against abortion. Nothing else counts.
The racists, misogynists and anti-LGBT crowd will support him so long as he rails against Blacks, women, gays and trans people.
The anti-immigration cohort will never leave his side so long as he stands against Muslims, Mexicans, and "illegals."
The lies are just not a part of the equation. Nothing is so long as he stands with the various factions that make up his "base." This is the reason why that off-the-cuff crack during the campaign rings true: "I could go out on 5th Avenue and shoot someone and not lose any votes."
5
Well done.
Not being a supporter of Trump and believing that he should never be president does not make you more discerning regarding the truth. Here in the pages of the NYTs there appear many articles in support of the idea that he colluded with the Russians in some manner during the election. Therefore, I find it ironic when articles like this one appear in the paper. The inability to see past the fact that Trump might be affected, and believing the allegations for that reason puts the NYTs and any supporter of the theory in an extreme position of hypocrisy. So, go ahead and revel in the mendacity of Trump, all the while believing the mendacious claims of the FBI, DNC, and the NYTs.
3
I think that it is oftentimes more simple than the article implies. I think the Trump targets passionate groups. Once connected, these groups only care about their passion, disregarding all else. The gun crowd is deaf to anything outside their realm. Likewise the other right wing Fox News corn fed fanatics. Trump has the psychopath/salesman ability to target......and then to knit these desparate groups into an election win.....
7
45 lies when the truth will do.
3
Which is more important - what actually happened or a narrative built and disseminated that reflects what you want to believe? Right now, the narrative wins.
The danger is that narratives build on themselves and leave the need for reality behind. That is how we allowed 6 million Jewish souls to perish at the hands of evil.
People can be stupid about what they believe. We put Democracy in peril when we decide to let our leaders get away with building narratives, and don't hold their feet to the fire to hold on to fact and truth. Why are we all so willing to stick out a foot a shoot a hole in it?
1
People seem to tolerate blatant lies if they come from their own tribe or party', deemed necessary for the survival of their programs (whatever they may be, as loyalty demands more partisan adherence than competence). In this era of digital revolution and internet 'social news' 'excessive' information, folks that are knowledge-challenged (ignorant and the biases it allows) tend to believe just about anything if repeated often enough. And the bigger the lie, the more credible it is....until it becomes the dogma truth. We have become credulous and in urgent need for entertainment. And demagogue Trump is an expert in thus cheating deal, appealing to the emotional trap of his base. And soon enough, his followers believe him whatever he says, however idiotic and fictitious. This is further supported by a hypocritical and coward G.O.P., complicit in it's silence. At the end, perhaps we deserve him, by refusing to think for ourselves, and by allowing a charlatan drive us by our noses to the slaughterhouse.
2
"At the end, perhaps we deserve him, by refusing to think for ourselves." Every time I see someone walking down the street blindly scrolling a cell phone this thought pops into my head. The ultimate propagandist tool. In fact, this whole phenomenon seems a latter day replay of post WWI Germany with a revised script. Folks from afar can see it clearly, but the locals are blinder than bats. Conditioned, indoctrinated. Down the slippery slope . . . "to the slaughterhouse." Appreciate your post.
The real lie Donny Drumpf told was when he took the oath of office. The sooner this political nightmare ends, the better all Americans will sleep.
2
If Obama achieved what Trump has in North Korea he would have won another nobel prize. Give him credit where it is due.
2
He hasn’t achieved anything. What you see as achievement is actually the dismissal of America from the table. Trump played right into China and NK’s hands. And South Korea, seeing an American betrayal playing out right in front of them chose to bypass the US and strike a deal of their own. Acting like Trump did, ranting about fire and fury, only neutered the United States. Kim Jung Un is playing Trump boldly and has made the American president irrelevant.
1
They focus on his "lies" precisely because they cannot face a world in which he deserves credit.
1
But the President hasn't "achieved" anything yet in regards to North Korea. It's all just hot air and fantasies.
I think the proper term for Trump's followers is "delusional".
3
Next we need a professor to study why Democrats don't believe Trump when he's telling the truth."Because it could be a lie?"
3
When has this President told the truth?
Daniel, if there ever was a polarizing figure among all the American presidents, Trump will top the list with more than 82%, the same percentage that the Gallup polls' says current Republicans' approval rating for their president.
But what most of his supporters do not realize is that Trump the buffoon and Trump the mentally sick president of theirs are handing over a golden opportunity to Democrats to take over the entire congress.
Actually, a moment like this comes once in a lifetime for the opposing party to reclaim the House and the Senate that Democrats lost in 2010 and in 2014.
So the totally moronic behaviors on the part of his supporters who've become "desensitized to the dishonesty by the sheer volume of it" as you wrote in this piece, explains quite a lot about which direction our country is heading to : A loss of destiny and purpose under a deceitful leader called Trump.
Trump's core supporters, who because of their ignorance and their lack of basic education which majority of us on the left have taken for granted, believe anything he says even now because of their inability to parse the truth from falsehood. Or because of their losing faith in their sorry lives that they lost a long time back.
So no wonder even when they hear Trump promising something that they believe nobody can achieve, they still believe him because they're like chronic gamblers who think they're still winning even after they lost all the money they brought to the casino to play poker.
2
Right wingers want people
like him in power, it makes them feel powerful.
5
"It could have been true".
Right, that's a nice justification, but as a matter of fact, that's not why Trump's lies are accepted and even encouraged by his supporters.
Trump's supporters are nihilistic bomb throwers who revel in the lies, the more the better.
Trump's supporters want to tear it all down because they can.
Trump's supporters love the lies because those lies are harming the country, and they want to harm the country.
Trump is the figurehead and leader of those who would destroy the American democracy and replace it with a fascist dictatorship.
3
The lies did not come from nowhere, and they did not just start. Until Reagan changed media regulations, MSM did a good job of reporting news with reasonable accuracy.
He eliminated the regulation that governed broadcast media. But that regulation helped keep all media honest. It’s harder to lie when the truth is widely reported.
Beginning with Reagan we got an explosion of ideologically motivated lying, mostly by the conservative media. Since Reagan, the scope of ideologically motivated lying has exploded in the conservative media. MSM and liberal media have a better record of accuracy. One reason is that social scientists and historians have long recognized that “the facts have a liberal bias.”
Also during Reagan’s term we said that he was the biggest liar who had ever occupied the White House. E.g., his “morning in America” was fueled by his debt in America (he and Bush presidents ran debt up from just under $1T to $10T).
For the past generation, the conservative media of Rupert Murdoch and the conservative talk channels have created an alternate reality. Conservatives have become accustomed to the massive scope of lying in the conservative media and have been desensitized to it.
For an additional explanation, see Gillian Tett’s discussion in today’s (4/28) Financial Times,
https://www.ft.com/content/65282eaa-4817-11e8-8ae9-4b5ddcca99b3
Print title: Why the pious right is unruffled by Trump’s exploits
4
The lesson learnt from Mr. Trump is also that it does not help to be rude or lying once or twice. You have to constantly bombard people with lies and rude comments. Compare when Ms. Clinton once said that the people supporting Mr. Trump were "deplorables". That didn't go well. Instead of apologizing for her comments she should have done it the Mr. Trump way, i.e. never apologize and continue to bombarde with the same rude comments.
3
It's not a universal rule.
This is how redstatists roll, a relentless dynamic of double-standards & dirty tricks. Lies work well to rouse the rabble.
But if a Democrat did any of this they'd be skewered & roasted.
For Republicans since Gingrich, it's whatever works to tilt the tide against liberals.
Lying is part of the machiavellian, radicalized redstate reaction to progressivism, secularism & liberalism.
Perhaps the biggest lie is the evangelical underpinning, anything goes if they can call it god's work.
Evangelicals give Trump a permanent 'Mulligan' so long as he promotes a white, neo-confederate agenda.
4
I didn't mind because the alternative was to support an un indicted criminal, Mrs. Clinton. Lesser of two evils and not even a close call.
3
This explains to me how/why Trump has a 40% approval rating despite his spouting lies continuously. The rest of us believe that Trump is not competent to be president.
How do we get rid of him before disaster strikes? Mueller is our only hope IF he finds convincing evidence of a crime by Trump.
2
Almost two years age Scott Adams, a Trump admirer, spotlight Trumps persuasion skills. He has the complete set of skills and for a percentage of the US population it is virtual catnip. He knows he has this ability: why else would he claim he could shoot someone on Mains St and they would still vote for him. If Trump said “You all are ducks” we’d be defended by the quacking. What will it take for them to snap out of it?
1
Isn’t there a psychological term for this? Delusion?
1
In the grand scheme of things, are any of the lies and claims the author cites in his piece really that important? Ordinary folks like me understand that people sometimes make mistakes, get their facts off, exaggerate, but it doesn’t really matter if the mistake is over small stuff, not serious significance. Trump is honest in having the big picture right. And besides, Hilary Clinton never lied? About her emails? Obama never lied about keeping our insurance? Typical liberal double standard.
1
A couple lies against a daily deluge of lies from your guy. Trump supporters are like children who tell the parent "My brother said something bad to me so I'm justified in murdering him."
There nothing more pathetic than willful ignorance.
Closet racists do this all the time. Opinions about those they hate quickly become repeatable facts used to justify positions that are deeply embedded but both illogical and thoroughly biased. This is no different. The fact that so many people voted for him in the first place is a bad enough statement about us, but the fact that so many still support him is even more troubling for us as a society.
3
Donald J. Trump did not invent the political lie; neither did George H.W. Bush. "Read My Lips! No New Taxes!"
Walter Mondale told the American public watching the debate on television that taxes were going up. Who won that election? Google the answer, if your memory fails you.
We like the view of reality that confirms our biased notions. Period. "You're doing a heck of a job, Trump! Call into "Fox and Friends" every week! Please.
1
In my ambient the Trump/GOP followers simply want to stick it to all those "know-it-alls" (especially women) by contorting any fact into fake whatever. Infantile screaming anger spewed out cancels rational thought so they win every time. Trump's modus operandi works fine for them. Of course not thinking also allows corporate money to squash most Trump voters' interests. Heck, Trump has been squashing the little guy his whole career but that fact gets ignored along with the rest. Sad.
4
"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." George Orwell.
4
Another stone in the wall of academic irrelevance.
There's a verse from Revelation (chapter 22--verse 15) that's been, for some years, clamoring in my brain.
". . .every one that LOVES and MAKES a lie."
Note the two verbs. There is--in many people--a powerful underlying desire that the lie be TRUE.
I have heard of an ardent conservative (at some kind of gathering) angrily slamming down the smart phone when it dutifully informed him: yes, Mr. Obama really WAS born in Hawaii.
Poor guy! Pining for another answer. Kenya. Indonesia. Anywhere but Hawaii.
And it's only a hop skip and a jump from loving to making. I so want the lie to be true--I'm gonna DECLARE it true. I'm gonna promulgate it as unvarnished truth.
And here comes the horrible part.
It's gonna be accepted as unvarnished truth. By millions. Millions as addicted to the lie as I am. Millions that--no less than my mendacious self--WANT it to be true. Are RESOLVED that it be true. And so, faithfully, they pass along the deadly virus. To others. Millions of others.
We speak--and rightly so!--of OPIOID addiction. We're toiling away right now, trying to deal with this addiction.
What about our addiction to LIES? That too afflicts millions. An addiction hardly less noxious, less deadly to the American government--to the American people.
Revelation ends with unnumbered millions entering Paradise. An incredibly joyful conclusion! BUT. . . .
. . . .the people that "love and make lies". . . .
. .. .they're not among them.
1
A kid: “But teacher, I didn’t turn in my homework because I could have left it at home” when the kid never did it, period.
So nice our White House leadership has all the lying tactics downpat.
4
Lies lead to endless lies. Lie one: "Trump was elected." Not! He was INSTALLED by massive voter suppression worthy of a banana republic dictatorship. If you believe he was elected, I have a Brooklyn Bridge to sell you. A minority of non-minority Americans will believe anything conforming to their world view of white supremacy, global domination and corporate fascism. They are a small minority, but look big in the corporate ruled media. All to rationalize an irrational administration.
1
It's the 'Sopranos' effect. Many people who love gangster shows do so because the thugs get away with all the things they themselves wish they could but cannot. They know Trump didn't pay taxes, dodged the draft, stiffed all his subcontractors, cheated on all his wives, bullies everybody, lies every time he opens his mouth - but unlike them HE GETS AWAY WITH IT! That's what they love about him. Weak people.
2
Or, how about the George Costanza dodge "It's not a lie if you believe it"? Trump undoubtedly believes whatever tripe comes out of his mouth, at least for that moment, so he is never, by the Costanza rule, lying.
Actually I believe that President Trump supporters took a lesson from the Clinton supporters, especially from the 1990's!
Nuff Said...Dennis
1
Trump and his picks have produced nothing but corruption, chaos and confusion in DC. They have to be the most unfit in living US history. In the UK, a trump would be considered totally unfit for office, mentally, emotionally and in terms of skills and experience. The tax bill he boasts about was a fiasco. US debt, already at 20 trillion grew to 21 trillion. The added bill will soon be due.
“virtually everyone recognized the claims as false”—how so? I’d like to hear more examples. I could see the inauguration crowd with my own eyes, so yes, I could recognize his statement about it was false. It seemed like a ludicrous lie that coming from an old, senile relative would have been harmless, but coming from the president seemed weak and insecure. But I couldn't see what he was doing in the Oval Office, so, no, I could not have intuitively recognized the statement about the Martin Luther King bust as being false. I had to be told it was false and I was really irritated by the lie. I was shocked when I heard it and then shocked that someone would lie about it and thought, in fact, it didn’t sound like something he’d do, even though I do believe he’s a racist (whether he believes it about himself or not). Yeah, it sounded like a lie. I guess I perceive “our side” to be more ethical and that his doing this could be possible—heck, anything is “possible”—didn’t excuse anything. Lies are lies—why equivocate?
Stable hypocrisy indeed, however, another critical element to this analysis is the barrage of political preaching that is taking place in our Nation’s Churches and in Christian print media. Some individuals who profess Christianity worship Trump because of his stance on abortion and same sex marriage and negate the other biblical teachings of Jesus. It’s not just about stable hypocrisy, but it is also religious blindness when the Bible teaches that sin is sin. Some pastors are manipulating their congregation based on their ignorance and political bias.
There's something wrong with these people. Sounds to me like we're entering the Twilight Zone.
1
Trump hates the same people his supporters hate. It's the shared hate that binds them together. No more complicated than that.
2
Trump only hates people who challenge him, because he’s weak and insecure. He doesn’t really hate the people his supporters hate—that would unfairly give him credit for actually believing in something. He just knows that by attacking the people his supporters hate, he can get his supporters—the rabble, the mob—to cheer for him.
People are bothered by "lies" when they are a genuine effort to mislead on a substantive issue. Most of Trump's lies don't qualify.
Trump supporters like me see these lies as amusing stunts on our reality TV show presidency. The crowd size and denying the Stormy affair? I view these as endearing.
Trump has a list of every rule in the book and he's going to break every single one and I love him for it!!
I can say totally without reservations that people like you are the problem with this country.
1
When I experience family and friends defend the Trump teams' ugly lies, it feels like someone in an abusive relationship. ..I'm sure he loves me even though I know he has two mistresses and beats me up sometimes. And, yes, he stole money from my mother but doesn't everyone do things like that sometimes? And he thinks our doctor is full of himself so he makes medicial decisions about our disabled son's care that scare me sometimes...
Unfortunately...our families and sometimes friends have dumped us all into an abusive relationship with the Trumps.
Some of us know we are being abused but his voters are basking in delusion's sunshine.
3
I have no sympathy for those supported and voted for Trump. Especially for those who knew deep down they were being lied to and played for a fool. Even during the campaign when he was telling folks what they wanted to hear with bald faced lies. There was ready available information about Trump as a private citizen, as a businessman, and even as a celebrity. He used and conned everyday folks to advance his personal agenda and to soothe his ego. His trail to being president is literally littered with bodies he stepped on and over to be where he is today. He wasn't alone for he was enabled by those in the media and to those in the business world whom saw an empty suit with no strong moral convictions on any issue. Finally, you can't change the minds of those whom are willing to allow themselves to be lied to and to be believe those lies to be the gospel. Trump will not be the first nor be the last elected leader to use lies, rumors, and outright falsehoods for political gain.
Question: Why Don't Trump Supporters Mind His Lies?
Answer: The ends justify the means. Tribalism.
2
This nightmare won't last forever, God willing. But after it's over and a more truthful, dignified individual becomes the POTUS, will th press and media suddenly go back to the standards of covering the Office that's been tossed aside since Jan. 20, 2017? We're now living under a double-standard that's unprecedented in our lifetime. Will the right-wing get another mulligan in 21st century US history?
"Yet a recent Gallup poll shows his approval ratings among Republicans at 82 percent."
This is a striking number. 82 percent of a population that is assumed to be on the free side of prison walls place little enough value on not just honesty, but diplomacy, civility... the entire Boy Scout Oath, that in spite of his dubious grasp of common decency the President has their support. Do these supporters not think that America's place in the world matters? do they approve of his perpetual insults of those who disagree with him? are they themselves misogynists? hate mongers? are they inspired by the way he flits from crisis to crisis like a drunken butterfly? Please tell me that this 82% number is a gross exaggeration- a Trumpism.
2
Jerry,
Good news: 82% is a gross exaggeration, in the sense that it doesn't measure enthusiasm - how "soft" his support has become.
Every single congressional special election since Nov 2016 has shown a huge erosion of Trump's support - always double digits, sometimes in the mid to high 20% range.
Methinks pride is behind some of the poll support, but in the privacy of the voting booth, they don't have to confess their misgivings publicly.
Any time spent listening to, considering, watching on TV, or talking about this purpose-designed Distractor In Chief [DIC], faux-Emperor Trump, anestheses the American people from consciously understanding that Trump's only role is to make us comfortable with the metastasizing 'normality' of our country 'acting like an Empire'.
Which is why we must 'stand high' and,
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and why,
"We can't be an EMPIRE"
The principled media should simply not provide any TV visual nor print reporting on the antics of faux-EMPEROR Trump --- which would greatly deflate his distractive poisoning, and Empire-enabling cancerous effect on our country.
1
The propensity to judge things true or false based on our propensity has extended to a totally distorted reality in which scientific evidence is utterly discounted, and unwelcome facts are maligned and ignored. Imagine if we ignored the law of gravity because we didn't agree with Newton's politics? We're getting close to that level of delusion now.
Before the election, I asked some friends why they were pro Trump. Truly it was (and is) not something I could fathom. To a one, their responses consisted of a litany of Hillary's imagined sins. They quoted stories that we now know to be false, which they believed utterly. The irony is that they believed stories and rumors about Hillary but totally discounted the effluvium of Trump's own words and tweets.
A population this undiscriminating and, frankly, stupid is a far worse danger to our country than even the corrupt thieves that have taken over our government.
And so the decline of America continues unabated.
1
It lessens how vile, reprehensible and absolutely unacceptable Trump’s blatant lies are when they are called “falsehoods” by pundits and journalist, as they are in this article.
It’s like a defense attorney portraying the actions of a client who is an undeniable serial killer as “unfortunate incidences.”
1
Loss of reality testing is a suggestive sign of psychosis.
I could have won an Olympic gold medal.
I could have been the valedictorian of my graduating class.
I could have dated Tom Hanks before he was famous.
I could have written a seminal work on Jane Austen.
That all four are lies is a fact. That I "could have" is a verbal red herring. That any sort of lies would be cool if only they were true, that they would support my political beliefs or harm an adversary or paint someone I support in a positive light is white noise nonsense. We cannot pretend our way through our challenges.
Among the many frightening phenomena emanating from this administration and this time in American Society is the assault on truth, facts, decency and common sense. That Trump retweeted a false video purporting to be Islamic people committing crimes in England could have had awful consequences. Thankfully, the citizens of England have mostly caught on to the president's dissociation from truth, and nobody got riled up and went vigilante on innocent people.
That Scott Hannity spewed out a wretched lie about a young man's murder having something to do with the DNC caused his parents such agony. Trump's despicable lie that Obama was born in Kenya and therefore ineligible to be our president had the worst consequence of all: firing up a base of folks happier to be lied to than to face uncomfortable realities, and ending up with this deceitful president and his band of complicit truth-shredders.
The truth will set us free. Never settle for less.
2
It is simpler than this. The tribe of Trump will take his lies any day over the truths of the tribe of Clinton.
This essay is semi preposterous, and yet is true enough.
We the people are too complicated to be simplistically pigeon-holed.
As RW Emerson expounded re consistency being the affliction of weak minds, so is unmitigated bluntness.
Political correctness is about being polite.
Politeness isn't necessarily factual.
Our overall culture is a product of human complexity
including our contradictions.
Successfulness can infer an element of mendacity.
That cynical definition of diplomacy re mendacity implies
that we people accept tactfulness, which often isn't entirely
factual, is it?
To tell ya the truth can be too d harsh, can't it?
I hereby apologize for upsetting applecarts with rudeness, because I have a tendency to be hurtful, darnit.
We tell semi truths, and perceive that distortion conveys the
This isn’t a very comforting analysis, but it doesn’t quite explain everything. Why are some people more gullible than others?
In this NPR report about “fake news”, the purveyor of the fake stories explained to the journalist, that he tried to be an equal opportunity trickster, but the liberals didn’t bite. They, on the whole, were more skeptical, so he narrowed his business to only publishing fake news to appeal to conservative audiences.
https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/23/503146770/npr-...
1
OMG. Up is down, right is wrong, facts don’t matter because the opposite ‘could have been true? My head is spinning.
The faithful believe the truth in their hearts, which they do not question or doubt.
1
Look at the world these people inhabit. For example, is Judge Judy a real judge in a real courtroom? Yes, but no, but yes... but no. Got it?
I read a so-called factual news story by a Reuters reporter on gun laws in various states. The reporter, Andrew Hay, said "Less than half of U.S. states require background checks before gun store sales,"
This is FAKE NEWS. Why do liberals continue to deny false reporting is perpetrated by the so-called legitimate press? Trump tells whoppers off the cuff but the liberal media, the declared 'opposition', incorporates false lines of narrative in their reporting across the board to push their agendas.
When Trump says such lies and is caught he reminds America that the liberal media is still constantly lying to the American public.
There. I have just described how Andrew Hay, of Reuters, is lying to and misleading the American public. Will it be corrected? Will the lie be admitted? No. They never are.
Just for information, federal law requires that background checks be performed in ALL STATES in gun shops and even at gun shows by people who sell guns as a business who are, by the way, required by federal law to have a federal firearms license. Private sales are still legal whether they occur at a gun show or in the parking lot. The law defines a private sale. The laws are readily available to Reuters reporters.
Years of experiencing political lying, exaggeration, phony campaign promises and a general belief that "all politicians lie" -- and apparently lie most of the time --plus ranting political commentators who practice propaganda as if it were fresh air -- have coarsened much of the public and made ethics and morality just words words words. Consider how those who claim to be Christian believers ignore and even applaud Donald J. Trump's lies, sexual misconduct, bullying behavior. Politics is being divorced from religious belief that ethics and morality matter, because they obviously don't matter to millions of voters.
So what do we tell the children?
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
The Presidency of Donald Trump is a smokescreen. The GOP is packing the courts while we fret over his foibles. In the long run, he won't matter, but the courts will.
"When President Trump retweeted a video falsely purporting to show a Muslim migrant committing assault, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, defended him by saying, 'Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real.'”
--This is a definition of the use of propaganda, which is the right wing's main mode of discourse.
"In this time of 'fake news”'and 'alternative facts,' commentators worry that people with different political orientations base their judgments of right and wrong on entirely different perceptions of reality."
--This is an example of false equivalence. Such impulses are far stronger among those on the right, who continuously decry the validity of government and renounce the value of evidence and facts.
1
When Obama said that everyone could keep their doctored under the ACA, I have no doubt he thought that was true. But I make that judgment after seeing and hearing Obama act and speak for many years. His public track record supports the conclusion that his statement was an honest mistake.
By contrast, each day that Trump tells a bald faced lie there can be no rational person who believes he is anything other than a liar. This is because his entire track record is one of lies.
1
I can hope there is enough in the Mueller investigation to send Trump to jail... Then I won't care if they keep on believing him. They are too dense to see how they are hurting the rest of us in the eyes of the world.
You can rationalize all you want why any group of people would embrace someone who traffics in lies and hyperbole on an every day basis. The fact of the matter is that these people have lost their ability to behave rationally and morally.....plain and simple.
1
The very necessary study is why so many of us are willing to lie for and accept lies from certain people. Politicians are not the only people who lie. Many lie. Why are Americans unable to call out liars with whom they have a common bond, however slight the bond? Maybe because it is because the media and journalists treat lies and liars as simple human interest stories? Hmmm?
This segment of the population both frightens, and enrages me. It is comparable to the poor whites who shed their blood in defense of the planter aristocrats during the Civil War. Trump has the potential to bring their small mindedness to the world stage, and American stupidity, in the past confined to home. is already stunning all observers. Offer explanations, wax poetic about past demagogs, doesn't matter. The Boobus Americanus has been unleashed.It will end the problem of growth, and expansion, but not in a way that will please anybody.
" These results reveal a subtle hypocrisy in how we maintain our political views"
Speak for yourselves...this study only involved Americans and we know how exceptional they are to others!
A lie is a lie and it is not sweetened or made less wrong just because it is from somebody who represents or agrees with our political beliefs. If it did, then I suggest the moral fibre and credibility of such a person is at the very least lax and at worst, deficient.
America is going tribal and dividing itself to the point of embarrassment.
While I suppose Trump supporters thought President Obama COULD have been born in Kenya, I'm still wondering what they thought of Trump mocking the disabled reporter from the Times.
Or did they choose to believe that was a "fake" video by the "fake" news.
A second wasted on trying to "understand" these people is a second taken from the nitty gritty work of getting voters to the polls to overturn this abomination.
1
Mr. Trump's lies typically express true essences, and they don't normally baldly state as a lie an important fact. As was said before, Trump supporters take him seriously but not literally, whereas his detractors, in a new found reverence for literal truth in every detail, take him literally but not seriously.
So, for example, the quip about crowd size, an unimportant thing, was in its essence a reference to his "landslide" victory, which in itself was a lie - except that supporters immediately understood that "landslide" in this lie meant a lop-sided result relative to expectations (HRS was supposed to have a 95% chance of winning a few weeks before the election, according to none other than this newspaper).
The bowling ball test is based on a real test in Japan, but Mr. Trump mangled the reason for the test (the half ball measures the impact of a car hit as if it were a human head - the more give the car has, and the less force the "head" must absorb, the better.) The point is, this is a lie about something not that important, and anyway calling it a lie may go too far. Sounds like Mr. Trump remembered it wrong, or somebody told him the wrong thing.
Contrast these examples and many similar ones with the most obvious comparison to be made, that of Mr. Obama. When he said you can keep your doctor and your insurance, he was lying, he knew he was lying, and it was a lie about something important.
Another contrast: Mr. Trump lies inartfully. Mr. Obama was a master.
1
We are biologically wired to follow our leader without question when our tribe is threatened, and having a black president scared the bejeesus out of Trump’s supporters.
They don't mind his lies because they are GOP types that will always cheat (gerrymanders) and lie.
1
Or… It allows his support their own agenda of overt racism and greed…
Good grief. The obvious can sit on the sidewalk right outside The Times building and you'll cross the planet seeking after it.
Try this: Trump supporters "don't mind" lie lies because Trump supporters LOVE his lies. Trump is a gesture of pure contempt for the idea that there's a fact at all, anywhere. Elites and educated people and city folk think they own fact. They think they can flaunt superior grasp of fact and get the past word in any argument by using fact.
Trumpists appreciate how long it takes you to understand it: Trump does with fact what a dog does with a fire hydrant. "Mind"? Trump voters share his contempt for fact because you like and use and trust fact, and they hate you.
2
The simple reason Trump supporters don't mind his lies is because they're a bunch of hypocritical liars themselves. I will cease to be amazed talking to Republicans at work, some of whom with graduate degrees. These people don't care a whit about anything other than themselves...period. Sure, the religious right likes to give the illusion of being pious and just wishing to do God's work, but they themselves seemingly don't at all mind all the immoral actions taken and things said by a man they are increasingly approving of...so long as they get a tax cut or can pack the court with conservatives to further endanger the constitution. This modern incarnation of the Republican Party will bring an end to this democracy and we deserve whatever falls out of what's left.
1
I'm watching Trump right now at a rally in Michigan. If you want to understand the acceptance of Trump's lies just watch the people at the rally. THEY LOVE THE SHOW! They LOVE having a bully-in-chief. They love to have Trump as their surrogate anger vent. They adore Trump because he berates the people they feel alien from: the media, the feminists, the politically correct crowd, the LGBT groups, etc. etc., etc. What's a few lies to the coastals, the elites, the Democrats? They deserve it, bigly.
And he adores their adoration. He throws them all red meat. He feeds off their immense enthusiasm as it becomes a mutual admiration society. What's wrong with a few lies when you have your spokesman in the WH? It's a small price to pay, believe me.
2
Sometimes you just have to accept there are bad people out there, and they will do anything to fool you. The problem is there winning.
Here's why - I can abide Trump lies more than I can abide progressive truths...
Just one example...
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/upshot/were-in-a-low-growth-world-how...
(review by Paul Krugman)
"...Developments in information and communication technology, he has insisted, just don’t measure up to past achievements. Specifically, he has argued that the I.T. revolution is less important than any one of the five Great Inventions that powered economic growth from 1870 to 1970: electricity, urban sanitation, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, the internal combustion engine and modern communication...
"...In “The Rise and Fall of American Growth,” Gordon doubles down on that theme, declaring that the kind of rapid economic growth we still consider our due, and expect to continue forever, was in fact a one-time-only event...
Said another way:
"I just can't handle your truth"
Why deny it.... why be PC ?
Let's be clear. A great portion of his supporters are frustrated haters, thrown off balance by 'change', and by the sometimes difficult challenges of leadership.
They want simple answers! Lies, boasts, belligerence, taunts.... Now those are satisfying !!
Do they constitute sound policy? Short-term, perhaps you get a win or two. But the cost is the destruction of trust and the degradation of our politic and our progress.
I'm reminded of the timid woman who marries a thug for protection.... Bad choices have consequences!
1
The very fact that this discussion is happening is a clear sign of our collective degradation as a society. Where did our sophistication as political observers and participants go?
1
This is not new. The history of striving ("enlightenment" bothers me, a bit, with its elitist implications, but that's part of it) is of rising from the primitive kill or be killed confrontation with a difficult and sometimes hostile nature towards our better natures.
If we don't try to be better, we become worse. We are animals, pure and simple. Those who claim to be "Christians" (or other religions) but ignore the advice to share and work together in community and include ignore the Gospels, which are a fine short tutorial on the rewards of being our best selves.
We can hope, but honestly it's hard to continue to do so in this hate-filled world, with leaders who encourage violence and killing and are proud of it.
Humans seem to gravitate towards simple explanations and to avoid understanding that many questions have no simple answer. If the lie is easier to understand than the more subtle and complicated truth, the lie often wins.
9
"The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.
I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion."
--The Art of the Deal
4
Confirmation bias writ large. There is another factor at work as well. Belief versus facts. The believers will believe if there is even the smallest 1% probability something might be plausible and no amount of facts supporting the 99% probability that something is false will change their minds.
Believe = "expectation of truth"
Truth = "conformity with WHAT?" Empirical evidence or authority?
Examples:
Evidence or authority?:
"Human life has individual value."
"The earth day is about 24 hours"
"Reality began about 6 thousand/14 billion years ago"
So far, I see historical support for authority's yielding biological success, but the data for that newfangled "truth" thing aren't in yet. The technology regarding "truth" is new and not widely understood, but solidarity still works.
Maybe we needed a modern study to tell us this, but history holds many examples. Suetonius would sometimes state that an account he was going to repeat may not be true, but it is worth repeating because he captures the essence of a man or illustrates a point that is true. He was not alone in his time, nor was that isolated to that ancient era. George Washington didn't cut down a cherry tree, but that old chestnut still gets told and is widely known. Since almost everyone now accepts that Washington was steadfastly honest, no one angrily protests. Was he? Did a false story tell a deeper truth? If he were alive today, his detractors would be tweeting that one to death. This study tells us what we have been doing purposely for millennia.
The people who don't mind Trumps lies, don't mind them because they feel justified, finally, having lied in their own lives in the same way and for the same reasons, since they were children, and they probably learned that behavior from their parents. Now the president does it, "so I was OK" all along. It is a cultural and familial pathology, not just a personal one.
11
In the case of Republicans it's much more a case of tribalism combined with the need of marks (as in victims of fraud like those of Madoff) to go on believing in something in which they are heavily invested emotionally long after the fraud has been revealed.
The same phenomenon can be observed in Britain where the writer of this piece comes from when it comes to the Brexit vote. As the complexity and indeed the threat posed by this decision has gradually become more apparent over the last 20 months there has been some modest signs of buyers remorse but most of the leave voters remain committed to the idea.
Since Trump's election there are definitely signs of some erosion of support but the roughly two thirds of the Republican base are simply unwilling to admit their error. Trump himself said it. He could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his base would remain loyal. It's about emotional comfort not rationality.
14
Brilliant study. My question then: If moral interpretations are biased by politics, how is political bias formed in the first place? We're seeking to correct the degeneration of honesty within our society. How do we reestablish honesty as an apolitical baseline for critical thought? Mr. Effron has proven an interesting problem. I'd like to see an actionable solution.
4
Remember, half of the population has an IQ of less than 100. I found during my teaching career that some of my students wee literal thinkers. They could offer insights into a character in a story, but had a harder time seeing the story in a social context. They often got hung up on whether or not they liked the story, which in literature study is secondary.
The nuance of charging an admired person for not telling the truth is conflicting. If I like the guy, I must like what he likes. I admire the person, so I must admire everything about him.
When the greater society criticizes the admired one, they conflict can not be sorted out. It is too complex and abstract for full consideration.
9
Thank you for this.
Professor Effron's research is interesting and thought-provoking. It reminds me of the distinction that Aristotle makes in his _On Rhetoric_ between examples and fables. Both are meant to illustrate an assertion. They give an instance while laying down a general rule. According to good old Aristotle, the difference is that examples are historical and fables are fictional. The falsehoods that politicians tell their supporters, that is, those lies which "could have been true," are in essence ideological fables, illustrating the beliefs of a constituency, even if totally untrue factually. Great work, Mr. Effron!
5
There is another possibility. People have been conditioned to take any public statement from a politician with a grain of salt. They've endured decades of politicians who, when asked a potentially embarrassing question, will evade, obfuscate, change the subject, or point out how the opposition has done something worse. Or, my personal favorite, they'll explain how they're not going to play the "gotcha" game. Ideally, we'd get straight answers to straight questions. Failing that, I suspect some people find it refreshing, or at least an entertaining novelty, that a politician will just come up with a bald-faced lie that is obviously a lie.
11
I can appreciate the need for surveying to get statistical data, but still . . . it doesn't explain why Sanders and Conway cannot live with the truth. Even when their candidate won. That's our problem.
28
The realm of "alternate facts/truths" have reigned supreme in the creative, yet delusional minds of man since it walked out of the Forest Primeval. One has to wonder well over a century into it if any of us really understand human Psychology as much as we claim, especially here in the 21st century.
All of us are subject to the Bandwagon mentality of joining the crowd. Whether reality aligns with our being EITHER right OR wrong, it's safer and much less vulnerable when can disappear into the illusory safety of numbers. Ancient organized religion is the likeliest example, with one of millions of contemporary cases in point, and closer to home, being Fox "News."
People follow lies when the narrative of the truth is more than they can mentally/intellectually bear. Case closed.
6
Yep. Solidarity proved its value in a million years of evolution, long before truth was even a concept (and long before even concepts were a concept.)
I like truth, but I don't argue with history (I just do my best to sidestep it when it comes my way.)
Bring on the violence. Bring on the H-bombs. It's the only way to cull the population. Nature doesn't care who wins, or if anyone wins, or what winning even is. (But be sure that if ANYONE "wins" it will be where fear and solidarity have their greatest grip.)
Then take two aspirin and call me in 700 years (which WILL pass -- quicker than anyone expects.) Lemme know how it went.
1
While there may be some group of followers who respond to this kind of communications, I suspect the greater number initially compared him to Hilary and now to a Left wing agenda. Politicians do not stand alone. They stand in comparison to others. There is no other voice on the Right as the Republican party has chosen to back Trump unfailingly and the Left has gone further left. Like or not, his behavior has been priced in and his views are clear. I happen to be in the uncomfortable middle finding both sides to be unacceptable.
4
"Left has gone further left."
Some examples please. How many politicians are to the left of FDR?
Instead of saying you are in the middle, why don't you say you believe in the facts and history and will go wherever they take you, left or right.
Professor Effron might be right but we're a long long way from truly understanding how the mind works. Regardless, I find any notion that some physical-psycho-sociological explanation that takes human choice out of the equation abhorrent. To paraphrase Charlton Heston, you're going to have to pry free will out my cold dead hands!
I happen to believe in good and evil, order and chaos, in a very Platonic way as resonances or forms upon which we scaffold our lives and reputations. Who we are is a direct reflection of our actions, which in turn are predicated on our willingness to take the far more difficult path of doing good versus falling back into the darkness of sloth and narcissism.
For good reasons archetypes exist which we can and should use to judge ourselves and others, and one of the best reasons is because the archetype provides an exit from the often infinite relativism the world so often seems to present to us.
For Trump, I have an archetype in mind, not to explain his behavior, but to guide mine.
4
The research reinforces two general notions. (1) What people think is true is what people feel is true. (2) It is easier to successfully lie to a person when they want to believe they lie. Also, there are at least two more reasons Trump's lies have not hurt his popularity. The big one is that the president is delivering policy wins Republicans like so they don't care. The other is that being able to lie and get away with it is an expression of power and that power makes Republicans feel good.
17
@ Pete The growing negative reaction to the Republican tax cut signed by Trump and the positive attachment to Obamacare offer an interesting argument to "the president is delivering policy wins Republicans like" of the sort of chicken vs egg type. Can Trump and the Republicans continue to convince increasingly skeptical sections of his base to accept what Trump is accomplishing as a "win" because they like Trump or will the negative response to what Trump and the Republicans are doing (ex: Veterans opposed to Big Costly Military Parade) show up in lower Trump approval ratings and higher Trump disapproval ratings for his base?
Another few Trump "rants" sold as interviews on Fox & Friends and the answer might be clearer.
It is also the reason why Obama was permitted to lie to Americans about their doctors and plans and why Bill Clinton was allowed to sexually assault women and get away with it.
Partisans only care about results. They care about the means when it comes to opponents. Then they claim the moral high ground and raise the bar high. It goes back on the ground when their person is in office.
Standards that change based on politics are hardly the measure of anything.
1
COrrection: power makes HUMANS feel good. DOn 't shortchange the Demcrat party.
We make decisions with our gut not our minds. Afterwards we either find information that supports what we think ,(today with a smorgasbord of information available on the internet)or we bend reality to make our decisions look good . Trump is merely helping the followers feel right about their positions. Works like a charm ,doesn't it?
12
But if, like Trump, you accept Russian assistance in order to win an election, would the sage researcher admit that such an action is immoral?
4
...and illegal (on numerous counts).
1
I did not cut down that cherry tree but if I did it was so you could have cherries.
George Washington to his mother.
19
Brilliant!
Trump tells lies that are important and lies that are trivial. Democrats and the liberal media treat them all as one. Trump also makes ambiguous statements that are often misconstrued. Republicans find a lot of nitpicking in this process. As for the bad lies that everyone recognizes, Democrats make way too much noise about what is obvious. I want to win in 2018 and 2020 and I don’t think being obnoxious and needlessly offending Republicans is the best strategy. On the whole, I think they know what they’re dealing with. And shouting about it all the time strikes me as a good way to lose votes.
4
So one should object to full-fledged dishonesty only when the dishonesty...is not obvious? Because calling out the lies might *offend* others? For real?
If a person lies about unimportant things, can I believe what they say about important things? And, to increase my anxiety, who decides what's important to me?
Re: "Even when partisans agree on the facts, they can come to different moral conclusions about the dishonesty of deviating from those facts."
Partisans also come to different moral conclusions generally about candidates - such as how acceptable it is to take *big* money.
Partisans on both sides, make excuses for corruption and influence in their own party, while ferociously attacking similar traits in opposing candidates. Those of us swing voters fed up with both sides, are left to shrug and sigh. Bo-o-o-ring. Sure, one side may be worse than another - maybe *much* worse. But that doesn't make supporting corrupt candidates, a winning strategy. Voters are *still* very hungry for candidates that are *honest*. Not *less* corrupt, but *not* corrupt.
What is the logical result of big money support? Obama used COLA tricks to cut SS. Mainstream so-called liberal publications have for decades called for cuts in "entitlements" (Social Security). They have claimed that raising US demand and wages, and building infrastructure are "unrealistic". Donors, owners, and advertisers don't like it.
Meanwhile, (after helping trash the popular and effective New Deal) Democrats pretend they will implement unpopular means tested programs that everyone *knows* will never pass. And they call *Bernie* unrealistic? And are surprised that voters will support unorthodox, and even terrible candidates, if they at least offer some small glimmer of hope for economic change?
8
Except the good professor's research (and empirical evidence) shows your analysis to be false. Otherwise the mob would have attacked and beaten the lying con of whatever persuasion that made off with their lunch money, paycheck, bonus, retirement, etc.
Rationalizing racist, misogynist hate is not a good look.
Songsfrown,
Calling a majority of Wisconsin voters racist and misogynist, is perhaps not a winning strategy, do you think?
Especially considering that 60% of them once voted for Obama, and especially considering that Senator Tammy Baldwin (a woman) was elected in that same state, just 6 years ago.
It takes some serious Democratic incompetence and corruption to turn a historically blue state like Wisconsin red, and banker-funded Democrats have surely delivered. Keep doing more of the same. Then, while our nation continues to sink and become more divided, (and more red), you can have the satisfaction of name calling. Is it worth it?
With Donald Trump, the presidency has taken on the aura of WWE, where the die-hard fans of a popular wrestler applaud and defend him regardless of bad behavior or for his lies and boasts. When America votes a reality TV show host for president, standards of acceptable behavior are pretty much discarded. Cult of personality made the more impressionable people buy his snake oil salesman persona wholesale. New Yorkers who have known and understood the real Donald Trump for decades did NOT vote for him, and that is just as telling as those who did not really know the FACTS about him and voted for him. Truth and facts do matter and Trump has been spinning lies for so long even he cannot keep his stories straight.
11
I like the article and the research but I hate the title. The experiment explicitly asks questions of non-Trump supporters about lies told in anti-Trump "news" reports. The author's science communication skills are awful. The bias is so blatant that it is no wonder the right dismisses science results.
5
Um, no. I'm not going to ask why those who refuse to face facts do so. Or try to understand them. Or feel bad when their poor choices hurt them. Not after they elected Trump AND continue to put party over country. These things have consequences. They need to feel that.
35
I agree. I definitely am not going to try to understand stupidity.
The writer does not explain WHY anyone would want to accept an alternative version of the truth to anything. I fear the truth is much simpler and much more disturbing: trump supporters don't care what he says about anything because he gives voice to their fears that political, corporate and domestic power is shifting from white, Christian men to everyone else. Those slowly losing their traditional grip on American life think of the power shift as a zero sum game rather than what it really is - a long overdue sharing of the pie. trump allows them to feel aggrieved and not guilty about it. He gives his supporters permission to wallow publicly in racism, resentment, misogyny, greed and fear. And that about sums it up.
35
Re: " their fears that political, corporate and domestic power is shifting from white, Christian men to everyone else. "
Nice, neat narrative.
But that doesn't reflect the actual economic change that has been happening. Inequality is at an all time high. Wealth isn't shifting away from "white Christian men", it is shifting away from the lower and middle classes, to the top 1%. Do you really think that the top 1% is chock full of diversity? Do you really think that the bottom 4 quintiles that have been losing ground under both Democratic and Republican administrations the past 4 decades, are all white Christians?
Do you realize, that well paid factory workers in the 1950's through 1970's had a huge number of women and minorities working in them, making great wages and moving up? And those workers - all groups - have been losing ground since 1980?
Democrats have been complicit in dismantling the New Deal - a set of policies that were effective both politically and economically at *decreasing* inequality, and helping a diverse cross section of workers to raise their standard of living. Yes, many are angry that economic mismanagement, chronic huge trade deficits, and corrupt government has made them increasingly insecure. They may be voting for the wrong people, but then again, maybe they are given two bad choices every election. And calling critical swing voters racist, for being angry at two parties who are both just fine with shipping jobs overseas, isn't helping.
4
Except for the part about their belief that they are entitled by god to use deadly violence to assert their power or adjudicate political disputes.
Songsfrown,
When you talk about people who feel they "..are entitled by god to use deadly violence to assert their power.."? Well, there may be such people, but they are not the swing voters who decide elections. Hurling criticism at extremists who are beyond the pale, is useless.
There are certainly a small number on the left who believe that a completely government controlled economy is ideal. It would be equally wrong-headed to start arguing against or complaining about that extreme position. Whose vote will that change? Nobody's. Try to figure out why Obama won two terms, but then Hillary lost to a terrible candidate. If you want to win, get better candidates. Arguing against fringe positions that are largely straw men, gets you nowhere.
Trump supports don’t mind his lies for the same reason that Hillary supporters don’t mind her lies. e.g. Hillary had her public positions and her private positions on issues.
Voters on both sides of the aisle vote for the candidate that represents their interests better than the opposing candidate. That is all. It is a bi-partisan phenomenon, but this piece only focuses on one side and not both.
7
Correction: not just their interests but also their perceived believes. It is not secret that a lot of rich coastal liberals support the Democrat Party; the one that (at least on paper) is for the "little guy". They do so seemingly against their own pocketbooks interests. Why? - Simple: because they KNOW (and have historically seen) the Dems being just as hypocritical about IMPLEMENTING such changes. In other words, the difference between the parties is that the Dems are hypocritical to the T, while the Reps simply do what they say. The average Jane has no respite but to become an expat herself.
1
This article focuses on only one side because that is what partisans do. A partisan calling the other side "dishonest" is almost a cliche at this point.
2
decades of right wing media have citizens convinced that there are no such things as facts--only opinions! So any nonsense is equivalent to any hard fact if it conforms to one's ideology. Some people have commented that wee need much better education. Yes. We need to teach critical thinking seriously Again. The Republicans are clearly afraid of this. They try to legislate any critique of history, social policy or economics out of school curricula. The result? Lobotomized Trumpians who don't care whether anything is true or false, as long as Trump and Fox News spew it out.
12
This is not news. Those of us who are parents must have experienced that children lie. And that they may be found out. If the lie turns out to have been a clever fabrication, adroitly using the available facts, do we not react differently than when the lie turns out to be an "out-and-out" falsehood? So, what Professor Effron has spent much money on proving is something we already knew. If the lie connects with an imagined reality, we forgive it more readily. And my live to regret our magnanimity (only to be fooled again).
Clever lies from your own children, or from even young extended family, may be forgivable, entertaining or at a minimum, cute. Lies from a non-related 71-year-old serial con artist who literally takes your money to benefit not only himself but also his con-artist friends, is not.
I can understand some supporting a politician who spins few falsehoods that could have been true. But 2400? If you would not accept a tiny fraction of that number of falsehoods (i.e. lies) from your children, why would you accept them from a politician, let alone someone who has so much impact on your future and that of your children?
7
Public education is struggling to maintain quality. Studies that suggest that after most Americans leave school, they read very little, if at all. TV is their primary source of news and entertainment.
Major commercial TV networks offer a few minutes of shallow summation of local and world events
between commercial$. The term "infotainment" is succinct and apt.
For millions of people, perception of the world beyond their immediate physical environment is formed primarily from this tailored media. Is it any wonder that they channel surf for the most novel and outrageous variations on daily events? If someone will promote any stupid or hateful lie to dominate the news cycle, is it any wonder that millions fall in line? (Give 'em bread and circuses, only without the bread!)
If Trump's prolific lying does inspire a grand backlash that ultimately mitigates the power and decadence of infotainment, his regime will have done the U.S and the world a favor.
4
I wouldn't count on that happening any time soon.
WHAT studies? This smells of fake news.
The problem with laboratory experiments in psychology is that they are terribly unreliable (see Times article on the Reproducibility Project- only 39 of 100 studies replicated previous results) and when it comes to generalizing to real life, another drop-off. And of course something that is plausible is generally easier to swallow.
But people by and large don't care about facts. Drug companies sell their products with pretty narrations of smiling couples in the park while quickly mentioning, as required by law, terrible side effects. People only care about the pretty story rather than the "facts." Billions believe a Supreme Being impregnated a Jewish virgin; billions more believe cows are sacred. Not to mention that the sacred texts of all religions are clearly factually false. (In the Bible, the earth was made before the sun.) Critical thinking is a possible but not a normative human trait.
With Trump's supporters, its mainly joining him in his hatred, combining scapegoating for their individual and group unhappiness, with schadenfreude, the German term for finding pleasure in someone else's (the scapegoated Mexicans, Muslims, Blacks, etc.) pain. Add to that, a cure for the diminishing sense of power through the domination of whiteness, by identifying with a rich and powerful bully who is great at humiliating others.
We have met the enemy and he is (too many of) us.
9
And be assured if the Mueller investigation ends up debunking the liberal Grand Trump-Putin Collusion Conspiracy tale, the "Resistance" will still dream as if this grand mania was true. Meanwhile, remain the pot calling the kettle black.
2
Yes, imagine the exercise were Trump's critics actually forced to define "truth"? Never mind that now the standard for "truth" when it comes to Trump is that something hasn't been found to have been "false". Witness the denial about the lack of evidence for the Russian collusion charges.
2
Another equally compelling reason: Fox News commentators' relentless ethics-free defense of Trump's lies, their rejection of the importance of facts and objective evidence, and nonstop peddling of unsupported conspiracy stories that appeal to racism, paranoia and distrust of government.
6
I recently watched a documentary about Trump. There was a time when he demanded that, during any public pronouncement of his name, it had to be proceeded with "billionaire." So whoever mentioned his name had to say Billionaire Donald Trump. The truth was, of course, he wasn't a billionaire (not even close), but he made people "believe" he was. This is the sort of subtle but dangerous lying that is the basis of people like Trump. They create a persona and then make people believe they are someone or something the aren't. And, the sad truth is, people love to be deceived. Americans are some of the best suckers in the world.
11
Useful. This behavior may be a major contributor to the American divide. Do citizens of other countries behave the same? What needs to happen so that most citizens are not comfortable with their leaders lies? I'm guessing this is primary school education, and parenting - encouraging critical thought, valuing evidence-based conclusions - and somehow getting young minds to enjoy this process.
3
Sadly, such relativism is a hallmark of the modern age, and a dangerous one, as a commonly agreed upon moral yardstick is rejected by increasing numbers of Americans in favor of a society based on individualistic, me-first, my-way-or-the-highway thinking. The result: a society that can no longer call itself one, a place where human beings co-exist before a screen that offers them more of what they want to hear, reinforcing misguided thinking all round.
As a former teacher, I recall a few of decades ago when the 'thing' among educators was a constant harping on the importance of teaching "critical thinking skills" , yet when asked for details as to what those skills were and how to teach them, the common response was baffled silence. Twenty years later, you have the result, on both sides of the political spectrum.
For a clear contrast between a country with a political moral compass and the one we live in today, try watching a few black and white movies made during the mid to late 30s noting how they reflect the issues of that day. A time of better leadership, of painful lessons well-learned, and a sense that we were all in this mess together. Not to romanticize it, but there is much truth to be found there. Because truth mattered. What has happened to human society when a philosophical search for and basis for truth no longer matters? On what then do we base our lives?
1
With Trump manning the controls, the "Post-Truth Express" has left the station. The pressing question is, "how do we get it turned back around"?
2
Another reason Trump supporters don't mind his lies is similar to someone who has difficulty selling a losing stock. They have difficulty admitting they were wrong and acknowledging the loss. The same bad decision making applies here.
10
What this study seems to prove is that Steven Colbert's assertion that "truthiness" has become the new standard regardless of one's political persuasion.
It is not surprising that we perceive the world around us based on inherent belief systems. Thus, for the Trumpsters, the 2,400 documented lies or misleading statements are ignored, and the "alternative facts" that might disprove his untruths are embraced.
In addition, the ways in which the mainstream media pay so much attention to his incoherent tweet-storms and ongoing "campaign rallies," lead to a succession of predictable and redundant discussions that become wearisome for us all.
The most recent example was Trump's unexpected and bizarre "call-in" to "Fox and Friends." By turns, he seemed unhinged, oblivious to the encouragement of the hosts to talk about issues of major import, and completely unaware of their attempts to end the interview until Kilmeade reminded him to attend to the "million things" he needed to do as President.
The amount of discussion that followed took several news cycles to diminish. It's likely that his supporters viewed this interview as their "strong man" fighting back against those forces Trump believes want to invalidate his authority, while his opponents saw it as further evidence of his incapacity to lead the country.
Apparently, we are all unwitting pawns in the "reality show" that this government has become under the tutelage of one of its seminal creators. This is madness!
7
The groundwork for Trump's alternative facts was started years ago by Fox News and people like Rush Limbaugh. They've been turning words like "democrat", "liberal" and "mainstream media" into pejoratives for years. The reality was never as bad as they portrayed it, but that gradual demonization took it's toll. It's a subtle way of controlling the language. When Donald accuses everyone else of lying, he has an audience that has already been conditioned to believe him.
14
Mr. Effron, isn't there a difference between making a mistake and saying a deliberate lie? When the reporter tweeted that the bust of Martin Luther King had been removed from the Oval Office, he corrected himself within minutes. He also apologized right away and acknowledged his mistake. He was careless to send out the original tweet, but he admitted his error immediately. It was NOT a deliberate falsehood as you imply. I don't even understand how Trump opponents could rate it as ethical or unethical in your experiment because it wasn't a lie. Do you have any other examples?
3
Trump's critics become intentionally obtuse when it comes to interpreting Trump's statements, insisting on the literal interpretation regardless of how far afield that takes them from his intended meaning.
In fact, the farther afield, the better. They have no choice if they are going to continue their narrative, in which they have heavily invested at this point.
2
It should be noted that even religious scholars are recognizing the fact that despite the lies, deceptions and other indiscretions. all the indicators are there in that when a large group of people continue to blindly follow a leader such as Trump, it is no longer voters supporting a candidate, it is, in many respects, cult members worshiping at the alter of their "Messiah".
All one has to do is look at so-called "Evangelical Christians" and the term "Messiah" is one that some of them have even used to describe Trump. Morals and character have little meaning to them anymore. Lies? No big deal.
4
It's so much simpler than that: I want my guy to win "for me" and don't care what he has to do to win. If a supporter wants abortion prohibited -- Trump's lies about his adulteries are besides the point. He's packing the judiciary with people like Gorsuch, which will save millions of innocent unborn lives.
If a supporter wants abortion to be legal -- Clinton's malicious abuse of Lewinsky is unfortunate, but he's still trusted where it counts. It takes a certain intellectual honesty to see the world as it is, rather than as the way one wants it to be. In a funny way, Trump's sociopathy should help us recognize the primitive nature of us all.
1
The core of Trump support is largely evangelical. Evangelicals are not known for critical thinking. Many believe the Bible to be the literal inerrant word of God. Since the Bible contradicts itself many times, it can’t be inerrant. An example is the two chapters of Genesis. Each gives the day by day schedule of creation. The schedule given in chapter one differs from that of chapter two. I am referring to the KJV of the Bible. The Catholic Church considers the book of Genesis to be an allegory. The popularity of Fox News is due to telling people what they want to believe, regardless of truth. True believers are dangerous.
4
This is true for most people when they favor a politician or party: they deny the untruths being fed to them, or as a friend of mine exclaimed about Hillary Clinton's many lies and political shenanigans: "I don't care! I don't care what she said or did--I am voting for her!"
This is probably true for Trump supporters as well but with a hitch--many people voted for him (warts and all) because they favored the policies he was espousing and were galvanized by his spirited defense of a country that had blessed them so mightily. Unsure of the messenger, many voted for the message. It was a gamble.
As for Hillary Clinton, angry Americans knew her so well
after all the years that her lies could not be denied or defended. One could as easily have written an opinion piece titled "Why Hillary Clinton's Supporters Don't Mind Her Lies" but it would smack of understatement given the woman's history.
1
The answer is much simpler. Self-identified republicans are concerned with winning. Winning above all else. It is an entirely tribal mindset that discards all other facets.
Try this: go to a sports bar. Any sports bar. Watch diehard fans of a team. Watch them when a call goes their team's way, and then watch them when a call goes against their team. The integrity of the game is of paramount concern, so long as it puts their team into a good light.
American politics are a sporting event, and nothing more. The thing is, only the Republican side are fanatics. There are certainly diehards in camp blue, but for the most part they put principle over party. (See Franken, Al; for contrast See Moore, Roy)
You do not need a psychological trick to understand this. Just the fact that they need to identify as winners. In 10 years time, when the historians have clearly identified the Trump regime as the worst in modern, and possibly all US history the same Trump supporters of today will deny they ever voted for him, or plead ignorance of how much they knew when they cast their ballots. (See Bush, George W)
3
Trump is not a politician but an entertainer and marketer, two professions whose essence is selling snake oil, the selling of images, fantasies, and hope, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Selling snake oil is one of the world's oldest professions. People buy snake oil because they want it to work, and even if it's not working, they continue to hope it will. People will continue to sell snake oil as long as people continue to buy snake oil, which likely will be forever.
How many who reject Trump's snake oil nonetheless buy the snake oil from Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, Bank of America, credit agencies, DNA testing businesses, and many others that their data is private and secure? For the most part, people believe what they want to believe, mostly that which feeds their hopes and fears.
2
I suspect that Trump supporters, rather than believing the "falsehoods could have been true", believe the falsehoods SHOULD have been true.
Remember, in our two-party political system in the US, the favored party only has to be perceived as less immoral than the other party.
3
Mr. Effron - always glad to hear from someone across the pond about how Americans don't mind the lies of our president...i.e. that the falsehoods (read bigly lies) of Trump have desensitized the American hoi polloi knuckle-draggers because his off-the-cuff lies and tweets coulda, shoulda, woulda been true. Meanwhile our country is divided as it was before the seminal events of our bloody history - the horrific arrival of slaves from Africa in pre-Revolutionary America, the revolution against our mother country, England in 1779, our Civil War (the rebellion and declaration of the Confederate Government by slave-holding Southern States) and today - yes, today - as we are split between the 45th President of the United States, and those who would, but cannot, remove him from our White House and job as leader of the free world. Thanks for your assessment of our behaviour, Mr Effron, but I don't think organizational behaviour was a science during the revolt of the french miserables against the Bourbon kings till 1789. We don't, alas, have a Bastille to storm these days.
Or maybe, Republican voters are natural liers? The 'good' Republicans rationalize that Trump is merely an anachronism of maintream Republicanism that needs to be tolerated. How else can the wealthy get a low-cost free rider ticket on the low tax train, reduced social policies to keep the masses hungry, and increased military expenditures to soak-up young male adults that spill onto the labor markets?
No worries about the deficit. It is paid back by all voters - Republicans and Democrats. I doubt if the top 10% of American income earners with sufficient wealth, give a hoot about the deficiet.
How so? Public Debt is repaid by taxpayers across the entire spectrum of society. There is no law that requires "proportionate" or progressive repayment of debt based on wealth and income. The "progressive tax system" doesn't include a progressive repayment of public debt on the basis of ability to pay and family wealth.
And those that have sufficient estates to retire in comfort until their grandchildren are dead and gone, are not staying up late worrying about the Public Debt.
If primary school kids were taught in arithmic classes the basics of public debt, wealth and who funds the government, most of these young people would not support upper-class based economic policies.
In a multi-media, multi-channel world, it is important to dumb-down the education system for most children of the bottom 90%. How else can a wealthy man who can't stop lying be elected POTUS?
1
People believe in a confidence artist because he, in this case, appears to have the confidence they lack; which they take on.
We understand that confidence is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE CAN HAVE.
Folding to Le Donald's lies is a must to his base because it preserves their very being; that is, they see it that if they didn't believe him they would psychically die.
That's why cultural identity is referred to as "identity" by the other-directed. Conservatives are nuts for Trump because they have no healthy core sense of self.
Identity is a great deal more than cultural identity.
1
People will forgive a lie if they believe it serves a larger truth...but how large is the truth in question if it needs the help of lies?
2
One only has to recall how Obama's defenders went through contortions to dismiss his lie about "keeping your doctor". The NYT actually said he "misspoke."
When the definition of "lie" changes based on the politics of the accuser and accused, the allegation becomes meaningless.
Trump's critics are now heavily invested in his being a "liar", which dictates how they interpret his statements -- just as they were heavily invested in trusting and defending Obama, regardless of the truth then.
1
"reflecting on how a falsehood could have been true did cause people to rate it as less unethical to tell — but only when the falsehoods seemed to confirm their political views. Trump supporters and opponents both showed this effect."
I don't see this conclusion supported in your paper. Where is the data showing the results from Trump supporters vs. from Clinton supporters? I see them lumped in together as "partisans." Is one group more prone to justify lies? From your paper, I can't tell.
1
Selling snake oil is one of the world's oldest professions. People will continue to sell snake oil as long as people happily buy snake oil. People buy snake oil because they want it to work, and even if it's not working, they continue to hope it will.
Trump is not a politician, but an entertainer and marketer, two professions whose essence is selling snake oil, selling images, fantasies, and hope.
2
I have to wonder if the research described has people doing anything more than make a swift assessment. What would take place if people take time to reflect on the matter, consider options, look at the supporting evidence. Pavlov's dog or thoughtful citizens?
2
I read the study. It asked Republicans: Trump lied about winning the popular vote, but in fact he could of won it if he tried. (no evidence for this) After reading that, Republicans said his lie that he won the popular vote was OK. (in fact, many believe it already) This is a lie that concerns the bedrock of our democracy, one-man, one-vote. If believed, it could be used to legitimate a despot.
The study asked Democrats to consider that if the GOP hadn't suppressed voters, Clinton would have won the electoral college. (statistical evidence gives this some support) Then Dem's said a lie that said Clinton won the electoral college was OK. (but no one believes she did).
So it's apples and oranges. 30 million people believe Trump won the popular vote, and virtually no one believes Clinton won the electoral vote.
It's about shades of gray. Obama said "you can keep you doctor," and some with bare bones insurance were forced to get different ones. Trump said "Since Obamacare went into effect, nearly half of the insurers are stopped," which was false for millions of people. "It covers very few people," Trump said, when it covers 20 million.
If Obama's lie, on a scale of 1 to 50, was 10, then Trump regularly hits 30 or 40. It's a right-wing thing. The GOP let loose in lies, and Trump's taken advantage of it.
By claiming Trump's supporters merely represent ordinary partisan behavior, the social scientists normalize it.
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Comparing Obama "lies" to DT:s is like comparing apples to rotten potatoes.
I would argue that Obama's lie was a '50' for the millions of Americans who lost their plans, doctors, etc.
You are, in fact, "normalizing" your own partisan behavior.
Anyone who believes US presidential elections are fairly apportioned is fool.
Simple , people believe what they want to believe because the truth may be too bald and too real (no pun intended) to face . It's easier to go with the premise of possibility because that's what they want to believe , it's called denial . There's a lot of that around lately ; thus the farmer's will believe they can have guest workers who know the way back to where they came without even considering that guest workers will not rush to pick their crops .
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Frank Herbert, in his Dune novel, conveyed this about the impact of fear and its impact on the mind:
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
Unfortunately, it seems our politics and culture have enabled a post-truth view for a growing number of our citizens, rather than the brave view taken by Mr. Herbert's character.
This research on imagination and truth provides some interesting perspective. But it would be folly to allow it to excuse a departure from objective reality as the foundation of enlightened human progress.
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