Alternative facts are just fake news. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in would have had a field day with this trip down fantasy lane
4
To Jack Dancer and Others who generalize—How would it sound to you and other Republicans if you heard from our candidates, and possible President, that “Republicans advocate locking children in metal cages and flying them across country to detention centers in the dark of night, thousands of miles from their parents, Republicans like ignoring the Rule of a Law and don’t show up to court when they are subpoenaed, Republicans like to assassinate foreigners....
I could go on. I hope you understand.
I am a Democrat. I am a member of a church I attend every week and serve on two committees there. I am not a baby killer—I take care of, and love children as a former teacher.
All Americans, save Native Americans, have ancestors from foreign countries. They did not “invade” our country, they faced incredible hardship to get here and seek a better life for themselves and their children. We are ALL Americans and we ALL love our country.
12
Trump has given nick names to many of his opponents; nobody seems to have given Trump a suitable nick name. Here is one I would like to suggest: Skunk! Trump the Skunk.
4
Americans used to have higher standards and adhered to better moral values. Today’s Americans get a kick out of their President acting like a degenerate dirtbag because they are also that.
7
trump's mrs. conway called his false statements 'alternative facts' and for anyone to give them credence is a fool. of course trump is waiting. he is waiting to become this country's first fascist.
6
If you lie long enough, you'll find yourself going mad.
3
Eric Trump calling Brad Pitt or anyone a smug elitist is too rich. Pitt wasn’t handed a job in Dad’s company upon graduation from Georgetown. Eric seems to deserve his tone deaf stratus.
3
Sadly that may be true. However you reap what you sow. If Americans are ignorant enough to re-elect him, they deserve him, bye bye Amerika!
1
Humpty Dumpty: "When I use a word," it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
Alice: "The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things."
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, (1872)
----------
"The Dodo says the Hatter tells lies.
The Hatter says the March Hare tells lies.
The March Hare says that both the Dodo and the Hatter tell lies."
- Lewis Carroll, (1832 - 1898), from his diaries
Who is telling the truth?
2
This is how Hitler and his Nazis party started out. The similarities are striking.
10
Trump reportedly invited Nancy Pelosi to the White House on his 4th day in office and began by saying, "You know, I won the popular vote." He insisted the 3 million votes Hillary Clinton beat him by were "fraudulent."
There is the "alternative fact" thing writ large.
As Hitler appreciated: The big lie is easier to sell than the small one clothed in data and references.
One reads the only book on his bedside stand is "Mein Kampf."
Maybe that's apocryphal, but it sure seems he has internalized most of the salient points made by der Furher.
4
Trump Is Waiting and He Is Ready,
At 73 and obese Donald Trump is being over optimistic.
3
If Trump were fair-minded in any way, he would not accuse President Obama of any crimes whatsoever while in office, given his own assertion that Article II of the US Constitution makes everything a US president commands legal. He might even thank Obama for preserving the presidential right to play golf whenever so inclined.
1
If Trump is such a shoe-in to win, why did Bernie lead him in head-to-head polls in 2016 by 8%--much more than Hillary--same as he has in most polls in the last year? And why did Bernie soundly beat Trump in the head-to-head Rust Belt exit polls in 2016, too?
Lying is hardly new in politics. Jefferson's slaveholder history is shameless. Lincoln didn't seem to know whether we were fighting to save the union or to free the slaves. Those who championed manifest destiny condoned the massacre of countless Indians. The Spanish American war was straight out imperialism. Woodrow Wilson was a champion of both world peace and racism. McCarthyism and the Vietnam War used false narratives to take on the Red menace. Yellow cake justified our aggression in Iraq. And Obamacare played down the enormous coverage gap that left 27 million working class Americans uninsured.
The notion that Trump's lying is a new phenomenon is simply untrue. The political realm has always thrived on lies, and yesterday is pretty much the same as today. Trump's distinction is that he tells lots of small lies in addition to the big ones. But he doesn't do any more damage than his predecessors. Upscale Democrats believe that this is something new. But upscale Democrats have done more than their share of lying, and have done more than their share of damage.
1
Coppins’s article in The Atlantic was a really alarming read. I don’t know what to do with this information.
I think people believe that if we are aware we are being manipulated, we are immune to it. But companies still spend millions on advertising, even though we know what they’re up to, because it affects our behavior in ways we don’t consciously realize. So what is the effect of propaganda that hyper-targets select demographics, based on billions of data points? Propaganda that is coming in much more insidious, hard-to-recognize forms? Propaganda that makes you think you came up with the ideas on your own, based on the “evidence”?
How can we be immune to that?
6
"With each swipe, the notion of observable reality drifted further out of reach." A sentence worthy of Orwell.
2
Trump fights dirty and is not at all averse to cheating in order to win. He is further incented to do so to avoid paying the piper as Individual #1 and for myriad other crimes, many of which a judge just ruled he could hide by destroying call records and the like with Putin and other like-minded rulers.
This is not a level playing field. He has a jump on fundraising, blocked others from challenging him by getting the RNC to cancel primaries, is using Facebook targeted advertising to hide from white suburban women the things he is saying to white nationalists, etc, etc.
There needs to be a law that political advertising cannot be targeted. Everyone used to see all of the political ads and candidates needed to publicly approve of those ads. Social media needs to either ban all political ads or adopt the same rules.
And does anyone really think Trump is actually going to debate the democratic nominee?
2
Donald J. Trump will be elected to another term as the President of the United States of America. Too bad he can't re-elected over and over and over again. Thank you.
Regarding Mueller and Skitka’s “transgressive advocacy”: They must have needed to invent a new term to justify publication credit for seeking tenure. The term is simply a translation of “the end justifies the means” — any means for a desirable end. Hardly a new viewpoint or insight.
The relevant question is whether this view is more widely held now than previously, and if so, mainly by which political tribe? I have my opinion on that but the other tribe’s members will disagree.
1
Trump's lies are "accepted" because the media (and too many politicians) rarely call out a LIE as a LIE. When you don't respond, when you remain complacent, a LIE becomes truth be default. What the Democrats desperately need is a Press Secretary. Someone charismatic, smart, funny, articulate. Someone like perhaps Stacey Abrams? Every day this Press Secretary will hold a press conference and respond to Trump's lies and abuses, and if she is compelling, she will grab the attention of the media, and thus, the nation.
3
When someone like Matthew Boyle presents a subversive strategy to the Heritage Foundation and then that strategy gets funded you really have to ask why Heritage is welcomed in professional circles. Hillary is right- we really do have a deep state and it is the GOP and the plutocrats that fund their think tanks and 501Cs
We need a lot of bleach and I don’t see anyone including Bernie having the ability to even get the conversation started
.
1
Tom,
You have brought to our attention the most serious threat to the survival of our Democracy. This is the most serious abuse of the Constitution and the concept of government that we were confident would survive, but now I have my doubts.
I hope the Times will run this above the fold with the commentary and invited readers and the other free press editors to add their comment.
The Bell Tolls.
1
Trump has shown other politicians, Farrell continued, that it is now “far easier to get away with lying and untruth and not lose support from your voters.” This observation is, unfortunately, absolutely correct. But when voters are fully aware, properly informed, truly care about the issues in an upcoming election and are not willing to stand like mindless robots and allow lies, falsehoods and fake information to be shoved down their throats, then Mr. Farrell's observation is not correct. Donald Trump knows this. Perhaps his greatest fear is a truly strong-willed and well-informed voter. This is what is needed to defeat Donald Trump.
1
Mr. Edsall cites the following that appeared in the Washington Post:
"President Trump’s political operation headed into 2020 with nearly $200 million on hand...…….. giving him a financial war chest that vastly outstrips the resources of his Democratic opponents."
That is not true of all of his "Democratic opponents"!!
If Michael Bloomberg is the party's nominee, he can vastly outspend Trump and the Republican Party combined, for his resources are virtually unlimited!
However that is only one reason to nominate him.
A few others:
1- As a moderate, he can appeal to a broad spectrum of voters from both the right and left
2- As a three term mayor of one of the largest and perhaps most complex cities in the world, he has a proven record of governing successfully
3- He built a hugely successful business empire-...... not just lied about having built one...... as did Trump
4- He will use Twitter, Facebook and other social media to beat Trump at his own game
5- And not to be underestimated, his intelligence far exceeds that of Trump's.
When Democrats go to the polls to cast their votes in the primaries they will have to decide which is most important: having their preferred candidate lead the ticket or winning the election in November. Despite their fondest hopes, the two are often not the same!
1
Interesting comments, especially by Coppins, and it echoes the message from Pomerantsev's book about Putin's Propaganda 2.0.
Modern propaganda feeds the true believers and can leave the rest in such a state of confusion that they gaslight themselves.
One reason for white backlash is the overreach of social justice advocates. Case in point: today’s NYT’s story of a University of Oklahoma journalism professor’s myopic and ham-handed comparison of the recent meme and slight “Ok, Boomer,” to the historically laden epithet of the “n-word.” A student spoke up and corrected the professor, but that was not enough for her: she promptly reported him to university authorities. The university issued a stern rebuke. The professor has apologized via email to all his students. But now the university is sending administration observers to his class and considering further discipline. A black students advocacy group is demanding his firing.
Now, saying something temporarily stupid or insensitive is an academic crime, a cause for loss of employment.
Is this the kind of hyper-vigilance around thought and speech we Americans need to transform our racist past and present into a glorious, non-racist future? Is the policing of micro-aggressions even important? How about we all work to eliminate voter suppression, cash bail, massive incarceration, vastly unequal education based on the legacy of redlining, stand-your-ground gun laws, and workplace discrimination? All of the latter shape and distort our society. Policing professors and students’ choice of words and ideas merely cows people into omitting their thoughts. We are heading nowhere good with this.
2
Trump lies and people tolerate it. Why, because Trump supporters will tell tell you that the media has been lying for decades (either directly or thru bias) and they feel that he’s only evening the scales. And...it’s not like they’re wrong.
Nobody lies more than the DEMS. This should help them! Too bad they keep losing. They are quite good at losing and complaining!
We need to recognize the same lies are not new are a recurring pattern in our history. Andrew Jackson's populism, the Know Nothings, the suspicions about the Irish Democrats in NYC being the source of pestilence, corruption and popery in FDR's time.
Vanity, vanity. There is nothing new under the sun.
The question is why haven't we learned to protect our minds and the minds of our fellow Americans and innoculate ourselves with truth and reason against willful ignorant belief.
It is fascinating that a president with the situational power to pervade the national atmosphere with his narcissism -- a disorder of delusional perfectionism -- has revealed a stunning psychological phenomenon: that millions of people's grasp of reality is based primarily not on on perception but on feeling. Let that fact sink in down to your toes.
1
A friend on mine that lives in a different part of the country shared a post on Facebook claiming illegal immigrants killed over 10,000 Americans last year -people mindlessly help promulgate "facts" that reflect the narrative they desire. That is why they like Trump. People are often intellectually lazy. The don't want to read an opinion piece like the one written by Mr. Edsall because it actually takes some time and the ability to think critically. It's much easier to forward on a Facebook rant supports my views. Social media is a cancer on our society.
1
I started reading this and when I got to the end I realized I had read almost exactly the same thing in a book. The book is called "The Nightmare Years 1930 - 1940" by William Shirer, the Chicago Tribune journalist. He chronicles his time in Berlin during those years. He couldn't believe that the highly cultured Germans fell for this liar. Propaganda was born there at that time. Enough people fell for it.
Are we seeing the same thing today?
1
Brilliant piece by Thomas Edsall. We need more attention to the uses of rhetoric and semantics--as well as the tools of cybercommunication--that shape our reality, particularly as our political universe melts down.
"Sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." - George Orwell, IN FRONT OF YOUR NOSE (1946)
Trump supporters are way beyond brainwashed. They take in "news" sources that feed the delusion that Mr Trump is other than a dangerous fraud. They supplant reality with thick layers of false narrative. The hero of our era with be the leader who can bring back that ancient value called truth.
1
It's not entirely clear that people are becoming more accepting of liars. In fact, it may be the reverse. People being subjected to constant lying get angry and resent it. It's insulting, degrading and eventually people avoid liars when and where they can. There are a lot of former Trump voters are not voting for the liar Trump or any of his lying sycophants in the House or Senate.
As I understand it, Trump has record approval from his own party.
Don't they count "never Trumpers"?
The Times Pick, @Jack Dancer says
Quote
"I view the Democrat Party, its supporters, and all the Dem candidates as supporting open borders.
Is that an "alternate reality"?
Unquote
When Democrats and Republicans say they oppose open borders, they are both lying. Red State America knows very well that Trump loves open borders. It's where he gets his labor. The difference is that Trump will keep them "in their place", they believe, whereas Democrats will treat them too nice.
Everybody's lyin'.
To be fair, the traditional news media has a history of distorting facts. George HW Bush was amazed at a bar code scanner that could read torn bar-codes was turned into, within this paper, a story about how Bush was out of touch.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/04/why-people-still-think-george-hw-bush-didnt-understand-grocery-checkout/
"In 1992, during his bid for reelection, President George H.W Bush visited the National Grocers Association Convention in Florida. He happened to stop by an exhibit featuring a new type of checkout scanner, which could weigh groceries and read torn bar codes. According to the two-paragraph pool report filed by the lone reporter at the event, Gregg McDonald of the Houston Chronicle, Bush had a “look of wonder” on his face, a detail McDonald himself didn’t bother to include in the story he wrote on Bush’s visit to the convention.
But the New York Times described Bush’s encounter with the electronic scanner in great detail: “The look of wonder flickered across his face again as he saw the item and price registered on the cash register screen.” The reporter also noted, “Some grocery stores began using electronic scanners as early as 1976, and the devices have been in general use in American supermarkets for a decade.” The implication was clear: The president didn’t have a clue about what life is like for regular Americans. He didn’t even know how a grocery store worked."
Undermining truth, and replacing authentic journalism with propaganda, are classic strategies of fascism. So is demonizing out-groups to gin up support from in-groups. But don't worry, it will never happen here...
Those who support President Trump do not see his speech as lies but as truth. He says what many of us think but are afraid to say. He tells it like it is and we agree with his message. He will win in 2020 and has lots of admirers. Just look at his rallies to see the tremendous crowds. And they just keep on growing.
2
Allowing Trump and his R's plenty of room to define their own reality has been a conscious choice by MSM News (AKA MSM Entertainment). It was driven by financial considerations. Another choice would have been to treat lies by the president as news and apply relentless pressure to them. But there was the terrible fear of losing Mr. Trump from the spotlight and the supercharged revenues which coverage of his entertaining behavior brings them sooner than necessary. Better to cut him slack.
1
One reason that I trust some media outlets more than others is that I understand how they do their work. (Thanks to the many journalists I have counted among friends, family, and coworkers.)
I think it would benefit us all if those media outlets--including YOU, NY Times--published some "explainers," or maybe did some outreach and public appearances about how you work.
I have talked to so many people who have no clue where stories come from and what it takes to bring them to fruition. Or why "news" is different from "opinion." and how to tell the difference.
And I have had many people, young and old, who tell me: "They all lie. they are all the same." But I know some work hard for their stories, while others just throw junk online--or start with a pre-determined script and try to cram facts into that.
3
One of the difficult things about the "Information Age" is that there is far more information pouring into one's portals of enquiry, than anyone can actually process, verify and reach a reasonable and rational conclusion.
I do my best to read source data like the Mueller Report, the IG Report on FBI misconduct etc. but even then, one is forced to realize that there is no way one can have all the facts.
My advice is, be humble and do not be blinded by self-righteousness.
The arrogant and self-righteous are the one's most easily deceived.
Underlying this article is the assumption that prior to the Trump presidency, our political dialogue took place in an environment in which participants usually spoke the truth. That assumption is false. Lying has been a political weapon for as long as I can remember.
During his presidential campaign, the greatest liar of my generation, Lyndon Johnson, described an alternate reality in which American soldiers would not be sent to do a job that should have be done by Vietnamese soldiers. After he won the election, our forces there increased almost tenfold and some 30,000 Americans died in combat during his term in office.
5
I remember when Trump won the election and there was much dispute one way or the other over the size of the crowd that attended the inauguration.
Kelly Anne-Conway referred to 'alternative facts' as different ways of looking at the issue, giving an example of 'a glass half full or a glass half-empty'.
This satisfied me for a while until I thought about it more carefully.
The FACT is that the glass still has half the amount of (say) water in it; it's just that there can be a variety of ways of EXPRESSING that fact. The fact remains unchanged.
You can also say it's double of what a quarter of what a glass would hold.
3
@Ron Jonesa Don't take, "Double-Speak" Kelly Ann at her word, ever.
President Trump’s ardent base is comprised not of political supporters but of fans, not of partisans but of cultists. They stick by him no matter what. Truth and suasion do not enter the picture so trying to convince Trump supporters in any significant number to switch allegiances is an expensive waste of time.
But I don’t see his appeal growing beyond this core constituency, which is itself shrinking. The key to the upcoming election is offering a candidate most Democrats and Independents cans get behind as a mechanism to get rid of Trump if nothing else. Positions and policies matter less than emotions. This is a popularity contest because facts no longer matter.
The next presidential election will most closely resemble the contest for junior class president in a high school... and the outcome, of course, is determined not by the popular vote but by the Electoral College. Give the electors someone to vote for. Who cares why?
So far, nobody in the Democratic running seems to be in reach of the required lock because they are all running for office like politicians. Antiquated approach. It would be more productive to get Bloomberg and Styer and perhaps Bezos to commit some of their billions to just bribing enough electors so that Trump cannot win re-election, using a beard candidate.
A candidate who stands a good chance in this scenario: a famous, popular non-politician. I propose Tom Hanks.
3
Scuba divers perish when they lose track of which way is up. That seems a good analogy for where the United States is now. Russian and Republican tactics are aimed not at opponents per se, but at reality itself. They seek to sow chaos - sowing "disinformation" is so yesterday.
My fellow citizens seem uniquely susceptible to these tactics, and I am not sure why. One possibility: television is all about getting eyeballs and selling product. We consume way too much of it, and maybe it rewired our thinking parts. After all, the last thing an advertiser wants is an audience that actually thinks.
Scuba divers know that when they are in this condition they should follow the bubbles upward, toward the light. I think we have to do the same thing or we are truly lost.
5
How about instead of focus on cultivation of your fears you try to focus on the good things that can be done to make the country and the world a better place when we replace Trump.
1
A lie repeated becomes the truth. This is the reality of the alternate universe we now live in.
2
I worry that we're all getting great at analyzing what trump is doing (we all know he lies, we all know there are people who are willing to believe his lies, we know he's upending democratic norms . . . etc., etc., etc.,)
However, this is all starting to feel like a lot of handwringing and for those of us who are just ordinary, work-a-day voters, it's downright depressing. When is someone(s) going to step up and start saying "This is what we do about it?" Telling us what trump is doing and why he's doing it doesn't get to the answer we need, which is "how do we make this change." Yes, GOTV is important but we're also hearing the Senate is thwarting efforts to ensure the legitimacy of the vote.
Out of all the smart people who oppose trump, there's got to be someone who can step up and say "Here's what we do to put an end to it." Liberal billionaires unite! Hire the savviest minds and help the rest of us come up with a clear way to oust this viral infection of a president from office.
9
As Hitler was wont to say: "If you tell them the lie three times, they will believe it".
And so they do.
8
And Trump knows that Bernie has no prices tags for his programs, no method of payment for his programs and we have no idea if Bernie wants to slash spending on other programs to pay for his (if so, which ones and by how much).
The GOP communications juggernaut (combined with Trump's lie) will eviscerate Bernie. And as long as Bernie doesn't provide those answers, no one in the Democratic party can rise to his defense.
2
@Tom Q I'm hoping we will get a Bloomberg/Klobuchar ticket. I think that's the best we can get out of the field I see out there.
1
Is the view of the working class on immigration an alternative reality?
Let me cite Paul Krugman: Notes on immigration
" First, the benefits of immigration to the population already here are small. "
" My second negative point is that immigration reduces the wages of domestic workers who compete with immigrants. That’s just supply and demand: we’re talking about large increases in the number of low-skill workers relative to other inputs into production, so it’s inevitable that this means a fall in wages."
"Finally, the fiscal burden of low-wage immigrants is also pretty clear. Mr. Hanson uses some estimates from the National Research Council to get a specific number, around 0.25 percent of G.D.P. Again, I think that you’d be hard pressed to find any set of assumptions under which Mexican immigrants are a net fiscal plus, "
Paul Krugman NYT 2006/03/27/
No, the working classes view of immigration is not an "alternative reality" . Immigration dies lowerr wages of low earning American workers. In addition, it is a burden on the US economy
So why should American workers vote for Party that supports it ?
6
These are interesting analyses, but they attempt to describe human behavior as if it is based upon personal logic that begins with one's understanding of "facts". I think it's at least as descriptive and accurate to describe people's actions, including words, as arising primarily from one's emotions, with self-reported logical consideration of "facts" a secondary argument manufactured under the chemical influence of emotions.
Trump and other demagogues appeal to emotions first. Their explained "facts" are props in service to accessing that deeper level of brain. Each of us is heavily subject to our own emotional state of mind and our cultural biases. The big lessons are how powerful these emotions are, how unconscious we generally are of them and how they can easily overwhelm our ability to determine reality.
5
What I see is so many people saying that Trump wants to ruin the US. Trump feeds on fear. (no one feeds on fear) He is the President. In absolutely no way is he trying to ruin our country or democracy. He makes decisions that many conservatives are proud of. Abortion, guns and so on. He is doing great things in the eyes of some. Far from this monster that ruined everything Obama did for "us". He is the answer to 8 years of liberal leadership. How in the world do democrats believe that any of the candidates can win. They are all specialty types that do not have a broad appeal beyond just not being Trump. You can not win on, not being Trump. If the country actually melted down economically or if we were mired in additional wars, then OK. Not Trump. But its OK and I cant see most people voting for any of the candidates. Biden would be the best one to be Not Trump and win by default. Trump will say that Bernie is trying to socialize medicine, college, healthcare and its over.
2
Trump is bad. The Democratic front runners are not. That said, this is about politics, not bad and good or right and wrong.
What I don't hear much about yet is that November is at the tail end of hurricane season and fire season. Additionally, it is more than quite possible that the economy will be in decline.
A. Trump's candidacy will suffer under those conditions.
B. Trump will manage those problems incompetently.
Think about it.
1
Is there any hope at all? Trump let off the hook with zero consequences for clear, obvious transgressions, the justice department acting like Trump is their client and shielding him from all opposition, the Judiciary more dominated by right-wing extremists every day, the Senate rubber stamping everything this president does and blocking any attempts by the House at real governance, 40% of the population ill informed, misinformed, or just plain malicious, and on and on. I do not believe our headlong rush towards the cliff can be reversed.
America is going over the edge and it seems like that is what a lot of people actually want.
7
This is your political party Mr. Edsall. People keep talking about how awful that socialist Bernie is, but Bernie represents the kind of socialism America brought to the Scandinavian countries at the end of World War II, not the kind practiced by the USSR in the sixties and seventies. Meanwhile, the real news is what's going on with the GOP. How does it feel belonging to the party who finally brought fascism to America?
7
The Chinese economy is slowing; Europe appears to be on the brink of a recession; soon what's happening in Asia and the rest of the global economies will affect this country, dragging our economy into a recession. When this occurs and many Trump supporters get hurt, they will start to turn on him.
4
In this new century of unlimited money in politics, parties need vast media networks targeting tailored messages, reach and frequency, advertising works. That is a reality we share. Now, the Democrats need to get over this pretense that money in politics is evil. Get with the media experts who know how to play the new games. The Dems have plenty of material to use, use it. This is a power struggle for our lives.
4
@Bill Evans: It really sucks to have to spend money into this awful system because others viciously strive to make the US t a theocracy by hook or crook despite the explicit constitutional prohibition of faith based legislation. It holds our liberty to ransom.
2
Excellent article - full of useful insights for all those who oppose the madness of Trump World. Quickly, the Democrats need a strategy to cut down on Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). It ain't going to be socialism, so a move to the center is hyper-critical right now. The world needs a candidate and a campaign that can clearly articulate all that is flawed with the lies coming out of the Trump administration and campaign - and offer something better. For one: most Trump supporters don't understand that Trump has no plan to help them improve their day to day lives. It also sickens me that this economy is benefitting from the giant debt hole Trump is doubling down on to fuel his reelection.
3
People act as if Trump is invincible. Tyson was supposed to be invincible. Napoleon, the Roman empire, Germany, the Soviet Union and on and on we can go naming supposedly invincible people and empires. He can be beaten. Sanders message of income inequality is the main path towards victory. Any of the Democratic candidates can pick up on it.
When Trump or any other Republican mentions jobs or economy simply tell Americans that wages have been stagnant for decades and show them that a lot of of those jobs don't usually pay a living wage.
3
I always wonder what this “establishment” is, who that is, why it is so bad and what the opposite is. Destruction? Division? Chaos? Dictatorship? And those “anti-establishment” voters actually are afraid of the new, the progressive, the openness. They are longing for some imagined establishment from the past.
2
@Antor: Trumpism is pure revanchism. There never was a golden age when America was "great". Perhaps Trump refers back to when the US was the last combatant left intact after WW II. The rest of the world started from then with practically nothing.
3
And now they have universal healthcare and we don’t.
Some people are confused between facts and opinions. There can be only one set of facts in the majority of situations, but opinions run the gamut. Perception, of course, influences opinion, but it does not take the place of facts. Trump may view these opinions as "alternative facts," but that's sophistry. In their eagerness to support a man who speaks their anger, many Trump supporters/followers are more than willing to give up facts and embrace opinion as their new reality. In the end, that will come back to bite them, as they are working against their own self-interest.
7
@Barbara: All logic based on false axioms is worthless.
Is there no such thing as objective reality? Is the idea of "free will" irrelevant in the age of sophisticated propaganda? I am afraid that the bases of our constitutional government no longer apply, and that the United States as we knew it no longer exists.
1
@Cassandra: Physics is objective. It works the same for everyone.
1
How do you know? ;)
Kellyann Conway’s feet may never touch the ground, and your down is her up. It’s like Einstein’s view out a train window.
@Steve Bolger the progressive left views math and physics as a construct that white men have used to oppress others, so I'm pretty sure objectivism is in fact dead
The DNC should be working on this. Then, when they have the nominee, they'll be ready to go. Bloomberg is running some really great ads. They end with his running but the first part is gold.
5
Sometimes two realities are both fantasies. It is getting harder and harder to read the NYT and watch US media. My world is very different. While Ambassador Sondland is known for his naivety we are wondering why one of our most important ambassadorships was given to a campaign donor with zero understanding of his job.
We have recently passed Quebec Bill 21 one of our Freedom FROM Religion laws.
The invisible line that separates us from the USA seems a portal separating realities.
Trump's reality seems utter lunacy but the reality of blue America seems just as strange. We see Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren , Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer and other Democratic candidates as brilliant people too in love with their country to think with their heads instead of their hearts.
When will you start asking the most important questions? Is your country really worth the energy of trying to keep it together? Do you really want your courts lead by Brett Kavanaughs for the next two generations? Shouldn't medicare for all and and good education a personal security be rights of society to insure a better future?
I am 71 I knew conservative Catholic Quebec into my adulthood. Bernie is not radical what he proposes was magic on our side of Vermont's northern imaginary line.
It is 2020 and what Bernie wants has given us a great present and promises us a better future.
Healthcare, education and welfare are not individual rights they are societal rights that promise a better future.
5
@Montreal Moe
Before Bernie and his NYC confreres showed up I knew Vermont as Mississippi North. It was the reddest state in the Union and part of Appalachia. Funny how well people can do with healthcare, welfare and an education.
1
@Montreal Moe: How ready is Canada to taken in more provinces?
Translation: social media is an effective tool for Goebels-like propaganda. It's an important observation but not a new one.
7
Translation: social media is an effective tool for Goebels-like propaganda. It's an important observation but not a new one.
2
The context of the increasing power of Trump's lies was set some time ago by eminent philosophers, including Richard Rorty and Thomas S. Kuhn. They argued that facts are not objective. They are not independent of human minds, but are "socially constructed". They are paradigms constructed by communities to fit their current beliefs.
Thus facts like the size of the crowd at Trump's inauguration do not hold true for all time, but are deliberately changed by Kelly Ann Conway and called "alternative facts".
Our schools must emphasize that facts, such as the earth is round and not flat, are true independent of our minds.
3
The echo chamber that is social media allows people to live in their own reality. This plays right into the hands of authoritarians. The world didn't want another Hitler, but the fascists and the AfD party in Germany are on the rise. Hitler came to power through lies and opportunism. Here we go again but with the power of social media. If Facebook knew what was good for the world, it would implode.
5
Trump = Best President Ever
2
The headlline should read: Trump is Waiting and Putin is Ready.
6
Just as fascist dictators like Hitler, Mussolini and Franco were amoral masters of propaganda in their time, so is Trump in his.
It took a World War to shake Hitler and Mussolini out of power. Franco died of old age. Vote wisely.
9
Prior to last week’s State of the Union address I watched the political shenanigans in the Greatest Country in the World (and it is, yet) with varying degrees of disappointment, regret and anger. It was somewhat like watching quarrelling neighbours over the back fence — sometimes perhaps amusing, but always with a sense of foreboding as to what might someday come of it and what its implications would be for both of us.
Last week’s speech was flat out scary. I expected to see some of those latter day plantation owners leap to their feet with a ‘sieg heil’ salute. And to watch the First Lady put a medal around the neck of that scoundrel Rush Limbaugh, thereby elevating him to the stature of Rosa Parks and Mother Theresa...oh my. If I had one it would have been in the mail the next day.
I met an American recently who asked me why I cared so about American political issues. I was both amazed and disappointed at being asked to explain it. See ‘Greatest Country in the World’ above.
The current administration has you well on the way to becoming a Banana Republic. See events of just yesterday. Get busy, left and right alike. The future of your country demands it.
12
Sadly, the difference is damning for society, specifically the American Democracy. Normally there were two different paths that converge at the same or similar outcome, called compromise. We now stand on the abyss, confronting the reality of truth versus lies and the difference could and will destroy us.
The Republicans and their equally immoral, corrupt leaders have power and they will gladly wield it against their perceived enemies. The inane mantra of lock 'em up will become a reality, just as in many Banana Republics. So easy, those individuals with different views maybe even the reality of truth, lock 'em up.
If we are only for ourselves, who are we?
6
You write some dark, dark columns, man.
3
"The first-order effects of digital disinformation and propaganda ... are debatable at best ... The second-order effects undermine the democratic myths and governing norms that stand as a bulwark against elite corruption and abuse of power ... " Indeed. "Adolf Hitler devoted two chapters of his 1925 book Mein Kampf, itself a propaganda tool, to the study and practice of propaganda." (Wikipedia)
3
You are never wrong
if you always take both sides
of every issue
1
@John: The more issues there are, the more difficult it gets.
1
This is a frightening and depressing column, made even more so by the fact that nothing done by Trump and the right wing is remotely new. Trump is absolutely following the Nazi playbook from the 1930s, and if you doubt it, I refer you to Benjamin Carter Hett's essential book, "The Death of Democracy".
To understand a Trump supporter, simply read Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer", written in 1951, when memories of the Third Reich were fresh.
The one encouraging thing from History is that truth always eventually catches up with lies, sooner or later. The Third Reich was also called "The Thousand Year Reich"; it lasted twelve years. Trump is already talking about being president for more than eight years; I believe he will be gone next January.
9
@Vesuviano: Belief in a glorious afterlife for those who die in wars characterizes militaristic nations.
There is a lot of MUMBO JUMBO here and quoting of like minded experts who live in the same Bubble as Mr. Edsall does.
All are Liberal and think they are the only ones who know and they are the ones who are going to tell us ignoramuses what to think and how to behave and, most importantly, how to vote.
Well, Mr. Edsall, it doesn't work any more. people have wisened up and know that you guys are shills for one or the other party and you will never give the story straight. People have so many sources to get the information and they can filter the truth whether the likes of you think we are capable of doing so or not.
Actually, It is the FACTS AND NOT "THE ALTERNATIVE FACTS" that people have caught on to. And, that FACT is - DONALD TRUMP IS GOOD FOR AMERICA.
2
@ Devendra, sorry, your “facts” are all wrong. A society cannot hold by being force feed a daily diet of lies which what your fake president delivers. Trump is killing America by leading it down the path of absolute lawlessness and single party rule. If you think that what makes America great again, i suggest you move to Russia where your idea of greatness is flourishing nicely.
10
The only lie in this piece is that only Republicans lie. The author loses all credibility (at least to those of us who are not reflexive Trump haters) when he (and those he cites) accuses the President of falsehoods yet ignores Democrat lies put forth over the last three years including that the President is a Russian agent. Besides, are you telling me the President "lies" by calling Baltimore a rat-infested mess? Is your point that there are sections of the city that are not rat-infested? That it is actually pretty clean? Doesn't everyone talk this way? Why is Donald Trump suddenly a liar for honestly speaking his opinion?
1
@SHerman Whether the president is a Russian agent or not is an opinion, not a statement of fact - with a great deal of anecdotal evidence to support it. I would agree with the president that Baltimore does, in fact, have a great many rats - Chicago does too (and the president doesn't much like Chicago). But the president did lie - when he claimed his inauguration crowd was the largest on record; the president did lie when he said he would divest his business holdings after winning office; the president did lie when he claimed he would be "too busy working for us" to golf as often as Obama did (back to my second-lie point - about enriching himself on taxpayer-supported travel); the president did lie when he stated that Mexico would pay for "the wall"; the president did lie when he stated he would replace "Obamacare" with something better.
I could go on, but I think you get my point.
And if you don't, then you've proven Edsall's thesis.
The right and left don't view things through a different lens. That's waaaaay too charitable.
The good ol' boys and girls on the right don't have a lens. They are looking through a kaleidoscope of colorful propaganda created by a lyin' President and a small group of amoral opportunists at Faux News.
10
If Sanders is the candidate, Trump won't need to lie. He'll just have to spout a few of Bernie's idiotic proposals and it's game over. No one in their right mind is going to vote for free college and free healthcare for undocumented aliens which would be entering through our open borders. There would be a deluge and the middle class will end up paying again. Progressives know nothing about economics. That's a big part of the problem.
3
I get Trump. He's a foul-mouthed grifter and I expect the worst from him. But it boggles my mind that Trump has snatched the soul of the entire Republican party (with the exception of Romney) through fear-mongering. The best hope to end this wannabe dictatorship is nominating Bloomberg. He's the only one who strikes fear into Trump.
7
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist."
- Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
This is not to come; it is now. We are there. I, for one, am terrified.
8
This polarization happens when you worship (as a Democrat) at the GOD of Diversity to the exclusion of everything else!
3
From a _New Yorker_ last month by Jill Lepore: The current mess relies on "an epistemological chaos that is the only air that totalitarianism can breathe." And Mark Zuckerberg increasingly looks like the author of this chapter.
3
It’s time to stop using the term “alternative facts” altogether, even within quotation marks. That gives the impression that there is absolutely no verifiable truths. There are facts and things that are not true. Facts are supported by evidence, the evidence and can be presented when requested. They are not opinions. They are not stated with out evidence, and the evidence can be verified independently of the source of statements of fact. Republicans have taken the art of obfuscation, unsupported assertion, fabrication, lies to levels rarely seen since Goebbels. One effect of the current use of ‘alternative facts’ is that it makes it easier for liars to lie convincingly to themselves first.
4
The central point to Edsall's opinion piece PROVEN with your response.
The GOP agenda is to ensure the entire U.S. turns into Sam Brownback's Kansas. The brain drain from the U.S. started with scientists and will continue to escalate. Then the deplorables and their coprorate masters will own the U.S.
2
It's all academic. Dems have one issue that trumps even a robust economy. It's healthcare and the potential devastating financial impact even with insurance. It's not the economy stupid, it healthcare. Dems can talk until they are blue in the face about Trump's moral failings, that won't remove him from office. Only healthcare.
3
Sanders surges til November, Trump stays the course, Buttigieg wins. - Madame Marie (for the Springsteen fans)
1
The best thing that could happen is that Trump drops dead soon from natural causes. We shall all breathe a sigh of relief even his supporters because the daily noise and the face of this evil man will have disappeared from our lives.
5
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength...and truth isn't truth, anymore.
2
An informative and depressing article. The Democrats, and DNC in particular, are bringing a glitter bomb to a chainsaw massacre. Bloomberg seems to be the only candidate who knows what the Dems will be up against in the general election. He has the resources to counterattack, and I trust the competence of his campaign operation far more than I trust the DNC.
1
Mr. Edsall you would be well served to take another look at what you have been doing. Last week your essay in effect characterized Sanders as "extremist." Today you make "a vociferous left cadre" the enemy of a Democratic victory. While these views are certainly worth exploring, your presentation undercuts that conversation. It does so by presenting not an analysis so much as smears blandly presented as received wisdom that is beyond dispute. Better you should make your case plainly and head on instead of approaching things crab-like obliquely and from the side. Present your argument in a straightforward manner and marshal what evidence you think may to bear on the matter.
The Liberals brought this upon themselves.
They used the Federal Courts to achieve goals that should
have been resolved in Congress.
They used the Congress to achieve goals that should
have been resolved by Amendments to the Constitution.
Presuming that they, and they alone, were on the
"Right Side of History" they ignored the political wisdom
woven into the Constitution and forced their agendas
upon America.
Then average Americans pushed back
and Trump saw his opening and went for it.
The notion that everything you say, think and do
had to pass the Politically Correct Standard,
a standard by what Moral Paragons -
backfired because some things need to be said
even if they do offend:
Un-documented Immigrants are breaking the law.
Most are coming for economic reasons not political,
if they were political they would head to Canada,
Cuba, Spain anywhere but "Fascist America".
Stop and Frisk worked and if it meant more young men
from Minorities were searched it was because they commit
most of the violent crimes.
Obama's directive to Public Schools that they must allow
any students who self-identifies as trans-gendered access to
any bathrooms/locker rooms, no doctor's note needed,
infuriated parents.
Liberals kept harping that Minorities will soon rule America
and you wonder why Poorer European Americans fought back.
The Impeachment was beyond Partisan, it was vindictive.
Trump is the symptom, not the disease.
Liberals, you only have yourselves - to blame.
5
I respect Mr. Edsall quite a bit. That is why I cannot understand why he writes that politicians lie, and we a JUST now noticing it. When haven't they lied. Will Rogers, d. 1935, wrote, "If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics.". Today is not the dawn of the liar in politics, it is the cumulative result. We all own it- both parties and anyone who excuses one while attacking the other.
2
Trump's repugnance is growing by leaps and bounds, in every which way, and is rapidly reaching dizzying heights. One would very much like to see him transgress and exert undue pressures on his cabinet subordinates and other acolytes to carry out his orders, and then one is also eagerly waiting for somebody to nab him red-handed.
If his boisterous bluffs and blusters go unhindered, he and his stooges will continue to get emboldened and run the country to the ground, someday. Since the acquittal, his malignant magniloquence is reaching feverish pitches, and anybody who dares antagonize him stands to face his wrath, unquestionably, forthwith.
God help America from his terrible taradiddles, and if he continues on this path, he might even cross the Rubicon, and still will not care 2 hoots. Moreover, his inane and insane public statements will some day, hopefully, fly in his face and engender trouble. Else, it has the potential to burgeon into an international quandary of some sort, before long. It is only a matter of time.
4
Russia is winning, and maybe China too.
Americans continue to split and polarize, like marionettes responding to the twitches and switches of despotic Trump and his own Russian (and other) puppeteers; and while the some on the far left maintain their anarchical fantasies even as they seek to dictate what their neighbors should think and how they should speak and, ironically, advocate socialism even as they so deep dive into lionizing individualism to the point that the entire world, in their view, must abide by how each individual personally decides to identify sex- and gender-wise (but not, apparently, racially, ethnically, etc), as if who we are is a matter strictly of internal perception and has nothing to do with the social world around us and shaping us.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of us, who don’t resonate with either (false dichotomy?) end of the spectrum, like me get all caught up in the tangled strings and end up angry with one another rather than with the meddling puppet masters laughing as they watch us destroy ourselves and thus open the gates for them to take our resources, both tangible and intangible. This is how America becomes an manipulable backwater.
1
Jason Stanley says that in a society where all politicians are perceived as liars, the most outlandish liar is considered the most "authentic." I still have trouble wrapping my head around this idea, but apparently it's true.
In any case, this is how dictators rise. We don't have to read about it in the history books. We can watch it unfolding before our eyes, right here at home, right now.
4
Putin is smiling.
4
Uuuh, Tom…
The PC movement – in both academia and aggrievance law – over the last couple of decades, has raised the creation, dissemination, and litigation of alt-facts to absolute adversarial art form…
Now possible to get a PhD in something without ever encountering a classical fact…
In fact, if I started a rumor that there’s going to be as much job opportunity for liberal-arts graduates in quantum fact-checking as there is for STEM graduates in quantum cryptography…
Just have to get the right influencers to realize they could place ads, along with that quantum tweet…
...
Just reaping what they’ve sown…
PS
Anyone who’d argue the inequivalence, or accuse me of not reading the fifth paragraph – or worse…
Go ahead – make my point and my day…
2
2020, meet 1984.
4
This essay is a raft of uncomfortable observations and it makes for painful reading and prompts us to ask ourselves how this country got to this point. How are Trump's rallies different than the rallies of Hitler, Savanarola, Amy Semple McPherson and other prophets and demagogues of the past who were vociferous crowd-pleasers? Where do we go from here? Voting has been the answer in the past, but how powerful is the vote today?
4
One major aspect of Trump supporters are experiencing is cognitive dissonance. The economy, unemployment and record stock markets are all their proof of Trump's success, however, they have conveniently selective memory with Trump's predecessor that passed a brought the economy out of near depression levels. The fact for instance that black unemployment under Trump has decreased by less than 1% does not obviate their belief that blacks are ungrateful for not acknowledging this trifle. Many in the middle and upper middle classes as I am are paying thousands more in taxes. Wages are mainly up due to many states raising minimum wages which GOP fight tooth and nail against then Trumps claims credit.
This farce goes on ad infinitum.
4
Boyle’s speech in 2017 was spot on: Journalism integrity is dead.
If there were real journalists today, they’d have exposed the Democrat Party deep state coup of this president earlier rather than now.
But the MSN is in the tank for the Dems, so they look the other way.
4
" A large segment of the American electorate has come to tolerate, and in many cases to willingly accept, politicians who lie."
Maybe someone at the NYT could be bothered to interview Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of Obamacare, who openly stated that the Obama administration "relied on the stupidity of the American voter" in regards to passing Obamacare, specifically the claim that "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor", which was the Politifact Lie of the Year for 2009.
But who am I kidding. Gruber never existed to the mainstream media. This comment probably won't even get published.
But we conservatives remember Gruber, and our eyes are open now. We (and Trump) are only playing by the rules enacted to get Obamacare passed.
Politicians of all stripes lie. The insistence on the part of the mainstream media to present it as a uniquely Republican, or Trumpian behavior is just one of the many reasons tens of millions of Americans so loathe the media.
3
Where are Deep Throat and Daniel Ellsberg when we need them? I know Trump’s propagandists are clever, but there’s still stuff out there that could put sizable holes in Trump’s carefully crafted façade. The cameramen on “The Apprentice,” for example, are rumored to have footage of Trump saying VERY crude things he wouldn’t even say today, when he thinks his position is unassailable. So let’s put the crude footage out there—and the income tax returns, and lots more—and let the voters decide.
So if you’re a potential Daniel Ellsberg, would you please put your information out there now, while there is a chance of saving our democracy? Or would you rather wake up the morning after election day and think, I could have prevented this, and now I’m stuck with dangerous information that will certainly provoke retaliation from Trump’s followers, if they ever find out that I have it.
4
Edsall's pieces, far more than most, make at least the attempt to understand why people support Trump, without lapsing into the simplistic, jingoistic refrain that it's because they're bad, sexist, racist, warmongering idiots, who probably kick their dogs.
Determining the truth is a more difficult task than in the past. Then, one could rely upon certain trusted institutions (ahem, Times) to provide the facts without also perpetually advocating when it did so. I don't trust Trump's PR efforts; I don't trust CNN and I certainly don't trust MSNBC. Fox is a useful counterweight, but it too should not be taken too seriously.
We are obligated now, more than ever, to sift through all those people engaged in unvarnished advocacy in order to find out what used to be called the truth.
Thanks for the hopeful message that there is no longer any truth, especially among Trump voters. Democrats and other anti-Trump voters are going to have to either join the anti-truth party or lose to him.
If Trump is re-elected, as seems increasingly likely, anti-Trump voters and legislators are going to have to withdraw the power spend from his administration. No more money for homeland security, the DOJ, the farm subsidies, the fossil fuel subsidies, NASA, you name it. No more money! He can be president of nothing.
2
I know Trump is a liar- but I also know the Democrats are liars about immigration. Millions of illegal immigrants are a threat to the long term well-being of the nation. Trump's foolishness isn't.
3
It's not just lies, but also their increased rate of propagation on the internet, their source, and the oversized real power the President and his posse exert. The Liar-In-Chief must willfully neglect mounds of evidence in his quest to protect his lying lackey Roger Stone. And then there was his lawyer, the liar Michael Cohen.
Anyone remember Sissela Bok's book Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life?
1
Trump voters believe that if they like their liar, they can keep their liar. Period.
6
Fascinating, and I believe this is all true as far as it goes. But it also omits how slanted the electoral structure itself has been tilted by and in favor of Republicans.
Without widespread and organized voter suppression, gerrymandering and the electoral college, 2016 would have been a landslide victory for Democrats, likely on the order of 5-10 million votes (as it was, Hilary Clinton beat Trump by nearly four million.) The rise of Trump is a minority phenomenon.
I think many on the left and in the center, to the extent any still are, don’t appreciate what we’re dealing with in the GOP - essentially a full-on fascist party at this point - not only the weaponization of information, but the direct subversion of elections and the white supremacy also.
We are fighting the rise of a Hitler in our own country. I sincerely hope all who oppose that are fully engaged.
7
Today’s Gospel, Mark 14-23.
And Jesus said, “It is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come:
fornication,
theft,
murder,
adultery,
avarice,
wickedness,
deceit,
licentiousness,
envy,
slander,
pride,
folly.
All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Could someone please pas this along to our President?
6
The reason why calling Trump a liar hasn’t worked, is because so many of the things that are being branded as lies are in fact nothing more than disagreements about policies.
27
@Larry Thiel I think the reason calling him out as a liar 'hasn't worked' is because so many people don't care that he lies.
The sky is blue vs the sky is green is not a policy disagreement. And the lies he spouts are pretty much on that level.
62
@Larry Thiel Why not just say what everyone knows? If Sanders is the nominee Trump wins. If it's moderate candidate Trump will lose. Sanders hasn't expanded the Democratic electorate. Sanders will split the party in two. Moderate suburban voters will not vote for Democratic Socialism. Ever. Independent swing voters will hold their nose & vote for Trump. Sanders has contempt for the Democratic establishment & intends to eviscerate them once elected. The DNC will not co-operate in their own demise. They will try to undermine his campaign in ways both large & small as they did in 2016. Sanders has demonstrated time & time again that he doesn't have the temperament to be POTUS. Last year he called for giving incarcerated felons the right to vote. The Boston Marathon Bomber kills three people, maims & injures 280 more. Bernie’s concern? That he gets his absentee ballot. What will be the reaction when Sanders travels to swing states with Michael Moore & he tells women’s underrepresentation in Congress a form of “gender apartheid.” Or when AOC, says in Texas, “I’m here because Senator Sanders has actually committed to breaking up ICE.” Sanders' codependents are writing the GOP attack ads. Insane. If this election is about kitchen table issues: jobs & affordable education there's no way we lose. If it's about Medicare for All & more illegal immigration there's no way we win. We can win with or without progressives. We can't win without swing & centrists voters. Common sense.
12
@Larry Thiel ... Trump has no "policy." He only has "all eyes on me." That is the extent of what Trump has. The GOP is happy because they can do what they want behind Trump's ignorant and asinine antics.
44
Many Trump supporters have become more aware than you give them credit. They wanted change. They were tired of the establishment ways of BOTH parties. They were tired of being ignored, tired of corporate welfare bums being bailed out at their expense. Even impoverished immigrants seemed to be doing better than they.
There surely is a cohort of voters who are angry. Who can blame them as they see their friends and family suffer from lack of upward mobility, illness, foreclosure and bankruptcy?
How do you feel if the only way your children can get an education, whether college or trade school, is by joining the military? A military engaged in fruitless wars, no less.
How do you feel when you are working two or three jobs to support your family? When even that sees you slipping to the edge of poverty?
When you're one serious illness away from bankruptcy, you just might cling to a self-professed "outsider" who promises "winning".
Sure, there are always stalwart true believers, thanks to shameless media.
But quite a few of these voters have seen the abject cruelty in this administration, how it does the opposite of serving them.
We shall hear from them in November--I hope.
83
@Karen DeVito I hope you are right and that these people will not vote for Trump in November, but my experience says that they will. They are steeped in distraction and whataboutism. I see it in a neighbor, who doesn't like Trump's behavior but always goes back to "what about Clinton." I respond by saying that Clinton is not president.
35
@Karen DeVito
And we have now lost what Yang could have brought to the presidency.
4
@Barbara
'What about Clinton' is such an odd comeback.
What about her? Name something!
With every effort made, 'crooked' was not one of her attributes.
As First Lady, she made the original sin of wanting a health care system that was fair and available.
Republicans can't abide that and went into punishment mode right away with bumper stickers that told the lie.
14
If a Democrat is elected president in 2020, they need to make it a priority to bring back the Fairness Doctrine in the reporting of the news. Since the Fairness Doctrine was repealed, some news sources not only lie repeatedly but they also put down their competition and encourage viewers to make their news their only news source. This is dangerous and should be outlawed. It should also be outlawed to put down your competition as "fake" news (especially as the news sources that make these claims are the biggest sources of falsehoods in news reporting).
4
“The emergence of these conflicting realities explains why Democrats and Republicans “hold different views about policies and what should be done to address different economic and social issues.”
Truth be told by this quote. When I was a young voter, I was a Nixon republican, a moderate. I could not tolerate the Democrats. When Newt Gingrich rose up and started the radicalization of the GOP, I moved to the DP. It was done holding my breath because most DP policies and the drift of the Democrats did not fit. As the GOP continued right and radicalized into the Tea Party, I voted straight DP. Trump is such a bad fit for this nation, I feel constant anger toward him and the GOP. I have cut off friends over them voting for and supporting Trump. This is a first.
4
This piece of work simply shows the weakness of Edsall and the GOP.
One can only be bullied and intimidated if they ALLOW it.
Being scared and submissive only works if one side agrees to go along and the vast majority (remember that idea) of the American electorate DO NOT agree with most of the policy positions of DJT.
Recall that he lost the popular vote in 2016 and in many of the 2018 midterms in which he personally intervened, the candidate he supported - LOST!
The notion that DJT is rising, or popular, or even respected is a misinterpretation of the facts.
He was simply acquitted of obvious crimes by a partisan senate. That’s it.
He is still DJT.
He is still weak.
4
We ought to be giving more thought to how this situation plays out.
These alternative "realities" are not equivalent.
The Republican version is delusional and demands a deepening belief in falsehoods -- about the environment, about everyday facts, about how trust is built and sustained. How will Republicans ultimately escape the delusions in which they've encapsulated themselves? What will it take? More reasoned persuasion from Democrats in the backseat? Someone even more eloquent than, say, Adam Schiff?
No. Ultimately, reality is going to rudely reassert itself in the form of some national disaster unambiguously resulting from Republican delusions. That catastrophe is going to have to be a big one -- inescapably brutal -- to do the job. Then Republicans will have their "what were we thinking" moment.
But we're all going to get hurt.
4
Post-modernism argues that reality is just a hidden construction of power. There is no single truth. The irony is now the 180 degree flipped argument - "incorrect language can enhance a person’s authenticity." (this from the 2019 link in the excellent article.) ...."Perfect."
The right is using politically correct language and self-policing against itself....in some kind of martial arts trick. Unwoke political incorrect speech is the new authenticity? The new truth?
2
Post-modernism argues no such thing. For openers, that’s an aesthetic and stylistic movement, not a philosophy. For seconders, that’s exactly the nonsense the Right has been arguing: go read Ross Douthat.
Or better, go read Guy Debord. It ain’t us commies who dissolved everything into air, or more precisely, into capital.
2
Frightening. For unbiased support, though, how is this showing up in the democrat's race? For example, are Bernie's Bros under the same influence? Is this why the fringe is taking over?
My uncle, a historian, once told me to collect passports. I thought he was nuts. I'm not so sure now.
1
I LOVE, Edsall's editorials. A recent one discussed whether our president would orchestrate a coup to overthrow any election result.
Today's editorial we have an authoritarian assault on journalism and civil liberties.
After reading Edsall, I'm sure many readers leave thinking, this is how the American republic dies.
It signals this election is a life or death struggle. I still wonder if there will be battles on the streets in November like Germany in the 1930s.
2
Maybe if the press was willing to spell out fact as opposed to
the pablum it so conveniently serves up to a public not really that well versed in our political reality.
Currently there is so much ambiguity in press reports, for example we so often see in the Times the use of the word alleged when what is being addressed is established indisputable fact.
noun: ambiguity; plural noun: ambiguities
The quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness.
2
Not the least sign of what Edsall’s talking about is a haughty conviction of floating above the common herd, while remaining impervious to little things like actually reading the newspaper.
I'm happy to see in this article that the different "realities" are not given equal credibility. They are not equally credible. Trump supporters are being fed deliberate disinformation... even during real-world events that are unfolding on TV like the Impeachment trial. The Republican "bubble" as it were is based on non-reality; literally lies which are either embraced by the recipients through passive or willful ignorance. McKay Coppins' recent work is important. And it is important to understand companies like Breitbart (and Fox News) are not engaged in journalism, but Information Warfare, of which rigorous disinformation campaigns are merely a component, and nothing less than the target population's exhaustion and resignation in the face of the blizzard of lies is the objective.
2
"No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American people." Attributed to H. L. Mencken, I believe.
1
This is a good essay. Disclaimer: I am one of the hated white patriarchs (76 years old), although I am not wealthy and have little political power. Thus I am one of those who liberals hate most viciously.
I may vote for Sanders, nonetheless, although what his supporters say makes me afraid for the country's future.
Franklin Graham was recently banned from speaking in Britain because he believes that "homosexuality is a sin."
His father Billy Graham preached for decades, was hosted by presidents from Truman to Obama, and believed the same thing.
Of course, many other things are sins. I am not a Christian. But I do believe that Christians have a right to hold their own religious beliefs. And I have attended Bible studies in which the verses in the Bible are discussed which imply that homosexuality is a sin.
Franklin Graham is right, given his approach to determining truth. The only way he could deny homosexuality is a sin is by being dishonest.
So liberal activists are demanding that he NOT BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK unless he publicly lies about his own beliefs.
In the US, that would be a clear violation of freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
And those of you who believe that the Holy Scriptures can be argued away, that the Bible doesn't mean what it says, who are you to be the arbiters of religious truth?
Yes, I agree. Homosexuals should not be discriminated against. But freedom of speech includes speech we disagree with. Liberals have forgotten that.
4
Trump and the 40%er’s should have a sobering effect on the democrats. Iowa, New Hampshire are not representative of either the nation or the democratic party, they are simply irrelevant at this point in time. The use of the idea relating to “alternative facts” is a talking point, much like “fake news” or the monotonal Gregorian chanting that takes place at Trump rallies. The fact is that Trump has been campaigning from the time he took the oath of office. It is imperative that people understand Trump is not a deity. If you don’t agree with his concepts you are against him and everyone he professes to represent. The democrats need to understand that this is a made for TV event. Just look back at the State of The Union Trump style. He is the TV president; it is for the Masses that don’t want to know. The Democratic strategy will lose if fundamental concepts are not brought out. We are all in trouble if he wins another term, and it looks like he will win again.
2
Why do most of the preferred comments ignore the message of the editorial?
Trump must be defeated, and we must find the most logical candidate to do that.
Stop the despairing and agonizing, as it is not very productive.
Vote blue no matter who, 2020.
1
Great article, as usual, Mr. Edsall. Thank you.
But what is to be done? Trump, the GOP and their vast web of co-conspirators--Fox News, talk radio, rightist social media and Internet--are assiduously turning our society into one in which democracy cannot function. This is a BIG DEAL an existential threat to our form of government.
The propaganda served up daily by these media outlets are an absolutely essential ingredient in the Right's recipe for autocracy. It addicts the susceptible and keeps them addicted, so that no rational argument can penetrate.
We the People are not the rational creatures that we think we are; we are ever swayed by affect before our rational side even weighs in. By abjuring any regulating of propaganda, we are only making it likelier that more of us will end up zombified authoritarian cultists--who will continue supporting fascists like Trump and his GOP.
2
I don't think Trump's supporters are totally oblivious to facts. The scary thing is that almost half of the American population seems to think that "we don't care how as long as we get what we want". That is a small step away from supporting a dictator.
1
One group of Americans tends to, more or less, accept the objective facts and the other, when confronted with reasonable explanations that don't support their narrative or worldview, seeks to rationalize. Hence the popularity of conspiracy nonsense (I am loathe to call them theories) among Trump supporters. People hear what they want to hear, and demagogues are masters of this sort of manipulation. Ultimately, people who listen to reason will wear their seat belts and those who believe it's a conspiracy to constrain their freedom will go crashing through the windshield of life. When they come to, bruised and bloodied, well.... Mussolini was also pretty popular at one time, I understand.
1
Trump has mastered the psychology of cognitive dissonance. He needs no PHD in psychology but only his innate criminal instinct on how to manipulate opinion. After all he convinced folks to fork up $35,000 for a Trump U diploma.
The most recent example is how he has garnered unwavering support of the formerly Republican Party. In his White House acquittal party he singled out Senators Grassley and Scott for praise. As he did so he lied to their faces about actual statements and events they had actually stated or participated in. As to Scott, Trump declared that Scott publicly declared the July 25 call as “perfect.” No, actually he said it was inappropriate, and we can assume Scott knew what he said. As to Grassley, Trump recounted the hearing testimony of Comey where Trump claimed that Comey admitting to leaking.
Comey actually denied ever leaking in direct response to a Grassley’s questioning.
Scott and Grassley are confronted with two disparate sets facts: what Trump has praised them publicly about and what actually occurred. By not immediately correcting
Trump’s revision of reality while fully understanding that he is lying, their belief in Trump’s policies and presidency is strengthened: his lying is minimized as a factor and therefore their stronger belief is that their loyalty is based upon belief in Trump’s leadership and policies. After all, they cannot justify their loyalty to Trump because he is a pathological liar.
Has has used this tactic on his base as well.
2
In the end we will, as ever, get the government we deserve. That's what's so terrifying.
1
A bag of unnecessarily complicated scenarios and outcomes. Part of the media feeding frenzy. It's not rocket science. It's not PhD math. It's common sense—really.
1. Voter decides to vote
2. Votes
Get it?
1
It appears that liberals are already building a case that somehow the election is already rigged, therefore a Trump re-election would be illegitimate. For goodness sakes it's a 50/50 country - why not concentrate on a forward looking message instead of wasting time looking for bogeymen behind every ballot and an excuse to complain about?
1
Trump has about 40% of true believers. These are the only ones who will be fooled. The rest of us know. Yes he can lie and give fake facts but some things will come out. He has created less then 1,5 million jobs in 3 years then Obama.He has the highest debt since WW2.
His decrease in unemployment less then 1% compared to Obamas big decrease.China Tariffs cost each American $1200 a year so far. Trade deficits higher then 2018 and increasing. Average salary lower then last year. Middle class decrease and upper increase. Stock market increase % less then Clinton. Golf fees way way above any President ever.
Sure he will lie but lets get the word out.
1
This goes along with the hate speech on social media. Trump benefits from being outrageous and dishonest. Authenticity is cited as a belief that if one uses abrasive inarticulate language he can forgo making an argument that stands up to the slightest scrutiny. Its a smoke screen for racist anti gov't nonsense. Like climate change is based on phony science and will end up needlessly destroying jobs. Or that the clean water act stands in the way of economic growth. But Trump also benefitted from the self defeating dishonest vitriolic effort by Democrats to once again charge that Trump and Putin are allies trying to overthrow "democracy". The public basically tuned it out. It's interesting that people will dismiss the main argument of a demagogue like Trump but he leaves a seed behind that effects the listeners perception of an issue.
1
It is not just Trump who is to blame. it is his party that knowingly supports his lies because the lies advance their shared goals. The Republican Senate is no different than the gang of corrupt police who terrorize countries around the world because it is in their interest to be corrupt, even when they know the corruption is wrong. We are heading down a terrible path.
2
Susan Collins was 100% right. Trump really has learned the error of his ways. He learned there are no consequences for his actions, that he wasn't being corrupt enough and that he should kick it up a notch.
3
There is a very simple confirmation of this thesis...if you accept the premise of Ziblatt and Levitsky in “How Democracies Die”, which has it that forbearance is the key ingredient in a successful democracy, perhaps what the Founders called *virtu*. trump* is the antonym of forbearance (and certainly bereft of virtue), and his supporters welcome it. There’s your answer.
What do we see? Rodney Dangerfield yelling at a half gassed audience whose major purpose in life is to ensure that the rest of the country is as miserable as they are. What is impossible to see are the millions of right thinking people who are sickened unto death of watching Rodney Dangerfield yelling at his half gassed audience. But, and it’s a Trump sized but, all of them will vote and unless we all vote, minority rule will continue. We show up, we win. We don’t, we lose hugely!
1
"In this view, when Trump vilifies immigrants ... he is the populist right’s truth teller"
Democrats could pop that truth teller mirage if they would focus on Trump's hypocrisy as a major employer of undocumented workers. Trump is the poster boy for illegal employers.
1
The concern should be more than about writing books and essays about Trump's trickery. It's really about how to stop the cult followers once the lies become calls for action against a dehumanized group i.e. the root of a genocide.
1
Trump is CAPITALISM / Democrats are washed in Socialism and We All KNOW Socialism practices Propaganda and Censorship as it Opposes a Free Market just like Fascism and that is What we will be Voting for in November as are Economy is the best ever/ and record unemployment with secure borders ...and this Nation is Great because of Capitalism unlike Socialism which has NEVER Worked anywhere in the World in the History of Mankind!
1
Those who get their news on Facebook in between cat videos and long-debunked urban legends while munching on McDonald’s aren’t likely to respond to reason anyway,
Why is it a bad thing to reflexively question every headline, especially when MSM and the NY Times use them for rhetorical questions that inflate a possible consideration into a headline? Are women electable? Are Democrats in disarray? Is it too late for...? In the fight for eyeballs, real news goes ignored. There was every good reason to doubt the motives of MSM in 2016 when Sanders was effectively excised from reporting until it was too late. Vested interests? Or just a thing corporations do to be competitive?
1
This comment section is hilarious.
To win this election, you’re going to need to persuade at least some Trump voters to vote for the Democrat.
Really think your comments are going to help do that?
Trumps already won re-election.
He seems to have made a large number of you lose your minds.
7
Perhaps our Government By The People is unsustainable.
With the decline of the Republican party's integrity and the rise of Donald Trump, along with the many human imperfections including fear, greed, and envy that to some degree affect all of us, but some more than others, we have reached a point where
the grand experiment of our Republic is in peril.
It is unlikely it will survive four more years of Trump and as Mr. Edsall deftly points out there is at a minimum a reasonable chance for his re-election.
2
A candidate’s perceived authenticity becomes more valuable in a world where all information can be spun and every campaign will face a vicious media campaign. A history of risk taking and concrete-bold policy initiatives are common signs of candidate’s authenticity. Authenticity enables trust in the candidate and creates a buffer against the inevitable information war they will face. This explains some of Trump’s immunity to that info-war and suggests that Sander’s might be the best suited Democratic candidate to withstand that assault.
The polarization of reality is not adequately enhanced or remediated by endlessly citing non-peer reviewed working papers, nor evaluations by political scientists.
Trump is a symptom of our greater societal inequities, not our essential problem.
Trump is a symptom best healed by addressing the actual needs of all of our people, instead of distracting us from what most of us are feeling and actually needing.
Humans have common fundamental needs which are NOT the focus of academia and its increasing contributions to our dominant culture.
Opinions which will help our discourse will instead be better focused on interviews with actual citizens, their families, and their communities. That is where the needs are, not in academia.
We need less writing about academics' ideas and more about what citizens actually need for their well-being and some hope for flourishing.
I'm going to say the thing in my heart that scares me most: it's already too late. The scale, sophistication, and microtargetting of disinformation, the gerrymandering, court-packing, structural imbalance of the electoral college, the trump election money, right wing media, the horror that is social media - all of it serving to give djt the advantage in the upcoming election - it's too late.
Truth, facts, human decency, appealing to civility, morality, ethics, unity, democracy - it's not going to be enough to win, no matter who our candidate is.
How does it feel to be living in a collapsing republic? Is there a moment when you know it is over? That whatever you hoped your country could be at its best, that it's gone? Is it only later, after some cataclysmic breakdown, that you can look back and point to all the other failures, that led to the end? And how long will this last? A couple presidential terms? A generation? And how do we get out of it without a war?
I fled Wisconsin about a year ago, because I no longer recognized the place I'd spent half my life. I came to Vermont, where I hoped to feel safer behind the blue walls of Massachusetts and New York, but of course, disinformation knows no border, and safety is illusion. Maybe I should have kept going, all the way to Canada, and the most remote place I could find.
If anyone can offer me hope, please do, because I'm afraid it's too late.
2
Constant media spin has helped to change the value of truth because it is too hard to constantly search for truth in every sentence. Truth is so hard to find, especially of the subject is foreign. There are large swaths of the general public that either do not have the experience or education to sort out the truth from the lies and spin, or who are too overwhelmed to try.
Until the whole society sees the value of truth, and of education there will be no change. Media etc. has to realize the role it plays in devaluing the truth in favor of spin. Truth in advertising is rare. Also the role media plays in dumbing down the electorate. It is only another step to avoiding truth in daily life. Perhaps this is all just another example of the dark side of rampant capitalism.
Trump has simply taken advantage of this dark side, and he does it with impunity. He ignores any restrictions on his excesses of all kinds. He retaliates freely.He ignores everything except his gut reactions.
Truth exists more easily in small interrelated groups where group knowledge restricts lies. The alienation. and anonymity of huge numbers of people assists lies.
The overwhelming complexity of dense civilization is a factor here.
3
@joyce
Yes.
Media is selling its product, not helping us learn, understand, and communicate with each other.
1
This column is interesting for the fact that it assumes that the "progressive, enlightened", Edsall's side does not distort truth and reality. The Democrats live in precisely identical cocoon but - as Essall correctly notes - because they control 'mainstream press', this makes it harder to see it.
6
Alternative facts, alternative reality in the modern age? Fake news, loss of truth, difficulty in determining actual reality?
I don't recall ever having existed in a state of truth, reality with respect to fellow human beings and therefore with respect to everything insofar as a person is born into society and cannot help but see as fellow human beings. But I am capable of saying this because the society I have been born into has a history of having to pursue truth, to emerge into truth, and has been skeptical of being in possession of truth.
In other words, I don't recall ever having existed in a state of truth, reality because I have been born into Western society which always seems on threshold of new vision and its history makes it clear that plenty of times over human history people thought they were in possession of truth but were actually in ignorance. To be in Western society, if an adequately educated person, is to always be aware another Copernican or Einstein revolution just might be around the corner, so you hold truth, reality lightly, never knowing what you'll see next.
But I have to admit that a lot of the anger and fear on all sides about alternative facts, alternative reality these days does not so much mean a society faced with a new and revolutionary paradigm which threatens old truths as it seems an attempt to regress by new technological methods, that learning to hold truth lightly also means being able to throw the cloak of falsity over people's heads
1
Another perceptive op-ed by Edsall. I contend, however, that the opposition has their own reality too. And until Trump began questioning liberal facts and "truth" most Americans went along with it, except some of us have always been skeptical. I believe Trump not the liberal media. As others have commented, the highly educated elite can dismiss us Trump supporters as fools, but we're not. We know what is true and what isn't. Thank you.
9
Alternative facts are no longer necessary. It's pretty obvious that Trump supporters believe everything he says and excuse any behavior, lawful or not. There are a few ways Trump could lose support. Here's a hypothetical: Trump releases the following statement: After serious consideration, I reached out to Colin Kaepernick and told him that while I disagreed with the substance of his protest, I respected his right to express his opinion as he sees fit. Accordingly, it is my wish that it is the beginning of a dialog on an issue that is important to millions of Americans.
Trumpism has become a religion in America, and it boasts tens of millions of devoted followers. Like adherents to a religion, you can't reason with them about their faith because their beliefs come first, and their perception of reality is bent to support those beliefs.
That's not to say that all religions are wrong, but only that faith in them is not rational. Trumpism is not rational.
10
The only truth the average voter cares for his pay check and portfolio which is doing well with Trump.
3
There is an iron law in politics: once a taboo is broken, there is no going back. The America we grew up with is gone.
5
One cannot "perceive" facts. Facts are facts. The problem is that Republicans refuse to admit this.
1
With all this analysis we should not forget that to date Presidents have been above this fray. While they might spin, or even selectively omit facts I don’t believe that Obama, Bushs, Clinton etc lied about basic facts or about what they said yesterday.
Mr Trump, as President, has some responsibility to convey actual facts and him not doing so is appalling
8
Didn’t Clinton say he did not have sex with that woman? They all lie. To be a politician is to lie. No matter which party.
2
Ok, well all freak outs and truth telling aside, this is generational. Older boomers who were outcast by '08's fiscal debacle, which of course was caused by Republican led deregulation (thanks GeorgeII and Basel II), were willing to accept any reality other than the one they were in. The good news is that Boomers will no longer be the dominant voting block come 2028. Not good news for the immediate future, but the next 8 years will be a pitched contrast between socialist (the greatest idea than never works) and capitalist (the version of which is failing us all primarily due to deregulation) populist ideologies. Neither will serve us well, but additional transgressions of law by the 'let us eat cake always capitalists' is leaving all of us without legal equality, a scary thought. As long as both camps wish to govern by edict, rather than negotiate, we will continue to have dueling realities. In addition to the overturning Citizens United, we must undo the Nuclear Option in the Senate (thank you Harry Reid), it has taken a deliberative body where 2/3 votes were required, and made it undemocratic when it comes to any legal nominations, or Impeachment. When 18% of the population coming from 26 Senators (in mostly red states) has more votes than the 82%, it's no wonder we've lost our Democratic way. PT Barnum would have loved the Boomers. (I am one fwiw) 2028 cannot come soon enough.
3
@Mark: A mixed economy is a symbiosis of capitalism and socialism.
2
In blunt terms, a huge majority of Americans don't care at all about laws and norms.
The only moral and ethical driver is to get whatever they want, now, by whatever means possible, including breaking the law, ignoring the Constitution or shooting someone on 5th avenue.
As a politician Trump can lie and mislead his followers as to what his intent is and then lie about what he did. And American voters in their compulsive quest to get what they want believe every single word of it.
8
It’s worth noting that the Trump campaign is not only spending its considerable resources to build an alternative reality, but now, with the blessings of the Republican Congress, the campaign has full access to federal resources as well.
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
—George Orwell
11
The vociferous left cadre is what will propel Democrats to victory in 2020.
The 'liberal bias' in the media has been confined to social issues. On economic issues, the Overton Window has been drifting to the right for decades.
2
@Mark: The public sector of any mixed economy is intrinsically socialistic and spends what it taxes to benefit the interests that control the government.
"The vociferous left cadre is what will propel Democrats to victory in 2020."
I wish I could be so positive. The far right Billionaire class, with their front man Trump, will do anything to maintain their power. Hunger Games here we come!
Everything about this article is scary and demoralizing. But the most serious effect of disinformation/lying campaigns is that peoples' thought processes are being changed. If a person cannot see clearly his own concept of truth and falsehood, then there is little hope, not only for this nation and other formerly progressive democracies, but for the human race as well. We are in serious trouble--even more than I had worried about.
10
As a Canadian I watch and read mostly international news (local news here is, thankfully, a bit dull). Looking from outside at what is happening to the Republic of the United States is fascinating but horrifying. It’s like watching the fall of the Weimar but set in modern times.
- authoritarian leader unchecked by his party
- control of the media (social networks, TV and radio)
- control of the DOJ
- gerrymandering
- corporations are people
- separation of babies from parents
- immigrants, democrats and not-controlled news media are enemies
- govt employees are threatened/scared
If he starts firing generals to put his own military people in place...whew!
You’re going to need Bloomberg and his billions to get out of this.
18
@Liz Rybak and your open borders to let us in!
1
@Liz Rybak except until yesterday Bloomberg was not a democrat, apparently.
It's not so much the peddling and packaging of the lies, it's also the social decadence (see Douthat's last column) that underlies the generalized tolerance of the corrupted language, the grotesque lies, and their promoters.
There is simply no longer a price to be paid for lying, be it trump or his enablers.
The fact that more people have more spending money in their pockets, or that
their portfolios have grown in value over the last two years counts for much more in their approval of trump than whether he lies. It just doesn't matter to such people.
This is a good measure of moral decadence that is now
deeply ingrained and tolerated within large parts of the society.
This must also be connected to the skilled campaigns of
disinformation that the society has lived through for a very
long time. The tobacco industry, the Vietnam war, the Iraq
war, the carbon energy source industries have all promoted
very large lies over long periods of time. These were internalized as being accurate by large segments of
the population.
The reflexes and tolerance for such campaigns of orwellian
manipulation of discourse are now part of the social fabric and common discourse. It's very hard to change that
without a massive exogenous event that destabilizes all
prior assumptions of what is normal/acceptable.
All are signs of a rooted decadence, intellectual and moral.
The rot is within. Trump's approval ratings are a measure of how deep it has penetrated.
8
Keep at it. Keep up the insults, the degradation, the dismissal of Trump and his supporters. The only thing you'll get in the end is four more years of Donald Trump.
Dems and the Left do not have a monopoly on the truth.
42
@Jimbo
There were no insults or degradations in Edsall’s article, he simply pointed out the reality of the current situation. There was no dismissal of Trump supporters , he just accurately described their acceptance of Trump’s lies and the lies from biased media sources l
149
@Jimbo Trump suporters were rightfully angry at the shenanigans of BOTH parties.Forget facts except this one: Trump is a brilliant self promoter.
There is an alternative to the same old palaver both parties offer. It is not based on cruelty to others. It's not Us vs Them.
The Democratic party establishment and the media are doing their best to stop it. Already, Trump supporters are beginning to see why. It will benefit them, and it is not beholden to anyone. Yes, sort of like Trump. But very different.
5
@Jimbo No offense, but the truth is based on evidence. Are you suggesting that the truth is up for grabs?
64
Exactly what are the "alternatives" to "Alternative Facts?"
(Disclaimer: This is intended to be a hypothetical question. We all know what the answers are; just ask George Conway)
1
The rise of social media has introduced a new variation on an old sport into American life - slamming people who's opinions differ from your own.
This new variation appeals to both spectators and players and it delivers a thrill that's deeply addictive and viscerally pleasurable.
Trump has exploited this. He sensed a long time ago that people want to see their opponents not merely criticized but demolished, "owned" as the phrase goes, and the more viciously that's done, the more partisan fervor is involved, the more hatred ignited, the more its practitioners are loved and admired.
This pleasure-center has always been there, but social media has stimulated it to the point where it has taken over the judgment of millions of Americans who now crave it beyond all reason.
11
If you take a step back, you realize that all of this was inevitable. A series of societal forces have aligned to enable this moment.
1. The internet. Once seen as emancipating, it has been seized by propagandists.
2. Cable news. It has ushered in the rapid decline of responsible journalism. In it's place, 24 hour propaganda.
3. A disaffected population with no emphasis on community. The anti-vax movement distills this movement. Distrust of science and an attitude of selfishness over the good of all.
Into this mix comes Donald Trump. A singular narcissist who is utterly shameless. Trump is an extreme rarity - a virtueless human being. The concepts of integrity, honesty and honor are unknown to him. Would he consider the vast human suffering before tearing apart the country to further his own selfish desires? It wouldn't even occur to him.
So Trump happily encourages dangerous enmity between Americans for his personal gain. He does this by blatantly lying at a breakneck pace. His siloed base, hammered constantly by social media confirmation bias and Fox News' propaganda, is buoyed by spiteful glee when Trump bashes "elites", which now encompasses everyone who is not part of Trump's base.
This is how empires crumble.
27
@Rob
A brilliant and succinct analysis of how we got here.
1
It took a while but 1984 is here.
178
What cracks me up about the left is that they accuse Trump of lying, but while Trump exaggerates the lies from the left are truly toxic. we can go back to Obama's lies about the ACA and Benghazi and how viewing Russia as an enemy was so 1980's -- or to the 3 year disinformation campaign led by the dems and MSM about Russia and Trump collusion in 2016. Or the lies about Ukraine -- that it was an impeachable offense, when it was nothing more than a partisan effort to smear Trump.
Seriously, to accuse Trump of being the liar when it is something endemic to the left.
The green new deal? Virtually everything Liz Warren says, the free everything for all blather -- those aren't lies? And walls don't work, from lefties who live in gated communities. Or how about Pelosi tearing up Trump's speech as a norm breaker.
These academicians whose papers are cited I am willing to bet are all lefties. Who see the left as truthful and anyone to their right as spreading disinformation. Please. A ridiculous column.
5
@Ralphie being incorrect, defending wrongheaded beliefs, even spin are not lies. Lying is not about who hears what is said, but about the intent of the liar, which in this case includes corruption, cover ups and immorality.
@Ralphie
Thank you for your report from the alternative dimension of Trumplandia.
There is still a real world out here.
In the end, facts do matter. Always, actually.
1
This is a prime example of the descriptions in the article,
1
here's a clip from another NYT article on the subject of the change in the sentencing memo -
Asked about the developments on Tuesday, more than six Republican senators said they were not familiar with the Justice Department’s position and could not comment.
“I do not have an opinion on that,” Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, told reporters at his weekly news conference.
are these people asleep? do they care about the country? do they recall that they took an oath of office?
they are traitors to the constitution. they have failed every citizen.
and you're right - trump is ready to run amok. we'll be fortunate if the united states and all of us survive his failure as president. (and don't tell me about his tax bill - that's meaningless.)
9
In addition, Trump's angry, xenophobic and racist rhetoric resonates with far too many of our fellow citizens. It reminds me of the old New Yorker cartoon where a middle-aged couple are watching the Devil give an address on TV. The man says to his wife, "... but he's not afraid to say what people are thinking."
7
I wish I hadn't read this article, stellar though it is. I may not recover from the spiraling depression it brings.
9
I am so tired of Edsall writing articles that imply that Bernie would have a hard time beating Trump without acknowledging that the general election polls show him beating Trump easily on average.
3
This sobering column seems to carry two important implications:
1) It's a waste of time to try to win back those who have drunk the Kool-Aid. Once you fall down the Fox-Rush-Breitbart-Republican rabbit hole, you never climb back out. Instead Democrats simply must concentrate on getting out the vote of the rest of America. Where common sense still prevails, no Trump voters dwell.
2) If the Democrats can recapture the White House and the Senate, they must do everything they can to crush Facebook and Twitter, to root out their evil influence on elections (and just about everything else). Repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act! Use anti-trust law to the utmost against Facebook, and break it up! If they survive, regulate them until they asphyxiate.
9
I would venture to say that this is all a moot point.
The true believers, the hard core Blue or Red, the AOC acolytes, the Trump true blood followers. There is nothing at all in the world that can change their minds. They will search for any bit of info that matches whatever they already believe, and hold it up for any one to see. It is the same for both extremes, they are both bereft of logic and reason, and there is nothing that can change their minds. Specially if comes from some high and mighty Blue ivory tower resident, who has deigned the reds worthy of 5 seconds of their time, or from some fire breathing creature of the red deep who demands you agree to his theories. Same thing, just different color.
What the Dems and GOPs should be aiming for are the people in the center. The pragmatists, the middle class, those of us who vote our wallet, who could not care less about being woke or purity tests, and who cannot defend the guy in charge either.
But it seems that this very large majority is being ignored in favor of woke Leftist socialism, and fire breathing Conservatism.
I see an opening there for Mike Bloomberg, just like I see no way to line up on the current Blue or Red sides.
1
The alternative facts are easily debunked. If they work on most people, and they appear to do just that, then the country deserves Trump. A nation of people who are easily fooled deserves what comes.
Trump is not at all good at lying or making a point about anything. What comes out of his mouth is so simple and false that it is apparent the majority of US citizens are lacking a functioning brain.
The people are failing. There is no political strategy that can fix that. Pandering only makes it worse. But, go ahead and tell them how honest, hard working and intelligent they are, because as you say, alternative facts are reality.
6
To date, the way the dems have handled Trump's lies resembles a peacock spreading its feathers in front of a python. It's easy to see the result of this.
4
All the tortured academic multi-sylablic analysis overlooks the basic truth.
Almost half the population is below average in educatiion/intelligence/morality.
The radical right GOP disinformation scheme and media like Fox and Breitbart did not create this reality to any real extent, they only recognized it and exploited it.
When the wealth of the top 1% of the population surpasses XX% percent of the remaining population, with each billionaire (owning $1,000,000,000 or more) , equivalent to 1,000 millionaiires (with $1,000,000), combined (Yes, combined) how hard is it for them to control 50% of the population), each with hardly $1,000 in the bank??
Add to this a president and GOP Senate and the Pentagon contractors with greed on their minds; the motive, means, and opportunity are all in place for an autocratic regime.
It can be summed up in two words;. Bill Barr or Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell, take your pick.
It's a cliche, but fire must be fought with fire. If you dismiss the truth, forever rue your past and your future.
2
Yes we know that Trump supports are racist, anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, pro-Oxycontin sales, pro-machine guns, anti-healthcare, anti separation of church and state, anti-intellectual. Proudly and publicly so. Maybe they are the majority of Americans these days. But what are you implying, that we need a candidate closer to their views so we can pick off the ones who have not actually come out publicly for these in the general election?
3
Universal, unqualified suffrage is not working. We KNOW this - everyone thinks they are immune from propaganda. And yet mind-controlling the entire populace is trivially easy. It comes down to this: If you are on Facebook - you are the problem.
5
Has any president in recent history been subjected to the kind of pseudo-psychological examination by so many would-be experts that has bedeviled President Trump? I don’t think so. Has any president ever been subjected to the parsing of every word out of his mouth that this president has? I don’t think so. When I see this kind of presidential harassment day in and day out in the major media like the Times, I find it hard to believe there is not some great conspiracy to drive this president from office. And I believe there are millions of Americans across this country who feel the same. Whatever harm the media want to claim the president is doing to the country, they are doing far more to drive a wedge into the populace.
1
@Joe Gagen
Are you saying that the President wouldn't have to lie so much if we'd just stop calling him on it?
2
First, stop saying "alternative facts". They're lies, and cloaking them under Kellyanne Conway misrepresentations violates the responsibility that the press carries.
Second, and most importantly, the Rubicon has been crossed. Trump is now fully and openly acting as a dictator, ruling by tweet and photo-op.
The Constitution is no more.
11
Would Republican senators and congressmen trade the foundations of their democracy for a dictatorship that will inadvertently answer to its most important agendas? The answer is yes – this is precisely what has occurred and with a little help from the Attorney General , Donald Trump can now claim the dictatorship he has always wanted. Eventually all of the truth will come out though, and the senators and congressmen who have supported a tyrant, a liar, and a fraud will pay the price as will AG Barr .
Their names will be enshrined in America’s Hall of Shame for all of history to observe and remember.
5
Mr. Edsall - How far from a basic Soviet style disinformation campaign/gas lighting / Queens rack 'em up amalgam of strategies is the Trump cadre of rabble.
Shakespeare captured this phenomenon in Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. The crux is that Jack Cade communicates his ambitions, the unfairness of the system, and the crowd through the voice of Dick the Butcher essentially says that for Jack Cade to take over the current institutions must be destroyed.
Some commentators interpret Trump as a master marketer when in fact he is an updated Western snake oil salesman/Las Vegas centered time share salesman with such a oozing goo he has to date slipped the grasp of the legal system.
3
One of the abiding principles of politics and business has always been that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Tell a big enough lie about what you're about to do, then when you get caught, apologize and explain that you never meant for things to turn out that way. Trump has refined this art by refusing to apologize for anything (the Roy Cohn Amendment) and doubling down on the lie he told in the first place. The results speak for themselves.
It is also true that tv watching America has grown used to the distortion of reality over the years, watching millions of advertisements showing smart, happy, healthy, sexy, wealthy, young people asking their various doctors if [insert medication here] is right for them. I've never seen so many sick people who looked so good. They sure don't look that way at the ER in my town. And then, of course, there are the life changing effects of a new car, adventures you'll go on, men & women you'll attract. The advertising world has been awash in distorted and outright false reality for as long as I can remember. We move right past it. Or do we?
Every con artist will tell you, it's not his skill, it's the gullibility and greed of the mark.
3
The Golden Calf is back. Again?!
2
Trump supporters support Trump's behaviors.
That's all I need to know about them.
6
@dannyboy anything goes. Whatever needs to be done to get things done. That’s their motto doesn’t matter rule of law or the constitution or that book bible blabbering about lies gossip and doing harm to others....
Don't get me wrong, but maybe there's a simple solution to this great division of America into two sets of people who see each other as 'deplorables' ( to use Hillary Clinton' s immortal words) : divide the country.
Let the East coast and West coast form the Coastal States of America. You have a slate of half a dozen candidates to compete for the President's post. You have NY Times, CNN, and the Washington Post.
Middle America can choose between Trump and Bloomberg, who can move to the Interior States of America. They'll have Fox News and Breitbart. CSA can welcome all the immigrants to move from the ISA.
There can be a nice name for it ending in *exit.
The Americans prescribed this for the Soviet Union, and made it happen. Americans love the results.
Instead of slipping into decadence, as Ross Douthat describes, the two countries will unleash the animal spirits of entrepeneurship, and two new Great Powers can be born.
Think out of the box, folks!
1
Trump voters will tolerate anything in order to prevent "the left" from taking power, and that's all there is to it.
Take my own mother for example - an educated person living in a liberal city (Boston). When we discuss policy or simple facts, we seem to mostly align to the extent she follows any of it. Our reasoning and priorities align. But she can't let go of the belief that "the left" must not lead the country. Just as I would vote for a pile of garbage over Trump, she would vote for one over a Democrat (even though she for example likes Klobuchar and admits that some individual Democrats are fine, but can't stand the party as a whole). The numerous sins of Trump are fairly admitted but they never seem to outweigh the fear of having this country move even an inch towards "socialism". There is simply no way to get through this mental block - believe me I have tried.
5
Many traits of our president, and the reaction to these traits by the citizens, remind me of the situation in Germany, ca. 1938-1944
6
I often use Edsall's columns to show my students how to do good research, but this one is a stitch job that will leave the reader confused. Students need to separate the wheat from the chaff, but it doesn't happen here. Too many detours and too much meandering. Sorry, this is a C- at best.
"Four legs good, two legs better."
"Just because you dont appreciate my gaslighting doesnt mean its not true"
"Truth isnt true"
Trump is smashing the nonbelievers into submission by negating their truths, demoralization and blanket carpet bombing on social media.
People want to give up (and that's what he wants).This is a war of attrition. RESIST people !
6
We are becoming a “National Enquirer” nation.
This reminds of a dear neighbor who once told me in her most serious tone...”there are things in the National Enquirer you just cannot read anywhere else.”
Propaganda often seeps in the cracks between religious truth and reasoned truth.
2
Running as incumbent, Obama got 60,000 votes in NH. Trump just got twice as many, 120,000. The level of enthusiasm for Trump is huge.
Maybe the Opinion section of the NYT should check whether they are operating in an alternative reality...
3
@novoad
If you think this article said that Trump isn't popular, you didn't read it very carefully.
In my assessment, informed by years of studying deft political con men as a Title VI doctoral fellow at UNM's Latin American & Iberian Institute, the answer to this article's closing query is that Trump's fake populism is likely to result in a victory this November.
The authors lay out some little-understood social psychology explaining why this is a distinct possibility, but it is worth noting that popular fiction foretold where we are headed generations ago. I am not sure that high schools or even universities still require students to read works such as "Nineteen Eighty Four" or "Darkness at Noon," et al.
Indeed, many adults in their thirties and forties can't even attribute this quote: "The only thing new in this world is the history you don't know."
Why is it that no major newspaper has yet published an analysis of Hitler's prescription for political success of combining propaganda with violence? Are we really going to thrust our heads in the sand while the purveyors of hate and lies seize the reins of power and complete a hostile takeover of the truth?
5
What works to Trump’s advantage is the economy and Bernie Sanders!!!
44
@Georg
Not true, economy was better or as good under Obama and he was hated by Republicans and GOP.
5
@Georg
T he economy was set rolling by PRESIDENT Obama, and Bernie is center Left on any rational scale.
8
@Georg
Again only for the uneducated, we have been growing the deficit to create this great economy that has the made the rich more rich and powerful to control us like the serf we have become.
8
Ms. Conway’s “we have our own facts” turned out to be not a political communications misstep but an accurate description of our political reality.
For example, I have entirely different sets of facts about the Steel dossier, its origins, purpose and subsequent investigations than most people commenting on the subject or writing on it for NYT do. Same applies to the economy and country’s prosperity and future. And as another example I have entirely different set of facts about Dr. Ford’s testimony in Kavanaugh hearings and about the history and veracity of her statements than this paper’s contributors have.
I subscribe to NYT to observe ( and enjoy) an alternate universe of facts that guide its ecosystem while I am living in an alternate universe of my own facts
I vote, invest and live on basis of my facts. So do you I presume. Things are working out for me just fine. And I am happy to observe they do for you as well.
3
As a senior, I remember reading detailed essays about issues. Now I feel we live by short blurbs--bumper sticker philosophy. I write for children and know that word heavy text is not welcome--the fewer words the better. Keeping focused on an issue is more difficult for people. This makes it easy to fudge information and that is scary for me. This is definitely a time of change and we will not likely return to an earlier time. How to deal with this could mean the difference for maintaining a democracy.
3
Alternative facts need air to brethe. It would help if the major media outlets would - every time - call them out for what they are - outright lies or big distortions of the truth.
It would also help if there was no editorial spin on what is presented as news. An example today is the "spin" different media are putting on Senator Sanders' win in New Hampshire. For the last forty years, any candidate who wins both Iowa and New Hampshire has gone on to become the Democratic Party nominee. Yet the coverage seems to be far from presenting that reality...the biases andn slants are showing.
2
Edsall’s point all resonate with my experiences. And, I heard all the same views in rural South Dakota in the 1950s. My grandmother hated the whole 20th century. She wanted America to be great again the way it was in the 1880s. She hated cities (anything bigger than De Smit), immigrants (including the Scots and Welsh), coastal elites, educated folk, unions, labor laws, the income tax, FDR, etc. For her, the survival of the Real America was at stake and the ends more than justified all means. Most of her progeny are still in South Dakota and feel even even more passionate. And yes, I’m a traitor to my family and to the Real America. I have a PhD from a Left Coast university and don’t want to go back to the past at all.
5
Orwell predicted all this in 1984 with his description of the "Ministry of Truth". Many people noticed this immediately when Trump took office in 2017. Have they forgotten?
2
"A large segment of the American electorate has come to tolerate, and in many cases to willingly accept, politicians who lie."
A politician lying did not start with Trump. He isn't the first.
"They all lie" is not a new political idea among voters either. It is a longstanding cynical assumption.
2
As difficult as it will be, we may have to modify our ideas about "free speech".
We do not permit a person to yell "fire" in a theatre if their is no fire.
We need to start applying this kind of thinking to our modern media.
4
I’m not sure that the different perceptions of the same news is the problem. I think it’s much more basic, hatred, bigotry, zero sum religious beliefs that have been uplifted by Trump and the Republican Party. Courage of 6+ Senators and we are in a different place. The republicans have and will not show any courage ever. The democrats must flip the Senate.
1
I'm not sure that Trump and his boosters have so much more money to spend on this election campaign than do the Democrats- at least with Mike Bloomberg around, willing to spend a billion of his own dollars on his candidacy or that of a different Democratic nominee. As far as Trump's lies are concerned I can't help wondering why his opponents don't fight fire with fire. I can come up with many unassailable fictions that Democrats can employ in response to those offered by Trump and his minions. The Times won't print any of them, alas, but considering how awful this "president" has behaved in the past it would be easy to imagine the kind of dirt that could be artfully disseminated about him.
2
Destroying the 'mainstream media' is destroying democracy itself. I hope everyone is clear on that. And it's not going to happen.
I was surprised not to see the word 'propaganda' in this article. The very idea that there are now competing 'truths' is in fact part of conservative propaganda. It's not accurate.
Reality has a way of intruding on propaganda, and it will happen here as well. In the meantime, people should never get news from social media! There are many other sources of information. It's not that hard to download a news app to your phone, and you will get the real story.
2
I think Trump's ability to lie without losing support is a unique characteristic of Trump. There are people for whom his charisma is powerful, and that happened to align well with the GOP. The 2024 election may yet again feature a person like Trump that can lie as well as he can, but it seems pretty unlikely. At the level of lying he does, most people choke up and their own ears burn. Any GOP candidate following his lying path is unlikely to be as convincing.
1
Our choice appears to be between evil, conservative fake news and the angelic (if slightly left), objective mainstream media. This opinion piece would have been stronger if Edsall had stated: "Hey, everyone has their own ideological ax to grind. The conservatives and the Trumpsters are doing well in these areas. Let's beat them at their own game."
Who we elect and what that person stands for has been like a pendulum historically. What scares me, what happens when the pendulum swings back after Trump. The Extreme behavior of Trump appears like a new norm for our politics. SAD......What we lamented in our past.....might be the good old days.
I've seen this first hand. Several of my Facebook friends are people I knew in high school, and most of them are fairly serious right wingers. I am continually amazed at the stuff they post that is so out of touch with reality. I'm a retired psychologist so know the research on the ability of people to think with any abstract concepts. On a good day it's about half. What we have now is the willingness of one side of the political debate to exploit the limitations of voters who are incapable of setting up the mental networks required to fact check claims. Sadly, we need for Democrats to recognize reality and design pitches for those folks, rather than continuing to assume that people can perceive their rational interests.
4
I just keep hope alive by keeping in mind that the majority never wanted Trump. Now that the lesson has been learned (I also hope!) from HRC's neglect of the Electoral College "territory" factor, people being encouraged to vote across the country should make that majority against Trump even greater. I just thought I'd provide this hopeful reminder!
1
Once again, I’m finding that Mr. Edsall’s writing is ahead of the pack. Thank you for your empirical and thoughtful analysis! Score jumping to endorse a particular candidate, we need understand how the far right is ... well, a charitable word is campaigning, a less charitable but perhaps more truthful word would be manipulating voters, corrupting the election and our institutions. I’m hearing that there are more and more people who are disenchanted with the Republican Party. Let’s hope the Democrats can nominate someone smart enough to cut through the “noise”.
I just wonder who teaches the children of Trump supporters the difference between right and wrong? Call me old fashioned but I was raised to believe and value the truth and that racism is wrong. It's disheartening to find so many don't have even a basic moral compass. They will be the death of our republic. They will find out way too late that Trump has never cared about them.
8
My five-year old grandchild came home from school. embarrassed and cowed by a note from his school which would go directly to his parents. He was cited for calling another child a loser. One does not have to guess where he might have found those words. Certainly not in the household he lives in. There were three discussions within 24 hours about how we must be kind to friends and acquaintances and never use name-calling. I'm sure my grandchild won't do it again. Unlike Susan Collins'remarkably foolish and vacuous statement that she thought Trump has learned his lesson I'm sure Trump will be name-calling and insulting within the moment.
7
Take a sober pause and ponder, just what could Trump possible do if re-elected, pardon everyone associated with the Mueller report that is sitting in jail or about to be sentence. How about nominating another kazillion federal judges, name another Supreme Court judge, undo ACA, leave office with a monster federal deficit and have at lease 3 countries waiting to go to war with us. Nothing done with climate change (farmers don’t count on China honoring it trade deal) still nothing done with opioid addition. Manufacturing still gone, coal still gone, taxes for the rich with everyday men and women who can’t pay for dental work. Republicans who are barely eking out a living by making fifty-five thousand a year or less better hold tight they are/will become the new lower class and it won’t be just their teeth that they will miss.
9
Edsall's analyses are great, but in his discussion of Wisconsin he misses an important point. Milwaukee used to be a low crime city that elected socialist mayors. Now it is a high crime city and the former socialist voters moved to the suburbs and became Republican Scott Walker's base. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, safety is second only to air, water and food.
4
Am I prepared emotionally, psychologically, spiritually for the possibility that in 2024 Ivanka Trump will be elected as the first woman president? May our individual and collective consciousness evolve quickly enough to avoid this. "Meditate, bhikshu, meditate!" Dhammapada, 371
2
Yes, the use of polarization blinds people, but this is all the right has to run on at this point - lies and propaganda. Yes, it is a powerful tool as history gives witness to its' damage. But there is also another factor that the right has caused that works against them - and it is the destruction of the middle - the center - and not from polarization - but from a decade of Citizens United and unlimited corporate money in our political system. And the damage it has done to the environment, health care, gun control, and now restarting the nuclear arms race, are all existential factors that not even lies and propaganda can cover over. And this is what you are seeing in the primaries - by who is leading these initial races. Peoples experiences are taking them beyond the propaganda machine of the right. It is no mistake that Bernie Sanders is leading. It is because he is such a striking contrast to the liar and chief and the politics of propaganda - even when it is built on polarization and dividing the nation for the sake of its power.
11
Owell was prescient.
The key issue is what percent of the electorate who vote republican actually believe the Trump lies and what percent consciously make their Faustian bargains with him.
The former are hopeless because they fall so far to the extreme ignorance side of any bell curve profiling people capable of intellectually honest reasoning. They are cognitively incapable of intellectually honest reasoning. Either that or they are cynically committed to Trump's goals and believe the ends justify the means. Just like Lenin and the boys.
The latter will decide not only the election but also the direction of the country for years to come.
The latter will not automatically buy the more extreme of the progressive agenda on race, crime and immigration. Since their perception of the democrats push on guaranteed outcomes, reparations, enfranchisement for felons, and sanctuaries for illegals is not consistent with their own life experiences, they do not believe the democrats' advocacy of such causes.
Surprising to some, this segment includes people who voted for that notorious centrist, still scorned by some in the democratic party, President Barack Obama. President Obama, you might remember cautioned the party and its politicians not to fall into the "socialism" and "micro aggressions" causes trumpeted by some in the party.
The mainstream of America, yes, mostly white, will not buy into that political argument. It will lose the election.
2
It was conservative talk radio that made Trump possible and perhaps inevitable. Once journalistic standards that were developed during the earl part of the 20th century were trashed in major media markets lies and conspiracy theories took off and became the staple for mainly people who did not obtain a 4-year college degree. The internet arrived in this milieu of lies and conspiracy theories and took it to another level. All this required major companies to advertise on radio and TV shows on Fox News that deal in lies and conspiracy theories. It could not have happened without these companies deciding that profits were more important than truth. Here in the New York suburbs Republicans in office are becoming an endangered species and meeting a Trump supporter is almost a rare event and lying is not going to get votes, but clearly in many other parts of the country things are very different.
5
There are five simple reasons why Trump is so dominant and why no conventional political candidate from either party can defeat him:
Comcast, Warner, Disney, Viacom and Fox and their all-Trump, all-the-time programming formats.
In the summer of 2015, the Big Five entertainment companies, faced with a financially disastrous presidential race between two decidedly untelegenic and nerdy candidates, Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton, made the collective business decision to intervene in the race by luring proven reality-tv star Donald Trump into the race and directly subsidizing his campaign with free, unlimited and unedited air time for his rallies and phone call-ins, while forcing all the other candidates to buy their air time.
The estimates of the amount of free air time donated to Trump by the TV networks in 2016 range anywhere from $2 to $5 billion, depending on how all the free Fox News airtime is calculated. Newspapers followed suit by turning over their front pages to daily Trump coverage, effectively handing Trump the GOP nomination.
Of course the decision by the news media to switch to an all-Trump format has paid off handsomely for the news business and continues to this day.
Just last week the Big Five gave Trump two hours of free air time for his State of the Union and Impeachment Victory speech, essentially Trump campaign rallies.
No conventional candidate using a conventional media strategy can possibly overcome Trump's built-in advantage of unlimited air time.
10
One of the main things a lot of people liked about Trump was that he was not a politician, because all politicians lie. He lies now and they have no problem with that because he’s a politician now, and all politicians lie. Perfectly logical.
137
@Linda Oliver
Logical to the extent that everyone, or at least "a lot of people" have the same definition of politician, which includes the assumption that all lie in the same way and to the same extent. Trump's followers continue to believe that he is draining the political swamp and purging the Deep State.
13
@Linda Oliver Wonderful -- perfect circular logic that probably is the essence of Trump-type people anyway.
14
74,074,037 voters DID NOT vote for Trump in 2016. If they all unite behind the
Democrat candidate (Are you listening Liberals ?) then Trump will be flushed into oblivion. Note: Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin would have been in Democrat column had Clinton had the Liberal line.
13
So only Trump and Republicans lie, and only Trump supporters accept prevaricating candidates? Are there any studies that examine progressive rhetoric and the slogans and platitudes that are allowed uninhibited reign on debate stages, commercials, and rallies? Are you people conscious of your refusal to apply the same consideration to Democratic candidates? Have you been watching the debates? Reading the interviews with candidates in these very pages? This is becoming an unbearable forum, a super church of secular scripture.
6
@ReadWidelyPlease
"So only Trump and Republicans lie, and only Trump supporters accept prevaricating candidates?" That's whataboutism. Of course all politicians lie. But Trump has no integrity at all, lies constantly, and consistently trashes norms and institutions. The Democratic candidates do not do this.
1
@ReadWidelyPlease Great Comment, Trump lives rent free in far too many heads
1
The studies just underscore a lot of common sense observations. I don’t think Democrats are losing people because of any of this, though.
Democrats are losing people because they have gone all in on identity politics and similar highly niche issues to keep the outrage machine going. It used to be the party of labor. It’s increasingly becoming a party whose unifying theme is anti- white male-dom. See? We can all read between the lines.
Yes, this is all primitive. Always has been. I can type this comment in garbled letters and you would know what I mean. Three words or a look are often all it takes to communicate a whole lot. No news here. And, no, most people don’t care much about the details.
Let’s be real, 2020 looks cooked. Those leaning left appear to be just looking for a new scapegoat to blame failure on.
The real story IMO is the bifurcation of the media from the voting base. News media bias and social media has emboldened many to think that there is actually a lot of support for identity politics type issues. To real voters, apparently not so much. Democrats didn’t pivot left, they pivoted toward nonsense guaranteed to alienate hundreds of millions of Americans.
Unfortunately the net result is likely to be four more years of a lunatic in the White House.
5
Yes, Trump and the Right are using fake news as a weapon.
What can Democrats do? I suggest a new democracy wave, now.
The idea is to flip Trump's dictatorial, thought control over...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Democrats could use slogans and songs, such as "Democracy."
"Democracy is coming to the USA" (Leonard Cohen)
They could tease Trump by using his OK sign, with both hands.
Trump is not OK. Fake news is not OK. Dictatorship is not OK.
Why not push back on Trump, right now, in physical expression?
Why can't the Times write about specific ways to stop Trump?
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
2
No one will ever hold Trump accountable.
Therein lies the problem.
5
When I first viewed the "reality" shows popping up on T.V., I was amazed at how boring they struck me after just a few episodes. Some have been on over twenty years now. Void of substance with no intention to real life drama, and scripted in a formulated pill to swallow the fake irony. Is it any wonder that a large segment of society can not descern reality? We have dumbed ourselves down to the nub. Watching the uninspiring Trump rallies, also void of intellect and reality, I see the public lost in the same impotent inspiration. What amazes me are the older, more seasoned citizens, who should have the common sense to know better.
2
Obfuscation? Yes, but it’s so clearly obvious anyway that anyone with their eyes open can see.
If the American public can look at this craven adolescent boy taking revenge on his perceived enemies just because he can, and approve of his character...
If they can tolerate the seemingly endless ways he insults our men and women in uniform....especially the ones with “headaches”... and not be disgusted and ashamed...
If they can listen to his multitude of painfully obvious falsehoods and conclude he is a person of veracity...
If they can watch him using the powers of the Executive in ways that the Founders couldn’t possibly have envisioned and cheer him on because they like a “strong” President who “tells it like it is” and doesn’t apologize for anything, ever....
If they can listen to his constant transformations of up into down, red into green, bad into good...and not stand up on their hind legs, howl in protest and reject this scourge, this blight, this menace and all his toadying henchmen...
Then we are actually lost. Five more years of this? This will not end well.
1
trump correctly determined that lying was part and parcel of being a republican. from the days when that gullible B movie actor arrived in the White House in 1981 and proclaimed government to be the problem and trickle down to be an economic power house? lying has been a way of life for republicans. climate change? deficits? the Iraq war? torture? Obama from Kenya? the list goes on..... trump is much like our national bird, the bald eagle. he eats carrion and opportunistically robs other animals of their kill.
10
". . ..Who, were it proved he lies
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbors' eyes."
Thus William Butler Yeats. I forget who he was talking about.
"The truth is great and shall prevail."
I read pieces like this, Mr. Edsall, and I am profoundly discouraged. One thing sustains me.
Truth (like murder) has a way of "coming out."
It really does. Like sunshine. You may pull down the shutters--fasten up the doors--pull down shades--and put on blindfolds--but still--
--you are (albeit angrily, unwillingly) aware: there's SUNSHINE out there. The SUN is shining in the sky. There's DAYLIGHT out there.
The lies this man has told--incredible! The malarkey, the hooey, the nonsense his fans embrace--incredible. I have often reflected on that verse in Revelation, speaking of--
--"whosoever loveth and maketh a LIE."
I don't (in all honesty) see how Mr Trump and his zealous, blinkered followers can keep it up forever.
I think there will be--there MUST be--a reckoning. Somehow. Sometime.
And when it comes--when the sky falls in on all the despicable falsehoods and distortions Mr. Trump--and his GOP enablers--have encouraged and manufactured--
--watch out, world.
You'd better watch out.
It'll happen.
It must happen.
It will happen.
1
The liberal bubble/echo chamber says that Trump lies.
From outside, it looks quite different.
6
Mr. Trump is a liar in many ways but, unfortunately, the mainstream media lies as well. Just in a different way. Remember the focus on the Covington Catholic students and how they were racist Trump supporters?? That disolved pretty quickly but the media hasn't bothered to correct it. The complete distortion of Mr. Trump's comments about Charlottsville is another case in point. We are told all of the time that Hunter Biden did nothing wrong - Joe told you so. The problen for the Democrats and folks like Mr. Edsall is that there are a lot of intelligent people who happen to support Donald Trump. Not for his personal charachter traits which they dislike but rather his policies. Similar to the support for Bill Clinton by Democrats ignoring his glaring charachter flaws and directly lying to the nation and encouraging others to do the same. But they supported what he was doing.
5
Mr. Edsall,
What exactly is your goal?
To warn us
Or to depress us to the point of hopelessness.
For over a year now, every week you write a piece about just how formidable Trump is. In so many ways that it's mission impossible to beat him.
And always have the "sound" logic of academia to backup your thesis.
I have decided to stop reading more of your dispiriting articles.
For my own sanity, of course.
4
I'd like to know why Sheryl Sandberg, who was so big on "leaning in" is so quiet, as it relates to Facebook's role in the campaign. How much more do she and Zuckerberg need to add to their bank accounts?
Shame on both of them.
7
Sadly, Trump is representative of the people who voted for him. Or, at the very least, representative of their aspirations. Lying is is just one element of the transactional nature of his presidency, along with bullying, name-calling, and many others. Calling Trump supporters “deplorables” is insulting and unnecessary, but pointing out that the person they support is deplorable is not. Facts, truth, reality. Are we really so naive to believe these ever mattered? Our minds are wonderful adaptations, allowing us to create beautiful narratives of the world around us. Who are you to tell me that my narrative is false? Deep down, aren’t we all solipsists?
2
There have always been and there will always be, the gullible. The Dems were still able to retake the House. Trump’s base will largely stay in their bubble. Independents, disaffected Republicans, and voter turnout are the remedy.
1
Thomas Edsall's informative columns are one of the best things in the Times. While most journalists sit around parsing the results of the New Hampshire primary and reporting on the horse race for the Democratic nomination, Edsall's column today urges readers to consider a much bigger and more disturbing picture: conservatives aim to destroy independent journalism and replace it with partisan opinion. President Trump lies blatantly and aims to destroy the very notion of truth. Too many voters are unable or unwilling to distinguish truth from falsehood, and condone lying if it conforms to their political views. The rise of social media is transforming politics from top to bottom and eroding our democracy.
318
@Chris Rasmussen
Almost half the population is below average in educatiion/intelligence/morality.
The radical right GOP disinformation scheme and media like Fox and Breitbart did not create this reality to any real extent, they only recognized it and exploited it.
When the wealth of the top 1% of the population surpasses XX% percent of the remaining population, with each billionaire (owning $1,000,000,000 or more) , equivalent to 1,000 millionaiires (with $1,000,000), combined (Yes, combined) how hard is it for them to control 50% of the population), each with hardly $1,000 in the bank??
It's a cliche, but fire must be fought with fire. If you dismiss the truth, forever rue your past and your future.
Of all the politicians on the stage, it looks like Mike Bloomburg has all the qualities to fight this war of words and actions.
16
@Chris Rasmussen I suspect the world has always been this way at different levels, but social media has enabled it exponentially. As bleak as things look, I believe that people of character are tired of this carnival show and will end it with an intelligent president who has integrity. I hope it happens in November.
11
@Chris Rasmussen Unfortunately, publicly traded news outlets must add shareholder value by competing for eyeballs. Which items are chosen is often frightening to behold. You don't need to be a Sanders fan to notice how completely he was excised from reportage for most of the 2016 race. I'll read at least 4 different takes on the same "story" to begin to feel informed.
3
This is starting to infect business. I'm at a private equity firm that is all Republicans and Independents. When we talk to avowed Trump supporters, we find ourselves questioning whether:
- They can distinguish the (market-based) facts needed to succeed.
- They will lie to us.
6
There is no formal apparatus in place for our beleaguered K-12 education system to teach philosophy, psychology, or media literacy (digital or otherwise). Our schools may be focused on STEM education and “21st Century Skills” but without philosophy, psychology, or media literacy and an appreciation for reading literature, we will slip into a Blade Runner world while continuing to live in the creepy social media behavioral conditioning fueled universe of Conway’s cynical “alternative facts.”
3
For me, the question is, what has happened to so many, millions, Americans that they actually don't even care about the truth and will tolerate only that which they want to hear? We have almost half this country completely rejecting facts and reality, which is why Trump is so popular with them. We know this because what they have tolerated, even cheered, in Trump, they would have absolutely slammed and condemned in an Obama, Clinton, etc. So, they are not operating on facts and what is in front of them or on any principle other than defending Trump a la a cult leader, and partisan warfare for the sake of the war, not fighting for any actual thing. Trump is merely exploiting that. When the POT was the GOP, it created this monstrous mentality of millions of American, namely by pounding into their heads that liberals and Democrats are the real enemy.
4
I am not sure Mr. Edsall is saying this, but I know what every center left person reading this article will say: 'both sides are to blame, each side is equally culpable, isn't this terrible?'
If so, it would be a gross misreading of this article. There is one problem here, it is Trump and his acolytes. The cause is also crystal clear to me, but I cannot talk to the center left because they think saying "what do we really know?" in face of evidence is what makes them intelligent.
Plain and simple to me that republicans are not happy about the America in which they find themselves, almost entirely in terms of its racial composition. The notion that anyone other than whites (and males) are in charge, or benefiting, is so hideous a reality that they will accept a strongman who will redress this wrong. In so doing, he will - with extreme prejudice - plain subdue, beat up, squash, imprison, expel, cage, deport, disenfranchise whom he wants, and do exactly as he wants.
There is no equivalence in the center and left. What is on the center and left is moral and intellectual fecklessness that fails to recognize the coarseness in the American psyche, and the reality in which their tools and weapons are useless. There is no moral or intellectual equivalence here of any kind.
2
Useful as Edsall's analysis is, what Trump does is obvious: he tells lies that feed his low-information supporters' pre-existing prejudices.
People who know better, like Republican Senators and the right-wing chattering class, amplify his lies out of cynical self-interest and fear. Fox News makes millions and millions of dollars providing a platform for Trump's operatives. And the super-rich, who do not care as long as they get their tax cuts, shovel in the money that fires the whole corrupt system.
Will Trump "win" again in November? Who knows? Predictions this far out are largely self-serving. Only one thing seems certain: barring some massive disaster, it will be impossible to peel away Trump's ardent adherents. They will now always be with us, blinded to reality by Trump's constant stream of lies and their own false read of the world around them.
2
I know there’s a lot of factors at play here but it’s hard not to blame the internet for this. The downside of unfettered information far outweighs the upside. Imagine a 1000 page book where 999 pages describe cures for all the worlds diseases but one page contains a plan for a doomsday bomb. Should we open that book?
1
"Alternative facts are becoming a reality"?? For whom?
2
All of this states the obvious, sometimes, in arcane language.
The essence of Trump is fraud & blind obedience, in a faith-based crowd that 'wants' to believe; the essence of his reach is fakery. The tool and channel is social media and one giant lying network called Fox. Finally, there's a cadre of pathological liars who've been groomed & hired by Trump to be in his periphery at the WH. High State officials are now hacks. The press conference is dead. Kellyanne is the poster-gal of prevarication and spin.
The problem is that traditional media actually cover this deviance, as if it's a source of somebody's truth. "Their Truth." The small-d democrats have to shake off their lethargy, even their politics, unite over party lines, and fight fire with fire.
1
We are living in a moment when the US president and nearly an entire major political party is actually repeating Russian propaganda and defending Putin for his 2016 attack on our democracy. Let that sink in. Now add to that that the targets of this president's wrath and the AG's own abuse of his power are all Americans, including public servants, and for no reason other than they displeased the president. We ARE a banana republic.
6
My 401k has soared under Trump! So has my IRA and stock account. TRUMP has my vote
3
Here in Central Ohio I experienced the polarization of reality. A local TV network posted on FB the story of Lt. Colonel Vindman's exit from the WH. The post elicited comments from viewers. I noted 45 honors and pardons convicted war criminals and dishonored the decorated Lt. Colonel. I received both likes and laughing faces. MAGA support my post as laughable, a joke, no big deal, and nothing to get serious. Same reality, widely different reactions. What is disturbing for many is a big laugh for many others.
72
@craig80st If you keep reading news and posting on FB, you are part of the problem. Stop enabling social media.
7
@craig80st Like how I made a comment on a news story this morning the four prosecutors retiring over Trump and Barr (further) corrupting the DOJ by trying to influence the sentencing of Roger Stone. A MAGA cult member responded with, "LOL. Gullible people are so Goofy." My response to that was, "Isn't it gullible people who fall for con men?" with a GIF of a mirror. It is astounding what Trumpers find funny, their total lack of self-awareness, and their sheer hypocrisy in roundly backing in Trump that which they would roundly condemn in a Democrat. Hence it being a cult. No actual objective principles, just blind allegiance to the leader.
30
@craig80st
The president was well within his right to get rid of the colonel, whatever his background. He serves at the behest of the president and did not serve him well in testimony before the Trump-hating House.
2
And Edsall shares the responsibility for giving column space that’s whisky-washy to a President with echoes of other tyrants. The Republican Party also gives him cover because McConnell holds the power of the party to not change the law by not passing legislation but to alter our future through neo-Conservative judges for the next generation.
One has to suppose that Edsall is fine having corporations determine the law rather than citizens because that’s essentially what he is constantly supporting, though why he thinks that corporations can determine morality and ethics has yet to be proven. Indeed, the morality of corporations doesn’t exist beyond making a profit as efficiently as possible.
1
The Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
1
The US is becoming more and more like Russia. Oligarchs govern. Politicians subdued.
126
@Hans
I can't help being reminded of the line in Octopussy by the Soviet official: "My government categorically denies the incident ever occurred."
We're getting there.
85
@Hans
Russia?
America is becoming more like Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Remember Baghdad Bob?
The Trump surrogates and members of his administration are the same as Baghdad Bob and Tariq Aziz.
9
@Hans Trump is using his BFF Putin's playbook on how to become a dictator and it seems to be working brilliantly thanks to the help of the Republican grifters.
7
This analysis totally misses the point. Everyone, including Trump supporters, knows that he is bending the truth. But that is all part of the show that they enjoy: knocking down the moral superiority of the establishment. P.T. Barnum grew rich as the masses paid him to tell them outrageous lies they knew were not true. But what fun!
189
Trumps supporters think of him as a comedian who brings them comic relief with his imitations mimicry portraying his opponents as caricatures and name calling them.
Comedy channel has already desensitized the audience to foul language exaggerations and twisting truth in the name of humor. Trump just does that as Chief Comic.
22
@Robert
His evangelical base is trained from childhood to believe everything their leaders tell them, even when it conflicts with the evidence in front of their faces. It's called biblical inerrancy.
66
@petey tonei
Agree. Liberals need to learn to not overreact every time.
There also needs to be some kind of long-term strategy for coaxing lukewarm Trump supporters into caring more about truth. Help them recognize the underlying tricks, and the problems that result from ignoring it.
17
Yes and facts, distortions, and lies are woven together to form preferred realities. I recently had a Trump supporter tell me on Facebook that the impeachment was "invalid." His reasons were 1) that the full House had to vote before the hearings began; and 2) that we have "3 co-equal branches of government" (true), but that that meant that the House was "obliged" to go to the courts as part of the impeachment process (untrue and not Constitutional). He got quite angry at my ignorance, but of course neither 1 nor 2 is actually true. The full House has voted in the past, but the Constitution simply leaves it to the House to decide on its process. Still, these two points were his "facts" and his proof that the process was invalid. Can't talk to folks like that because for them reality is whatever they want it to be.
399
@Anne-Marie Hislop Not quite. The question of where and how the limits of executive privilege and Congressional subpoena power (duly exercised) collide remains unanswered. There is the inconvenient fact of Marbury vs Madison wherein the Supreme Court declared itself the arbiter of the Constitution. This is a Constitutional question the House didn’t have political time to answer.
See how everyone’s facts are suspect?
6
@Persnickety
Not quite. Your constitutional question was answered in 1974
United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683. Check it out. It will be a real eye-opener for you.
46
@Persnickety Wasn't Marbury v. Madison Chief Justice Mashall's first case and has many questions still questioned, as you suggest? Still a tough one. Yet in the case w/Trump, he will always take the part of the King, I am the king, therefore...And yes, the House felt they had to move. And yes, Trump refused all witnesses, papers, and so forth to be submitted. Then the GOP yelled during the trial how unfair it all was while they allowed the Senate to vote no to all the above. Business as usual w/the GOP. And Trump.
18
Trump has the momentum and the resources going into the election. His base is rabid and the economy is stable, which contributes to his leading position. He won the Electoral College in 2016 and as that was successful then, the same should be true in 2020. Unless there is a major faux pas (which would really have to be a doozy) his support will not diminish among his supporters. With or without Bernie Sanders, the Democrats will be painted as socialists (if not communists) further instilling fear among voters. Yes, the lies and other misinformation that will be commonplace in this election will sorely test American Democracy and the Republic for which it stands.
2
The generations that came before us had seen it all and after two world wars in short succession with a depression in between they put all sorts of measures in place to avoid those situations from reoccuring.
Both Republicans and Democrats share blame for chipping away at those laws which worked very well to keep hate speech and capitalism in check. Most of it happened in the '80s and '90s: repeal of the fairness doctrine, Glass-Steagall, failure to regulate and enforce antitrust (leading to e.g. $100 internet, Boeing, 40% of the airports have one carrier dominating majority of the flights, ...), deregulation of commodities trading leading to companies like Goldman-Sachs controlling the aluminum market, ...
Societies and markets need to be managed and protected against their worst impulses. The libertarian reality in the US today is causing the country to spin out of control.
We need to make a hard shift to the left to save our country even if the winners in the Darwinian economy, including a lot of the readers here, have trouble accepting it.
3
I call it military-grade PsyOps. Having a friend long ago who become victim to a cult, I saw how difficult it was to come back from something that originally enthralled, energized, promised, and defined her. How to wake people up to their own moral compasses, to see for themselves how far things have gone off?
449
@LD My thoughts too. A dear friend 'lost' her son to a cult over 30 yrs ago and I often regard that experience when thinking about what has happened in my own circle of older voters. Yes, the young man 'returned,' was essentially kidnapped, but was not the same person, nor could he have been. Neither is his thought process today a clear one. Prestigious university graduate, successful provider and still not quite balanced.
How to shake anyone loose from this hold on an alternative reality is a monumental task. And when a large percentage of our population has succumbed to a 'leader' who plays with their minds, I really don't know.
What I do know is that my experience with the reality of this mind-power frightens me beyond what we've seen in our country to this point in our history.
Military PsyOps. Perfect description.
111
@LD
My feeling is that it will be only a massive natural disaster, or a nuclear detonation somewhere.
That will keep us all busy for awhile.
Other than that, the cult is lost forever because they love being lied to and fantasy is comforting. Then there is always spite and racism.
69
@LD
I'm trained via work in PsyOps and OpSec (I don't wear a green suit, but work with them) and have always thought that Trump's tactics were psychological warfare techniques. It's obvious to anyone trained to spot it.
I avoid social media due to work "sensitivities" but notice the change in thought processes of friends who swallow the "news" fed to them via those platforms.
Hard-core Trump supporters don't even know that they are compromised by PsyOps, as discussed in the article. I used to be empathetic to the psychologically uneducated, now I just think they're compromised so much that I want them watched.
It would be funny if not so serious.
77
With the current administration, I think of most political news as dangerous to my brain and its ability to analyze and so limit myself.
I trust a few well-respected media sources. I also sometimes look at the western European media. They are less likely to be taken in by Trump's propaganda.
But it is key to limit your exposure in these toxic times. No political TV.
3
Quit burying the lead in false equivalency blather, New York Times. We're not talking about "different" perceptions of "reality" here; we're talking about Republicans using disinformation dissemination as a political strategy.
It isn't that "Democrats and Republicans 'hold different views about policies and what should be done to address different economic and social issues.'" Trump is actively leading a campaign based on disinformation and using Breitbart, Fox, Sinclair, and other conservative media outlets
to preach to his true believer choir.
Speaking as a public high-school teacher, I refuse to accept a new normal of "alternative facts." There is such a thing as evidence-based consensus based on measurable, proven information. Please report the story properly and call the liars out.
386
He has a machine created by the Right Wingers to create fake news, and to destroy reporters perceive as enemies. The GOP, the White House, partnering with Breibart, creating a myriad of fake grass-roots social media organizations. They have the money and the drive to destroy who is perceived as the enemy.
3
Dump has already won. He and his venal minions have transformed this nation into a Kingdom. He won’t be leaving the White House except in a box, because he will respect neither election results that go against him nor term limits. Like any bully, he respects nothing but brute force. Unfortunately, because his only real stratagem is to vilify any opposition, truth is not relevant. His supporters only care that they feel they have won and their opponents have lost. All means justify that end, so honesty is abstract. Nothing matters but a sense of supremacy born of overcoming nebulous and generally non-existent external forces bent on humiliating and keeping one down. Everything is reaction to grievance - a more powerful motivator than friendly societal ideals. Most unfortunately, the desperately needed opposition to Dump is falling into the greatest trap by reacting to his stratagem by employing it. They may be more honest, but they are aiding in the diminution of the importance of truth.
Maybe the problem today is that the public is over saturated with too much news and opinions on a minute to minute basis.
Many people, including me, say the New York Times is the most reliable news outlet. However, many other people say that Fox News is "fair and balanced", and therefore the news outlet of choice. Sounds like a toss up. So Trump wins because he uses Twitter unfettered, lying as much as he wants.
I don't Tweet. However, I know everything Trump says because his Tweets are carried minute by minute by major news outlets as Breaking News!
In the end, Trump wins, with his lies out there, for everybody, even those who read and listen to major news networks and read newspapers.
1
Im sorry, alternative facts can NEVER become reality, it is an physical impossibility in the universe. Facts are facts and are based in true reality, all others fail the test of time, another proven fact.
1
I've wondered over the years what I would have done if I was alive in Germany in the mid-1930s. I like to believe that I would have sacrificed my freedom and my life to try and avert what (I know now) was coming. After reading this morning's news... I wonder if I no longer need to wonder.
Fascism is here. It has arrived wrapped in the flag and carrying a bible just as Sinclair Lewis predicted almost a century ago. The only question left in my mind is what am I going to do about it. Am I willing to sacrifice my freedom and my life to save the country I love? Something tells me, I'm going to find out.
15
@Degobah Smith - I know what you mean. I feel like I've awoken in a nightmare.
Since Trump was elected I have been avidly reading memoirs and historical accounts about how people survived fascism, including Holocaust survivors, the resistance, those who resisted and fought and put their lives on the lines. They won their battle, ours has only begun.
1
Mr Edsall's excellent article brings stark reality into focus, turns truth into question, and the place in which we find ourselves into a rapidly increasing state of doubt....More, please, Mr. Edsall....
The power behind Donald Trump's politics is explained here very clearly. As he usually does, Mr. Edsall writes a scholarly piece that will appeal to a select group of readers. I believe that the power of Trump's distortion of reality, his assault on truth, will continue to be successful especially in the face of clueless opposition from Democrats, who believe, in disturbing numbers of voters, that turning our economic system upside down through socialism is our future. Third parties never win but we need a third party promoting common sense.
3
I've been voting Democratic since 1970, and has been said frequently before, I've never seen anything like this. Is there a real civil war coming? Will that be the only way out? The trouble is, Republican voters have many more weapons, and while Vietnam showed that more weapons may not win the day, millions of Americans could die or be wounded. This may sound far fetched, but as a combat veteran it is beginning to seem more an more possible. Then, of course, there is Trump as President for life.
4
I sure love my medical plan. Plain old cold remedies are now so expensive they are under lock and key in my neighborhood pharmacy. They're not prescription drugs so they aren't paid for by drug plans.
1
@Steve Bolger -- They don't lock up cold pills because they're expensive. The only cold pills that are not available on the shelf are the ones that contain pseudoephedrine, which is used to make methamphetamine. Other cold pills are available on the shelf, and generic brands cost as little as $5 or $6. Also, if you have a Health Savings Account you can use it to purchase over-the-counter medications.
11
@Ms. Pea: Here in New York City, the versions that do not contain pseudoephedrine are locked up too.
Combine the fervid support of the Bernie “bros” with the potent data and analytics of the Bloomberg empire and what do you have? A coalition/unity ticket that can defeat the monster that is Donald Trump. Separately neither can win. Together there is the possibility that our democracy can be saved. We can argue all the finer points relative to each man’s strength and weakness. Or we can unite to defeat the Autocrat before it is too late. The clock is ticking down on our country.
14
How about we turn the media glare away from Trump at every opportunity instead of having six analysis pieces in the Opinion section on any given day ? In many ways, the actions of the GOP are not worthy of exacting analysis anymore. It's clear what they're doing. It's clear what Trump is. His actions now are designed to demoralize the opposition. When the NYT contimnues to cover them and spend intellectual energy on them, it is participating in those same actions.
21
Actually, what we need from the media is more coverage/commentary like the story today about veterans not getting healthcare (for any reason); and requests for comment from Republicans who insist they support coverage for preexisting conditions. Where is the legislation they have passed?
8
Actually the media should quit covering his rallies. The audience always appears to be the same. Maybe the GOP pays them and sends them to 45’s rallies by the bus loads LOL
1
I have heard from people who believe that Trump is a problem but equivocate on whether or not he unfit for the presidency. They say that his enablers are also a problem. They say that all politicians are corrupt root and branch, that there are bad people on both sides, and that Trump is merely the symptom, not the cause. To me, this represents Americans shirking their responsibility as democratic citizens. History has shown that many societies would rather delegate power and control to a single, powerful leader than shoulder the burden of maintaining democracy and its inherent instability in the hands of fellow citizens. Trump is a pied piper. Democracy is hard, but worth the effort.
15
The Trump ethos--lie until the lie takes on a form of "truthiness"--is a symptom of our imperiled democracy in this hyper-mediated age. The founders of the country, those men who came together to draft the Constitution, tried to imagine the pitfalls democratic governance might someday face. They thought the impeachment process might assure a "colonic" flush of the system to restore proper balance when, and if, corrupt men assumed mantles of leadership in government; so in a way they predicted the eventual arrival of somebody like Trump in the White House. What they didn't (or couldn't) imagine was an internet age when banal disinformation and malicious lying could be instantaneously weaponized against the institutions of democratic government itself. Nor could they have foreseen the toxic confluence of a shameless liar working hand in glove with a cynical career politician like Mitch McConnell to hollow out the protections of our government institutions to pave the way for the kind of virulent authoritarianism the Republican Party is working so feverishly to construct for our future: a minority rule in perpetuity.
8
Fear of the "other" goes in hand with ignorance and both work nicely with the chauvinistic impulse of "Make America great again", these plus the pathological lying, the egomaniacal self, coupled with the "victim" syndrome" make a perfect package for a president to the adoring trumpists.
I am no sure that even the massive cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and the rise of health insurance will affect these people. To me it's more like a never seen before "secte"of millions ready to give all up for the saintly "guru"
6
Mitt Romney is the last Republican in Congress. Power, not the law, the facts, morality, nor civic norms, matter to Mr. Emoluments & his Trumpublican grifters. Trumpublicans dishonor the Constitution, the rule of law, & have abandoned republican principles. Gaslighting & thuggery are all part of Trumpublicans tools of the trade.
An historic Blue Wave that retakes Congress is our civic & moral responsibility.
Until then investigate thoroughly, & impeach repeatedly.
7
Like many articles of this sort, no examples of the President’s supposed lies are offered.
5
@Thomas Whitney
Even if that were your interpretation of this piece, the author specifically cited and linked to the Washington Post's fact-checking results were you can acquaint yourself with the more than 16,000 false or misleading statements made by the President.
8
@Thomas Whitney - Here's a list of Trump's lies. So far, there's over 15,000 of them. Enjoy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/16/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-over-days/
2
@Thomas Whitney
Thomas, it's easy to find all 16,000+ lies well documented online in the Post if you take the time to look. I hope you will.
3
"Conservatives have been complaining — with some merit — about a liberal slant in the press for decades."
There's your issue Dems, and it won't ever, ever get fixed until YOU on the left confront liberal media bias on your own.
To Trump voters EVERYONE on the left is complicit in media bias and most won't EVER vote for a Democrat until it is vanquished. Take it from someone familiar with the utter ridiculousness of Anderson Cooper, Jeff Toobin, Jake Tapper, Jim Acosta and especially (to the hundreth power) Rachel Maddow.
9
@Jordan
Yes, the rise of Fox News, AM Hate Radio, and the dozens of right wing think tanks have spawned a counter-reaction from the "mainstream" press. This is a good thing, as otherwise the tyranny of the minority would have already been in full power by now.
7
Great insight and analysis of the societal changes we are witnessing by the invasion of Trumps amoral and self serving practices. It’s OK to lie as long as the end justifies the means.
Its enough to give most Americans real nightmares about the direction of our democracy and our country.
As I watch the disinformation machine in total disbelief I wonder why the mainstream media, including the NYT doesn’t alter its practice and use the word “lie” when it’s appropriate to describe the intent of the POTUS?
Merraim-Webster is pretty clear on the definition of a lie.
1 : to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive
2 : to create a false or misleading impression, something that misleads or deceives
Instead headlines and pundits strain to give Trump the benefit of the doubt; “misrepresents”, “falsely claims”, “changes direction”.
Even the Washington Post tracker conflates lies, and false or misleading claims to report Trump’s 16,241 transgressions. While his backers dismiss any concerns saying “all politicians lie”.
There is no counter balance to Fox Faux Facts conglomerate.
Time to start calling out the blatant and disturbing distortion of reality perpetrated by Trump before it becomes normalized. Our democracy relies on our free press and the importance of a well informed electorate.
Waiting to frame the first headline from the NYT to call it like it is.
5
Trump's supporters, overwhelmingly white, believe his lies because they fit their own dim thinking on race and other issues.
Trump has unlocked the closet door for all the crypto-racists who hid during President Obama's years. Never forget that John McCain, Mitt Romney, and, of course, Donald Trump in 2016 carried white men and women across the board.
With 67% of the electorate white, and a few key states again determining the 2020 election, there is no way the Democrats will win.
It's not about overall popular vote remember! It's where whites can dominate enough to push a few states in the Trump column, just like 2016.
7
In essence, Trump’s immoral conduct, racism, misogyny, bullying, tearing asunder of the Constitution, mafioso family and cohort of WH miscreants all appeal to the hitherto rarely seen grotesqueness of the underbelly of American politics. Now, it is the focus of support and admiration of millions. Sinister, bizarre and dangerous. Good luck to the USA and its, now failed, experiment.
12
Really, a 78 year old self declared socialist is going to be the Democratic candidate?
4
@Sue Dear Sue, It sure looks like it.
I know many people who are not Pro Trump but are absolutely disgusted with the current Democratic platform and topics they discuss. These people are not right wing and not even very attentive to the daily political news coverage. The positions held by Democrats is the issue more so than they have" Alternative Facts". They will never support Healthcare for illegals, voting rights for prisoners and open borders. SO where do they go?? They won't ever support Socialism as a topic of discussion. It's a waste of their time. These are very reasonable people whom I see in my normal work days and travels. Democrats should ask themselves if Trump is so obviously unfit what must the Democrats be? More unfit I guess.
4
@Fred They will never support Healthcare for illegals, voting rights for prisoners and open borders. SO where do they go??The first place they should go is a place that doesn't spout all the misinformation you just quoted.
1
No one is supporting “healthcare for illegals” or “open borders”. You are sadly misinformed. As are your so called educated friends. Voting rights for people who have paid their debt to society (especially for breaking drug laws that we now see as unjust) are just helping people exercise their constitutional rights. This is a popular position.
I recall the Joseph McCarthy era, when millions of Americans believed that that esteemed Senator was indeed ferreting out Communists beneath every rock and pebble -- nutcase that he was. Truth was never further from the truth.
So fake news is not breaking news now. The difference is how fast the lie travels, how well it's manipulated -- and how we have a president and his support group who can weave a master web of deceit, disgust, and dissembling.
Democrats (I'm one) remain fearful of playing hardball against the mafia of Republican 'Dons" who will do anything to keep winning. We don't have to lie, cheat, and steal -- but we have to do more than be outraged, insult the opposition, and moan about unfairness. Waiting to vote isn't enough -- we have to find ways to resist, to undermine, to organize creatively, to market strategically, to implement far more powerfully. And so far, I submit we haven't even begun to counter the ugly success of the Trump machine, which will run right over us again in a few short months.
10
"A large segment of the American electorate has come to tolerate, and in many cases to willingly accept, politicians who lie. Double talk is key to Trump’s governing strategy."
The reason so many Trump advocates don't mind his lying, and why they have come to not trust the media, including this author, is the willingness of that same media to buy into the rhetoric of Barack Obama and to never call him out on his lying.
I don't remember a single heated editorial excoriating "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor". When health care costs went up for most (paying) Americans, where was the fact-checking against Obama's claim that we would all save $2500 per year ? And no one questioned Obama's claim that the alternative to his Iran Deal was war with Iran; Trump just blew away Iran's top terrorist and Iran blinked.
The media's fascination with Trump has gone overboard, and many Americans are simply tuning out the media as irrelevant.
6
@G
Yes, Obama lied a few times, like all politicians. The false equivalence here is that Trump is just like that. But with over 10,000 lies to his credit, you know Trump's in another league, bigly.
110
@W 10,000 was almost a year ago. He's at 17,000 now.
4
@W
The point is not whether Trump is a bigger liar then Obama.
The point is that by condemning Trump for having a bad hair day, and by not condemning Obama for major policy “fibs”, the Times and other liberal media have forfeited their credibility.
2
For all those who thought there was no difference between voting for Trump or Clinton.
For all those who thought that Trump would be content with the sword dance and red carpet trappings of power while the GOP kept him in bounds.
For all those who thought William Barr was a sound choice for AG.
For all those who thought a Trump triumphant in the impeachment trial would be a Trump chastened.
For all those who thought their nibbling away at the foundation of law and justice wouldn't bring the building crashing down on everyone's heads.
For all those who thought 'it can't happen here.'
For all those thinking sitting on their islands of money, in their cloud of privilege, or in their faith bubble, will save them.
For all those who think their purity tests are still a priority in 2020.
Guess what.
9
The GOP has been based on lies for many years.
Trickle Down Economics
Cadillac driving welfare queens
The Laffer Curve
WMD
Alternative Facts
Russia
the list goes on but just pick out the big ones that have had disastrous consequences for this great country of ours.
9
Attack, attack, attack! With truth, near-truth, and not-quite-true, like Bloomberg is doing.
Trump is going to take your social security.
Trump is going to take your Medicare.
Trump is going to pave over your National Parks.
Trump is going to drill in your back yards.
Trump is going to attack YOU and yours, even at the slightest hint of disloyalty, even if you’re a military hero, a patriot supporter of America, a multi-generational AMERICAN from a foreign country. (you can give lots of examples)
Trump is going to take your job as your company or farm crash because of tariffs.
Trump is going to make it illegal to worship at your church unless it’s one he favors.
Trump is going to savage regulations even if they protect you from plant explosions or evil financial schemes that cheat you out of your money.
Trump is going to pardon criminals, but won’t pardon you even if you’re innocent.
Trump is going to take your taxes and pay for schools that won’t let your children in.
Trump is going to take away your disability payments if he doesn’t like you.
And countless others. Continue the bombardment. A new theme every day. Put him on the defensive. Distract him.
Fight unfairly like he does. Americans have proven their lack of ability to deal with subtlety.
15
@Grey Trump and Republicans are actively chipping away at your healthcare coverage on several fronts.
If it's true, is it still 'attacking'?
1
This ongoing distortion of “reality” proves to me that I was correct in my observation that with the election of Donald Trump the nation had fallen down the rabbit hole. We are now at an unending Mad Hatter’s tea party.
197
@Rick Heilman
And it IS disorienting! Also wearing. Exhausting.
10
@Rick Heilman
Despair is just another GOP voter suppression scheme.
Stop the madness.
Vote Blue No Matter Who.
9
Talk about transgressive advocacy -- your conclusion that a "vociferous left cadre" will guarantee a Trump victory is a breathtaking presumption, i.e., lie.
4
How helpful would it have been for the press to have called Trump a liar instead of the pallid headlines we were tortured with for over a year. It would have been helpful if the legitimate press refused to normalize Trump and Stephen Miller and Kellyanne Conway and others. It would have been helpful if the press denounced FOX in clear terms as a propaganda tool with anti-democratic intentions replete with lies and manipulation. Today’s page one headlines do not reflect the truth, but carefully waltz around Trump’s degradation of the DOJ in favor of his degenerate friend Roger Stone. Where is the story reflected and the truth revealed? Does the NYT understand the seriousness of this violation? Obviously it does not.
Would that “The Polarization of Reality” becomes required reading by the editors and staff of all news outlets. There is no time left for David Brooks, or Bret Stephens to regal us with Nuclear Family blather. America needs stark opposition to Republican and Trump efforts to crush the Constitution and the Law to establish a Unitary Executive dictatorship.
16
I am always impressed by Mr. Edsall's well-researched and thought-provoking articles. However, in this case I fear he is tiptoeing around an ugly but true fact of American politics: Donald Trump and his followers are fascists, period.
To anyone who disagrees or think this is exaggerated, consider the following definition and description and tell me where I'm wrong:
Fascism:
1: a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control.
Merriam-Webster.com
Fascism is an authoritarian or totalitarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy. Fascists believe a nation requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war to keep the nation strong.
• The common elements of fascism [are] extreme nationalism, social Darwinism, the leadership principle, elitism, anti-liberalism, anti-egalitarianism, anti-democracy, intolerance, glorification of war, the supremacy of the state and anti-intellectualism. . .
• Ian Adams, Political Ideology Today, Manchester University Press , 1993.
15
Trump's lies are not as persuasive as his manner of telling those lies, the pompous authority with which he delivers them, the brimming outrage that make his lies sound not only plausible but necessary. His passion is not governing; it is acting, entertaining, holding a live audience or a TV audience enthralled by his full-blown theatrics. Forget about the streaming services: America is about to entertained by a Trump extravaganza, the greatest political show on earth.
144
@William
The Condescension with which he utters the lies. (As if all-knowing. As if anyone who disputed him were nothing!)
18
@William Yes. Like a professional pickpocket, distracting your attention until the crime is done-- picking not just your pocket, but your health, healthcare, even ability to live on the planet!
Will voters notice before the election, or only after, when they can do nothing about their empty pockets and failed health?
12
@William Amen. And who better to identify with theatrical morality than Evangelicals?
13
this has been decades in the making - the slowly boiling frog is now dead.
6
What is real, valid and true? These are the questions we often ask ourselves and discuss with family and close friends, but we seldom ask in public or discuss with acquaintances.
When a candidate speaks, listeners hear the same words but listeners receive different messages. Listeners act on the message they receive. When Trump speaks, his core supporters, Republican leaning voters, Democratic leaning voters and the Democratic cadre all hear different messages. The message received reflects the ideas, belief and values of the listener. The actions that voters in each of these broadly defined groups hear determine the vote the each voter casts.
This is not a new phenomenon. It has always been true in American politics. Voters are never really united and their choices reflect their differing beliefs and values. Sometimes events and circumstances are so overwhelming that voters unite behind a candidate and a party and ignore beliefs and values that would be polarizing in normal times.
That happened when the Great Depression united voters behind FDR and the Democratic Party. It happened when succession and the Civil War united voters behind Lincoln and the Republican Party.
Today's environment seems polarized because events and circumstances do not threaten the lives and fortunes of most Americans and their beliefs and values determine their votes.
@OldBoatMan Actually, today's events and circumstances really DO DIRECTLY AFFECT ALL AMERICANS. Noone gets out of the systematic destruction of plants and animals the Trump administration accelerates. How many voters thlnk they can live with megastorms, fires so big and long they leap highways and create their own weather, loss of pollinators like honeybees, butterflies, moths, etc.? WILL VOTERS NOTICE?
Lying works because people prefer lies to inconvenient and uncomfortable facts. Fox News has spent 25 years saying what people like to hear and skewing away from the truth. It's called "propaganda" for a reason and a lengthy, turgid column isn't needed to explain it.
Our system is a dynamic equilibrium, supported in mid-air by powerful forces in conflict, like a magnet defying gravity. If any of those forces is disrupted, our Democratic Republic is in danger of falling. Rupert Murdoch, the religious right, and ridiculously rich corporations have been working to destroy that equilibrium for their own ends. And they ALL lie to do it! Murdoch's "Fox News" and his papers ALL lie and bend the facts to his ends of destroying liberalism and social welfare.
The religious right is so dogmatic they INSIST America is a "Christian Nation" in defiance of the founders, and push to install their own "Christian" version of a Taliban, or a modern Inquisition.
And the tycoons and corporations? They just want to be able to make money any way they can, without oversight, or "inconvenient" laws--that hasn't changed in 300 years from Parry and Blake's "Dark Satanic Mills" to the Deepwater Horizon horror.
This vulgar, thieving, scamming, lying, angry, misogynist incompetent feeds all that.
11
Bloomberg will take care of Trump and send him packing to Mar-A-Lago permanently come November, and reestablish truth and honesty at the same time.
13
@ManhattanWilliam Yes. Imagine you're richer than you ever thought possible, you can do anything - -- but you stop what you're doing to save the world from evil? Who does that? Only a good guy.
Here are some of my favorite sources of “fake news” that shaped my distorted perceptional lens of our current condition: “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America,” by professor Nancy MacLean of Duke University and “Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America,” by professor Kathleen Belew of Harvard University. Based on my readings of these texts, the billionaire libertarians have cynically captured the crude racism of the white power movement for their scheme to neuter American democracy. Good job thus far. Trump is their most recent success. Tomorrow, complete control of the Supreme Court and a rewrite of the Constitution. To see how this scheme fits into a global context, “The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America ,” by professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University, describes how Putin’s Russia has pioneered the modern use of disinformation for authoritarian purposes. We will see its full deployment by the Trump campaign this election cycle. Just call me delusional.
172
@Bubba Brown
Don't forget Professor Krugman's analysis last week of the alliance between Trump and the billionaires: he would give them tons of money, and they would protect him from impeachment..
16
@Bubba Brown Not delusional, just well read. These books are a real revelation and it is a pity that none of the writers who do Op Ed pieces seem to have read any of the books you list, and you are right: they tell everything that’s been happening but Americans don’t like to read. Too many Americans resent knowledge and agree with Trump’s notion of “going with your gut.” We all know what the end product of going that way will be.
21
@Bubba Brown
Read it and weep: Dark Money by Jane Mayer. It's a terrifying investigation of the time, money and brain matter invested in taking down our democracy.
Some days, it's hard to stay optimistic. Today's one of them for me.
22
Post modern relativism has prevailed: you have your truth , I have my truth. Who's to decide? Relativism is even infecting math and science. How can anyone be surprised that we have controversies like "this is the best economy in US history" v. "this economy is only working for millionaires and billionaires".
I continue to be amazed when I see and hear a politician give a speech and then watch the wildly different MSNBC and FOX interpretations. It takes hard work for a citizen to figure out what are the actual 'facts'.
3
“the Trump campaign and the right generally are determined to discredit and vilify the media:”
This is definitely a key feature of Fox News. Everyday on their website there is an article about hypocritical or stupid “Liberal Journalists”. The ladies of “The View” seem to be one of their favorite targets. Coupled with the their ability to spread misinformation quickly (No, Speaker Pelosi did not break the law by ripping up the speech) through repeated postings in other media, this is an extremely effective tactic in convincing people that only Fox News speaks the truth.
13
Liberal bias in the media is one of the main causes of this phenomenon.
If you can't trust CNN to report "just the facts" but instead cloud their reporting with biased opinions disguised as analysis, you start to view all media extremely skeptically.
And you start looking for alternative points of view.
Mainstream outlets should try to reclaim the center for the good of the nation.
Finally, the last bastion of free thought is the internet itself. Be wary of any attempts by political parties to regulate it for their advantage.
6
@Mmm Nope. Mainstream only means not willing to tell the lies the conservatives are so willing to tell. Don't believe me? Go on a mainstream site and count the number of conservative leaning vs liberal leaning articles. Mainstream sources usually ARE balanced (and actually sometimes even lean conservative).
All news sites do make room for opinion pieces, but Fox obscures these and is more willing to pump conspiracy theories. On the other hand, NYT has quite a few very conservative columnists, as does CNN.
1
Let’s be honest here, Fox and the right have weaponized this over the past ten years. In my observations, the left certainly inject bias, while Fox just makes stuff up.
Truth doesn’t live in the center.
2
It's all about who is more clever and persistent in constructing and controlling the narrative. Fact checking and trying to correct the record of a fabulist will be a loser every time. Truth is simply another selective strategy, to be used only occasionally, when it has no downside.
3
In a word, the honest brokers long ago left the stage of the American public square, if they were ever to be found. What's left is the likes of Trump, who's taken conventional lying to an absurdist theatrical extreme, and the old guard no long comprehending why their own lies no longer play (in the age of Trump).
Traditional institutions, corrupted as they are, can't offer a corrective. Who would go to the either the American Enterprise Institute or the Center for American Progress for the truth of anything -- much less to the talking heads of mass-market media?
Modern politics and merchandising created Trump. It was only a matter of time before that movie got made.
4
During Trump's government shutdown, meaning to express sympathy to someone who had been laid off by a government contractor just after Christmas, maybe before—I forget which—I said something about how unnecessary it was. His reply was "Yes, they had to go and politicize it." He meant the company. I of course was criticizing Trump's insane politics. The gap between us was so huge I was speechless.
4
This op-ed makes some good points about the decreasing relevance of objective facts and the political process.
But unfortunately it does so from a nakedly partisan, anti-Trump perspective.
Where are the parallel anecdotes about Dem politicians stretching the truth or lying ("if you like your healthcare plan you can keep it")?
At least the quoted scholars do point out one immutable truth: the growing leftward slant of the mainstream media.
This op-ed is more evidence of that fact.
That Trump is willing to take on the mainstream media head-on is one of his main attractions to average Americans.
10
I had to laugh at the statement about Dem’s lies ‘if you want to keep your insurance...etc’. It is the only lie the Rep’s can find. Trump lies dozens of times in each speech!
39
@Stuck on a mountain
Come down from the mountain. If you like your medical plan, you can keep it, and the vast majority of Americans did. Most americans get healthcare through work, medicaid, medicare and the VA.
Cheap minimal coverage policies that were effectively worthless were outlawed and everyone who had those was required to buy meaningful cover and in most cases received high subsidies to change. In red states, this meant an increased costs for thos epeople because the GOP governments in those states refused to implement the ACA. In most blue states, democrat controlled governments implemented the ACA and those people got significantly better and cheaper policies.
But hey, don't believe the facts, go with KellyAnnes alternative reality, or Sarah Palin's death panel theory. if that helps you rationalze your political stance.
What part of Fox is left slanted, by the way? Hannity?
165
What is really stretched here is your interpretation of what happened. Yes, you are correct, Obama said that people could keep their insurance if they liked it. The difference is that when it proved to be incorrect, Obama stopped saying it. When proved incorrect, Trump doubles, triples etc. down until one doesn’t know what Truth means anymore.
To instill a lie, Truth must first be shattered. And it works as it can be seen right here.
27
You cannot lie if there is no accepted version of truth. From Pontius Pilate, through Aquinas, Descartes, to the current postmodernism that rejects the possibility of reliable truth, "what is truth?" remains a valid question. Even science is not much help here; for example, we do not know what gravity is, we can only describe its effects. Since modern academia has abandoned any pretense towards seeking "truth," or even a commonly accepted version of it, I find it humorous that they are complaining about politicians who deviate from "truth."
6
I don’t understand why the pivot to “vociferous left cadre.” Are those so-described not truth-tellers? Are they manipulating reality as Team Trump does? Is there a vociferous left in Wisconsin that’s motivating a right-turn?
4
@Jazzmandel
According to a book I just finished reading ( The Fall of Wisconsin by P. Kaufman ) the Republicans started this experiment involving turning the middle class against one another, union busting and the like, back in 2008 in Wisconsin - once a Progressive bastion - as a test case for the rest of the country. Scott Walker and Paul Ryan seem to have disappeared off the political stage. Wonder what’s “cooking” in Wisconsin these days? Hm-m-m?
2
“Republicans and Democrats (as well as Trump and non-Trump voters since 2016) view the same reality through a different lens.” The fact that this is seen as some sort of *revelation* 3 years into the Trump Presidency tells you all you need to know about why The Resistance will lose again in '20.
8
Lying works primarily on those who are/choose to be ignorant and wish to stay that way. We must hope that independents and frustrated moderate Republicans, who are still using some common sense, will flood the polls and vote for a Democrat in November.
29
@Gordon Alderink
It also works on those who also conveniently lie or lack self awareness.
But your theory does not apply to both parties. Trump supporters willingly accept his lies. Democrats do not have the same religious idolization of candidates. They also challenge candidates for prior statements, even if not lies. Watch how Blumberg's taped comments with regard to stop and frisk and minorities impact his campaign. Democratic voters will not tolerate outright laying or alternative facts.
Why are Republican voters different? Because Trump's core supporters are motivated by hatred- racist, sexist, homophobic and religious bias. As long as Trump continues to preach (and their support is truly a religion) hatred by adopting policies that attack race, sexual identity, sex and religion, his followers will accept any level of dishonesty or misconduct. His attacks on immigration, medicaid, welfare, disability, religious freedom, civil rights, affirmative action, LGBTQ rights, etc. have racial, sexist, homophobic and religious undertones.
Republicans accept alternative facts because they are not motivated by truth. They want America to be something it is not, and has never been- entirely White, Christian and Straight.
142
@Disillusioned
Also, a significant percentage of conservative really like to have a "strong" leader to follow. It relieves them of the task of thinking.
37
@Disillusioned, You have presented the truth to us in a way the Democratic party will not for the old PC reasons that will never expose the truth.
2
@Disillusioned
Back in the early 1970s when I was a long haired hippie type, I was "stopped and frisked" for drugs more times than I can remember. Why? Because I fit the profile of a drug user. Did I like it? No. Did I understand it? Why, yes I did.
I am a die hard liberal by the way and not even an Independent but a Democrat all the way. But I am really turned off by cliches about the underlying racisim of stop and frisk. The vast majority of crime occurs in ghettos and this is where we need to have fairly agressive policing. Can one really fail to understand that?
6
Well, the thing is -- and I'm not entirely sure they're wrong -- Trump supporters feel that a little corruption and downright lying are not only convenient but are actually NECESSARY to rid the ether of the ills which they believe prevail. In short, a little bad is necessary for a lot of good. Depends on how bad you think the bad is, and how crucial is the good.
7
RE: "Trump defies norms of political correctness by telling his backers what they firmly believe is the truth — their truth — about race, crime and immigration."
If that has a familiar ring to it, it because nothing has changed for Trump. He is a real estate developer. And there is an old adage about developers that has born the test of time: "A developer will tell you what you want to hear in order to get what he wants." It has played out at countless planning boards, town meetings, and city councils.
Trump even told us he was liar and a manipulator in his in book when he justified it as "truthful hyperbole" which was OK as long as it got what you wanted.
I just don't understand why people aren't upset about being tricked, used, and lied to. I have just come to accept that there are a whole lot of people like Trump in our country. To them he is a hero that validates their questionable morals.
28
People need to be educated about this president who lies, berates and insults every day. That starts with social media and the internet. He has been unleashed by the Republicans in the Senate. We only had Senator Romney who grew a spine to convict him on one count. The blank check he now has from the spineless Senators who acquitted him will help defeat them politically in November. In the meantime the liar in chief is unleashed, free to condemn, fire or throw in jail anyone who stand in his way. He is determined to win and may very well do so because of all the lies spread on social media and the internet. On top of the Senate he now is using the Justice Department for personal protection. What other government body will bow to his tweets, whims and needs? The man who sits in the Oval Office is an Emperor with no Clothes who is afraid. He is afraid of losing in November or losing both houses of Congress because should that happen he will go to jail. What better way to avoid that than to subdue your own Justice Department. Congress needs to act quickly. Impeach him again?
9
He's not gaining any voters. His base has not expanded. My 8th graders see right through him also. I turned him off years before he became president*, so his lies don't affect me whatsoever.
I voted for the winner in the 2016 election. This guy is doing all of this while in the minority.
We will be fine.
7
But, thankfully, your 8th graders can’t vote. The problem with teachers/professors is that they teach kids that Democrats and Socialism is the way to go. Why not teach them about conservatism.
1
This reminds me of the concept of Maya, as illusion. You are walking at dusk, when you see a snake nearby. You jump. As you focus more, from a safer distance, ah, it's just a piece of coiled rope. But it felt so real, even though it wasn't.
3
Know-how is what it takes to run the complex world.
Now-how is what it takes to simply ruin it.
Danged if we ain't gotta case of the I-Alone fix. Banana nation, alienation contagion with no containment by the truth. Exceptionally not exempt from the T brand of illiberal incivilities.
We expected this 2020 campaign to get ugly. Now we are off into the 1930s stage of anxiety and apprehension of what the demagogue has yet to bring.
6
Democratic anti-Trump ads have been pulling their punches.
Trump keeps betraying America to Vladimir Putin, on account of the billions that he owes to Russian oligarchs.
But most Americans are not aware of this, particularly if they just follow Fox News.
What is needed as the election approaches is a saturation campaign in social media and cable tv, accusing Trump of treason, with multiple video clips of him apologizing for Putin and endorsing the Russian narrative on Ukraine, election hacking, etc.
If you want to fight with Trump, there is no way to keep from getting dirty.
40
As a social scientist, you probably already know that this election is all about digital presence, the loudest wins the race. This is something obama campaign made full use of in 2008 and the Republican Party especially the Trump
Campaign has taken it to a totally different level.
Mr Trump successfully communicates with a large swath of the population which includes his followers, additionally those he converted, lawmakers of both parties (one slavishly the other just to keep an eye on him) and the media which includes journalists talking heads pollsters political pundits TV radio print media.
On NPR we learned yesterday that Don Trump Jr flags posts by media that are negative about Trumps. These flagged items are then vetted by brietbart who then conducts their own dirt digging on each of the reporter or journalist who has posted the column or article or comment. Then these media members are singled out for ridiculing and bad mouthing through the conservative channels.
It is appalling and tragic that we have sunk so low. These supposedly Christian people are breaking all commandments about telling lies furthering gossip and doing so without Shame or remorse.
24
"Coppins cited a July 2017 speech at the Heritage Foundation by Matthew Boyle, the Washington political editor of Breitbart:
The goal eventually is the full destruction and elimination of the entire mainstream media. We envision a day when CNN is no longer in business. We envision a day when The New York Times closes its doors."
This is the most depressing piece I've read since the election kicked into high gear. I've known for a long time that the president is a master at creating alternative versions of reality whereby he's a saint, not a sinner, and everyone is out to get him. But that it's growing worse, not better, is chilling.
When stuff is abstract, I get as hysterical as the next person. "if re-elected, the president, yada yada" is my internal insurance policy that it won't be that bad.
But reading that the free press may actually be shuttered year turns my blood cold. All the more reason to campaign as hard as I can for the Democratic nominee.
37
@ChristineMcM
If you think CNN amounts to the "free Press" instead of a ridiculously tilted left wing propaganda machine (Jim Acosta anyone?) then you don't watch near enough CNN (or MSNBC).
1
We must hold fast to the fundamentals of humanity. We must love and have compassion, embrace community honor and truth, protect and serve the home planet and all on it. We must easily and cogently speak about these, as Democrats as well as human beings.
The madness we face has come from decades of decline for so many Americans. That is all of our faults; with Republicans leading due to their multiple tax cuts for the richest and abandonment of the less fortunate. 'How you treat the least of mine is how you treat me' (Matthew 25: 40-45).
Yes, we must talk straight about immigration limits, gun rights and limits on abortion (including access to effective contraception). We can also talk about the rights of immigration, the limits of gun ownership (AK-47s and such) and helping stop 'unwanted pregnancies'. Stop being such babies about these issues. Stop being as dogmatic as the ruthless right-wing.
And, focus on housing, health care, jobs, Social Security and deficits, inequality, infrastructure, neighborhood health, parks, climate, air and water quality, etc. Focus.
Then, relate the lies and corruptions of Trump/Republicans/Russians. These have united. The trolls and bots and haters and sewers of disinformation come from this source. Connect the dots for people. Trump's talking points against the democratic Ukraine are the same as the dictator from Russia. Right?
We can come up with 50 real and despicable points on what Trump's said and done. All horrible. Remind people.
8
I think many of us are prone to believing mis-truths that support our prejudices. Of course anti-abortionists and racists believe it when their candidate says he has improved the economy. And how many climate deniers believe the rantings that the Democrats are socialists ? One's ideology picks one's candidate, and the "facts" are massaged to rationalize, one's choice.
1
Democrats are unfortunately still locked in a pre-Trump world, believing that everyone thinks elections are fair, that they hold the same regard for democracy and the rule of law.
Republicans wised up decades ago and realized they could use religion, false platitudes, and fabricated social divides to control the masses, long before the rise of social media and targeted advertising. Activist judges, the party of law and order, compassionate conservatism, ordained by god, Pizzagate, George Soros the bogeyman, Rush Limbaugh’s Medal of Freedom. How many can you name?
Republicans will always preach comity and bipartisanship while sticking a shiv in your back. The democrats need to wise up to this.
18
@T. Rivers yup the rules of the games have changed and the games themselves have changed. It is not democrats are not wised up to reality it is that they still wish for civility decency truth dignity kindness courage grit empathy compassion..to prevail. They still wish we can behave like humans with humanity in a humane manner. They are tired of wars battles enemies whereas republicans are always cunningly thinking of ways to get total control. They wish to convert the entire country and in Trump they have found a marketing tool. Through his tweets and Q-A with press personnel trump poses to be the most transparent president yet telling lies does not make transparency less sinful.
5
Trump is ready but not waiting in the wings. The democrats are making noise with even the third place finish of Amy with 55,000 votes and 6 delegates in NH while Trump won all the 20 delegates of the Republican party with 120,000 votes, 50,000 votes more than Bernie the winner of the Democratic party while Bill Weld getting zero delegates and only 10% of the Republican votes cast in NH.
What do the results of the NH primary say? Republicans are united behind Trump and the Democrats are divided between the socialists Bernie, sort of centrist Butti and Amy with Bloomberg waiting to blow Dems all out of the water with his billions of dollars worth torpedo. Enjoy the victories while they last. A storm is on the horizon and self destruction of the Dems presidential contenders is on its way and maybe that is what Trump could be waiting for.
3
I will never understand why “Fox News,” the most watched cable network, is not considered “mainstream news.” But left-leaning/centrist news stations and publications, are. The most confusing and dishonest media culture point.
As to the reality of this piece, well, of course. This is what you get when certain Americans - mostly white and male - have never had to deal with the reality of themselves and the country. MINOR progress made for other groups and somehow, certain people believe — despite all the evidence to the contrary — that something had been taken away from them. These groups were never forced to reckon with the past or the future and its reality, instead they were coddled, and are still being coddled all under the guise of “not being politically correct.”
Give me a break.
The lies perpetuated by Fox News, even prior to the ubiquitous disinformation on the internet, was transformative. The FCC should have shut them down a long time ago, alas, here we are...with “their truths,” far removed from THE TRUTH. Some of “their truths” even ignore the bleakness of of their personal circumstances. All for what? To maintain a racial hierarchy?
I’m not sure how the country can continue like this in unison. There is no “common ground” to be found when I say 2 2=4 and you say 2 2=3. Indeed, we’re already manifesting the realities of an Orwell novel. If that’s the United States’ future, the fall of its empire is sure to be spectacular.
4
@MMB : High time for the US to cease and split up.
Why not just say what everyone knows? If Sanders is the nominee Trump wins. If it's moderate candidate Trump will lose. Sanders hasn't expanded the Democratic electorate. Sanders will split the party in two. Moderate suburban voters will not vote for Democratic Socialism. Ever. Independent swing voters will hold their nose & vote for Trump. Sanders has contempt for the Democratic establishment & intends to eviscerate them once elected. The DNC will not co-operate in their own demise. They will try to undermine his campaign in ways both large & small as they did in 2016. Sanders has demonstrated time & time again that he doesn't have the temperament to be POTUS. Last year he called for giving incarcerated felons the right to vote. The Boston Marathon Bomber kills three people, maims & injures 280 more. Bernie’s concern? That he gets his absentee ballot. What will be the reaction when Sanders travels to swing states with Michael Moore & he tells women’s underrepresentation in Congress a form of “gender apartheid.” Or when AOC, says in Texas, “I’m here because Senator Sanders has actually committed to breaking up ICE.” Sanders' codependents are writing the GOP attack ads. Insane. If this election is about kitchen table issues: jobs & affordable education there's no way we lose. If it's about Medicare for All & more illegal immigration there's no way we win. We can win with or without progressives. We can't win without swing & centrists voters. Common sense tells us this.
15
In other words, for Trump supporters, his lies are tolerated because the ends justify the means.
6
I'd like a competent panel of shrinks to determine to what degree dictators, wanna-be dictators and those who long to be ruled by dictators are burdened by daddy issues.
4
The other day, an interview was on TV in the rugged Northeast with two fisherman friends, one a Trump supporter and one not. The Trump supporter said Trump was an honest person but for an honest person, he sure does lie a lot. Herein lies the problem which allows false information to take hold.
This is not an isolated reaction. Trump supporters confuse honesty with sincerity. They see Trump as telling it like it is. They see him as genuine. Trump is viewed by his crowd as lying but they don't care because they believe that Trump believes what he says. They consider that genuineness.
This sincerity of following false beliefs is what motivates them to excuse Trump's lies. They themselves are fed the same diet of misinformation from Fox News and want validation which Trump then provides. The Trump supporters want to believe in the existence of the Fox News world. It preys upon their own fears and disdains and hatreds.
Trump is then the great validator. He is their compatriot in their false beliefs. This motivation causes them to not be the least bit disturbed by Trump's lies because.......He tells it like it is.
7
Too much credit is given to Trump when it seems that the disdain for Hillary was just as much of a factor in the ‘16 election. Add to this that whatever the attrition rate is for voting Americans who have deceased in the course of four years will be replaced by what were teenagers as young as 14 in the past election are never mentioned as a deciding factor. Those two factors alone are enough to sway the voting public to hand Trump his hat. There is no need to panic. I love the liberal media and relish my NY Times subscription but the media is in the business of selling newspapers and tv airtime. Think about how much ink Aids got when that story broke and how little it is mentioned now that a cure has been found. Those sort of stories seem to just fall to the wayside while the boogeyman man Trump dominates until he is no longer relevant.
Could it be that a Republican President finally pushes back on the deep Liberal bias in the media and our education system?
And yes ( you ) people don't like it.
2
@Joe Paper because the radical rejection of humane, honest, rational and civil behavior is neither “conservative” nor “traditional” and leads to tyranny. You won’t like that, either.
4
@Jazzmandel Donald Trump was a Democrat for decades. He was adored by liberals, Hollywood, and Democrats. Once he became a Republican The destruction of a person And his family began. Donald Trump has been in self-defense mode ever since. Can you really blame him?
1
While many of those who support Trump are very opinionated, those who most strongly oppose him are seriously mentally ill.
The 16,000 or whatever lies by Trump blah, blah will never take hold outside of the bubble of elitist media consumers who contribute to, frequent, and gather at columns such as this one. Trump is a showman exaggerator who likes to say things are big, biggest, the best, really good... When "fact checkers" say "he lies!" it was only the second biggest/best, normal people roll their eyes and understand Trump's point about the media. The real statistic is that never Trump media has tried thousands of times to reverse the 2016 election and every time they do a move Trump a little closer to reelection.
@Daphne The 2016 election was already reversed - Hillary won; the electoral college reversed it.
@Randé
The President is elected by the electoral college in the USA. Perhaps HC should have used a different stagey that angling for the NY and CA vote.
This is one of the best commentaries I have read in a long time. And it is terrifying.
7
I don’t think I remember and data on how many registered voters who actually vote regularly use Twitter or Facebook ... in my small sample of 5 voting friends, none use either ... anybody know the datum here?
Wow. I actually remember the days when Jimmy Carter famously said - "I'll never lie to you.". It was such a big deal that it is still remembered to this day. He never did as far as we can tell and no military died in a war during his administration. Now all we have is lying and constant war. Think about which party brought us to this state of things.
4
Reading this it seems that truth, justice and the American way are doomed and trump and the GOP can never loose because America now believes all they make up and blast out. I believe there is a big piece missing, that not all America watches FOX or Breitbart. That some of us are informed and can tell right from wrong. I believe the glass is half full, not empty, that the majority of America can spot a film flam man.
3
Trump consistently ranks well below 50% in terms of his approval ratings. I strongly believe the only reason Clinton lost in 2016 is that enough voters didn't want Hillary to go down in the history books as the first female President and so they either stayed home or voted for someone else.
There's a lot of time between now and November for the economy to tank, for geopolitical realities to change and/or for Trump and the GOP to say or do something that discourages even more voters. There's always going to be a percentage of people who, existing on a sole diet of InfoWars, Drudge and Fox News, will never vote for a Democrat. There's no point in expending energy in that direction.
1
Trump has weaponized “lying” so successfully among his supporters and with the complicity of the entire Republican Party that he no longer feels any obligation to even fall back on half- truths- the bigger the lie the better is his current MO on any subject and there seems to be little the Democrats can do about. The only thing that will save us now is record numbers at the polls no matter who the Dem candidate is. And that is no lie.
3
Trump realizes that he must win. He either keeps the con going another four years, or finds himself without the shield and his many wrongdoings will become fat files in Prosecutor's offices, with endless investigation. He has to win.
Now, what you think, and what I think, really is meaningless. This election, like the last, will rely on a small group of swing voters in battleground states. We on the East Coast may disparage them as "flyover" but the fact is that the Presidency will be in the hands of a small bunch of folks who, in the face of what has happened these last 3 years, are still, unbelievably, Undecided.
Individual-1 likes to surround himself with adoring crowds, but the folks who will make him our first President for Life or keep him out of office aren't in that room, either.
People like Barr are more dangerous. They DO know better. They DO understand how it is supposed to work. They work to destroy it.
9
@Casey Barr is an extreme Catholic, member of Opus deo, the secretive organization of the church. Their aim is to keep women down and get more money for the church. They want an all male society, all white, and all extremely religious but only for them alone. Look at the WH today.
Even more than all of this, what horrifies me is a brief conversation I heard on NPR yesterday about whether the Democratic Party should adopt a general disinformation strategy in the spirit of fighting fire with fire.
Politicians have always lied. That means Democrats too. But there’s still a chance to control the horrendous conflagration that the Trump Party—they aren’t my late parents’ Republican Party—has lit. If Democrats seek to control that flaming depravity by lighting their own counterfire, though, they’ll be torching everything.
1
So, is sum:
--If you've got an agenda, the end justifies the means. Doesn't matter if you lie like a rug to pursue your agenda.
--We've reached peak Deconstructionism. There are no facts, just competing alternative "versions" of "facts", and which ones have supremacy at any given moment is all about who had the power and better presentation. (Although I think the original Deconstructionists would be aghast at the uses to which their philosophy has been put.)
--Anyone who still insists that there is some sort of objective reality apart from weaponized agendas will get rolled over, and will deserve it for being so stupid about the way things work (very much in keeping with the Randian view of the world the oligarchic libertarian power mongers who most gain advantage from all this).
3
You know when truth will matter? When something like Chernobyl or the Corona virus hits the US. It's just a matter of time.
6
I wish I shared your optimism.
1
What I gleen from this op-ed analysis is, the Republican politicians are a pack of liars with Trump at the top, and his millions of supporters recognize this but are ok with it because it supports their beliefs.
So, they live in a world of lies, and alternative facts. Just great, we have now entered the world of dystopia.
Better get out there and vote this November.
6
The yellow journalism of yesteryear is back. The lying alt-right opinion media, Alex Jones and Limbaugh are poisoning our news stream. There is so much change going on in our country and the rest of the world. It is scaring millions of people. The problem is that the cynical and the ignorent have joined in a loose coalition to undermine so much that is good. Many feel that there is something wrong, manufacturing down, health costs up, Black Americans being shot in our streets. The bully right is shouting their bigoted solutions. We need practical solutions from people with a positive vision for our country. I pray that a good, true leader will win the Democratic primary and we march forward together.
4
The good news is that our digital dystopia will soon be annihilated by the looming environmental catastrophe.
1
At the moment it sure looks like "retro backlash" has yet to run its course. A lot can happen in 9 months, but where is the Democratic path to 270? If Sanders is the nominee, there's no realistic path to get him there. If someone else is the nominee, a big chunk of Sanders supporters will either vote Green, vote Trump, or stay home. We have to start coming to terms with the distinct possibility of a Trump with four more years and no restraints whatsoever on his behavior.
A second trump administration will drive me out of my country. As a second generation American whose grandmother spoke with an eastern European accent I know too well the bravery needed to leave one's country for a better life. That better life was America. Where is that better life today?
7
While not invoking whataboutism, there is plenty of disinformation on the Democratic side as well. It is an article of faith on the left, and continously foster in the media, that Trump colluded with Russia or Putin to win 2016. This is patently false yet it has completely penetrated the mindset of the left. It is undisputed that Hillary's campaign actively funneled money to Russian operatives to get the Steel Dossier content, this is never mentioned. Medicare for all will cost nothing or pennies a day is floating all around. Certainly that cannot be true.
3
@Mkm
Where do you see claims that Medicare for all will cost nothing or pennies a day? Stop gaslighting. It should be obvious that it will cost a great deal, but that by replacing private insurance and its costs, it will likely have lower net costs. The candidates have already explained this.
10
@Mkm
The special counsel documented what was in many cases in plain sight anyhow: about a dozen dozen—not a repeated-word typo—instances of the Trump campaign eagerly, and despicably, embracing help from the minions of the Russian tyrant. Stop spreading disinformation.
So many disconnects that it's hard to know where to begin. At home I find amongst friends, family and the business community a significant level of integrity, honesty and responsibility. Indeed, I believe the trust that follows shapes our relationships into a healthy culture. That these values are so abused in DC, by the GOP in particular, is extremely disheartening.
6
I much prefer a politician who lies about he size of his inauguration crowd to one that lies when he tells me if I like my doctor I can keep my doctor.
5
@Thomas Aquinas
So, I guess you also prefer a politician who tells you he will protect people with pre-existing conditions, while he and his lawyers are actively seeking to destroy those protections in the courts. One who pledges to never touch Social Security and Medicare, and has already done so, with plan to cut much more after the election. One who promises to release his tax returns, but doesn't. On and on we go. If you read the article, the right wing, including Trump, seek to "weaponize information," and to obliterate truth. This is way beyond telling a lie; it is living a lie, and convincing others to do so.
29
@Thomas Aquinas How about one who lies about keeping in provisions for pre-existing conditions? About "best economy ever", when much of the middle and definitely lower classes are working several jobs just to pay the rent?
No comparison. Your boy is pathological in the extreme.
4
If only it were about inauguration!
2
No matter what the Marquette poll shows, and they have been wrong before, the Democrats won both state wide elections in 2018.
We defeated a two term Republican governor and re elected a lesbian US Senator. Both Republicans ran as avid supporters of Trump.
The essay that describes hard core Trump supporters as racist and xenophobic is true. In addition Edsall could have added misogynist and homophobic. This 30-35% of the electorate have been waiting for a Republican to speak and act the way they do for decades.
They will stick with Trump though thick and thin. But Trump's Achilles Heel is suburban, educated White women who usually voted Republican. Trump's overall disapproval rating among these women is 64%.
That is why I am hoping for a woman as the Democratic nominee.
53
The emerging Trump/Sanders face-off reflects a polarized extremism that is the result of America's post WW II unity fracturing under the weight of a long standing political status quo that has left voters on both sides of the aisle dissatisfied.
In exploiting this extremism, politicians on both sides will resort to more truth destroying "means-justify- the-end" tactics, democracy being destroyed from within.
Edsall's column today is a strong argument for a Bloomberg candidacy. The former mayor is the only citizen who has the financial wherewithal to match or exceed the Trump war chest.
Additionally, Bloomberg is quietly building an extensive campaign infrastructure that is heavily invested in cutting edge uses of digital media, target marketing and multi-channel advertising that no other Democratic candidate is even close to mounting. This shouldn't be a surprise; as a business executive in media, Bloomberg has years of experience promoting his brand across financial, business and global audiences. Put another way, Bloomberg is every bit a match for Trump's evil genius, Brad Parscale, who takes great pride in teasing Democrats for being in the Stone Age of campaigning.
Finally, Bloomberg knows Trump's vulnerabilities. They were once colleagues in NYC, but as Bloomberg saw how Trump ran his business, he soon concluded that Trump is an outright fraud.
Clearly, should Bloomberg become the nominee, the Republican/Trump disinformation campaign will ratchet up to defcon-5 levels. But that ignores the very real possibility that Bloomberg will have already invested in a campaign plan that will hammer home the inescapable fact that Trump has been the worst President in history, bar none.
In other words, Trump is by no means invincible, should Bloomberg rally the Democrats and the nation to kick Trump out of the White House.
39
@PaulB67 "The former mayor is the only citizen who has the financial wherewithal to match or exceed the Trump war chest."
While I agree with you that Bloomberg would be a strong candidate against Trump, the truth about the "war chest" is that Hillary raised and spend more money than Trump in 2016. Your view about Trump's war chest shows that you too are living in alternate reality, this time one created by the Democrats.
Trump did not win because of his money and he was not elected by Putin. Trump won in part because a lot of Americans are terrified of the "holy and self-righteous progressives".
I do not know if you are one of them but there are many in the Democratic party who will not allow conservative speakers to speak, who do not want our immigration laws to be enforced and who do not want voter ID so that non-citizens, of whom there are many, can vote.
2
@Ludwig
You are partially correct. However, Trump also won in part because a lot of Americans believe that they are the only true Americans and the "holy and self-righteous progressives" aren't. And regarding letting conservative speakers to speak--I don't feel too sorry for them, because they seem to be reaching the vast majority of the country via AM airwaves, Fox News, and Sinclair Broadcasting. The pervasive power of AM radio cannot be underestimated. Finally, please provide the evidence for significant numbers of non-citizens voting as a result of no voter ID.
12
@PaulB67
You did a fair recap of the points sheet handed out by his campaign staff. Just try to hide its source a little better in your next comment, maybe mix up the order.
1
Unfortunately, a disinformation campaign designed to appeal to fear and self interest will outperform one appealing to our better interests, community and shared future. Sigh
10
The question is not whether Trump will win the 2020 election, of course he will. The real question is whether Trump or one of his children will be the Republican nominee for the presidential election in 2024.
Ivanka for 2024 is not too implausible. America will finally get its first woman president. The liberals will be so happy!
5
@A Cynic
I believe a real cynic would say the question is whether there will *be* a presidential election in 2024.
24
@Marie:
Yup, that's my concern too. I'm even worried about the 2020 election.
9
@A Cynic
Trump won't win 2020.
He's terrified of Bloomberg no matter how much he denies it.
Ivanka? That's a hot one. When Trump leaves she be giving tea parties at her new home - Mar A Lago.
5
Perhaps neither side projects truth with clarity. Undeniably, as quoted in the article, journalistic integrity is dead. (On both sides.) Unfortunately, the opposing views do not agree on the problems. With both sides very adept at using their distortion of facts to advantage. Being less-educated by the present cast of academia is not necessarily a detriment to critical thinking. Do not underestimate the conviction and/or intelligence of the Trump voter that the NYT's editorial and viewpoint writers consistently denigrate. They are equally committed. And in any type of confrontation would most likely prevail. The road to social tranquility is to continue polite discourse and search for commonality. Other courses are counterproductive at best.
5
@R: Michael Bloomberg owns his own news network just as Rupert Murdoch does.
1
This article shows that the political system itself is faulty. Trump discovered the ingredients to undermine it and take advantage of its biases for style over substance and tribe over country and in the lack of civic engagement in the population as a whole. If the Trump presidency is to have a silver lining it must be a reckoning that the system itself needs to change to ensure probity, competence and accountability sit at the heart of governance..
4
@Miguel Valadez: US politics hinges on name recognition and money.
Trump v. Bloomberg will be a contest of Titans.
5
Well, I'm quite sure the democratic candidate is also sufficiently ready to combat whatever Trump has up his sleeves.
7
Well a "a vociferous left cadre" is there. It is not going away. It is vociferous and more often than not on target. Timid complaining accommodating corporate friendly left center columnists are also there. And they aren't going away either.
So here we are.
But no matter what they do and say they will be characterized as a vociferous left cadre. I hope they grow into that misperception and it becomes real. Not as a "cadre" but as an important force for deep and fundamental change.
8
Politicians have been saying what ever it takes to get elected for some time. “A chicken in every pot”. It doesn’t help when governments are not telling the truth about issues or trying to hide the truth. The gulf of Tonkin, weapons of mass destruction, the cover up of Abu Ghraib or the recent news about our failures in the war in Afghanistan. In this hectic world it is difficult for many to become informed as they juggle the events of their daily lives. The issue is ,can democracy work if the electorate is willing to accept lies and half truths and not make the effort to be better informed.
7
@Vincent Add the fact that Russia never invaded Ukraine and that the Crimean party voted to join Russia.
Only SOME facts about Ukraine are revealed by our MSM, Putin is demonized, and so we have a faux Ukraine crisis which almost led to the removal of our own president.
I am a lifelong Democratic voter who has cast ballots for Kerry, Obama, and Clinton, not to mention multiple candidates for governor, the Senate, and the House, who are Democrats. Heck, I have even volunteered for candidates.
I should also add that I am not voting for Bernie. And as a Pennsylvania resident, I surely will not be the only one. Remember my fellow readers in Oregon, San Francisco, and New England, just because you like Bernie does not mean people in battleground states do.
Bernie will ban fracking- a huge industry here- rid of ICE and eliminate private health insurance, while covering illegal immigrants. He also wants to make it impossible to terminate employees absent just cause. That sounds a lot like France to me, where economic growth is perpetually about zero.
Just like in 2016, when Democrats did not listen to the concerns of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan residents, the same mistake is being made again at the risk of electing Trump a second time.
I hope my fellow readers on the liberal coasts take this post to heart. Bernie’s appeal among moderate voters in decisive states should be a grave concern.
88
@Mark
I second this reader comment. My wife and I (lifelong progressive Democrats) live in a rural Ohio area surrounded by Trump voters. We're only a half hour drive from the northwest corner of Columbus which, thankfully, continues to shift left (as does Columbus proper). But that's not enough. In these rural open areas of the state I can nearly guarantee Mr. Sanders will fail. I personally want Ms. Warren but have very recently started looking at Mr. Bloomberg having the greatest chance of toppling Trump AND doing more good than would a Biden, Klobuchar or Buttigieg. Even among "traditional" conservatives around here.
10
@Mark
As Bloomberg's appeal is of grave concern to many as well.
@Mark As far as France is concerned, I think when a janitor has free healthcare & the entire month of August off, “growth” becomes a less compelling issue.
13
When "propaganda" and untruth are controlled and propagated by a faction and believed by the citizenry, the "government" can do what it likes. This leads to control of the masses and is anti-democratic (the thing we threw off in our revolution). The question is, who is pushing this? A Bannon, Trump, Miller, Barr cabal or the whole Republican party? If this is all true, it appears to suggest, but not prove, that there is a danger to our form of government and a real movement toward Authoritarianism.
The alternative view is that the so called "conservative" philosophy is accepted by enough people, for a variety of reasons that the "liberal" view can be pushed to the side for some time and not be a factor in our governance. But we are close to 50/50 vote in elections and that should demand compromise, which, though not forthcoming, is a political possibility and a flaw in our democracy, but no more than the decades of Democratic hegemony. From the liberal view, this is devastating, but may not be as big a variance as we mourn.
I don't know which is true because of our epistemic crisis and that is distressing.
If we are not in a political cycle and conservatism takes over, what do the those conservative propagandist overlords really want?
3
@William Trainor "conservatism takes over". What is conservatism? Respecting the lives of unborn humans?
@William Trainor What do the conservative overlords really want? Your fealty and all of your money. Abused people often continue to love and support their abuser. So it is with the Republican voters. Perhaps they will come to regret supporting their abusers, but as nearly as I can tell they seem to think that being abused is somehow what they deserve.
1
@Ludwig
When conservatives start respecting the lives of women in general and respecting the lives of those 'unborn humans' once they have taken their first breath, then maybe we can talk...
3
Our political process was dealt a serious blow when the FCC abandoned the requirement of demanding broadcasters to provide real news and public service programming as a condition of license. When ABC rolled the news division into entertainment operations, the idea that news would be a cost and not a revenue source was rejected and this led to sensational and prurient "news" for ratings. The other networks followed suit and Paris Hilton types became news. The innovations of Monday Night coverage found its way into news. Sound bites, polarizing story-lines, instant replay and three or more discussants of opinions sprinkled with factoids became a model for boosting ratings.
When Reagan relaxed the equal time requirement having to do with editorial opinions, the path was set to the situation now, where we have two main streams of editorialized media assembling a vision from their viewpoint. The facts of things become sacrificed to those visions. MSNBC and FOX NEWS are seen as providing news, which they don't, they provide a vision for their fans. Opinion and sensationalism are more important than facts. The "news" media function more and more like hometown newspapers covering their local sports teams, engaging in discussions to appeal to the fans.
50
It is impossible now to have a political discussion about the facts.
The far right laid the groundwork when it generated distrust of the media ( except for its favorites) and distrust of respected fact checking sites. They have managed to make people think they are better informed, more innovative and more patriotic while at the same time guiding them to all parrot the same phrases and have no tolerance for disagreement.
40
@Monica C "The far right laid the groundwork when it generated distrust of the media"
Not really or not entirely. I have been reading liberal media for years and the NYT and WaPo are full of distortions. And one of those distortions is that faux news come ONLY from the right.
The liberal tunnel is still a tunnel.
1
Resentment and Greed are the foundation of successful politics in the United States. People believe that the end justifies the means, and it's ok to lie, as long as it increases money in some people's pockets. Others just resent anyone who went to college and uses that education to try to solve problems by applying "root cause analysis". In other words, liberal thinking. They would rather pay taxes to build more prisons than schools.
74
The label socialism when talking about Bernie has people in such an uproar. Meanwhile our very own president and his soldiers are keen on undermining the very things that make our country great--primarily the integrity of our electoral process. Bernie is not a socialist and out country is not going to suddenly become a socialist one. If we continue down the path we're going with trump at the helm, we will have no choices about anything.
51
Americans might want to re-think the 'brave and free' business. The election of Trump and the state of the Democratic primaries force one to consider – very, very unwillingly – that entirely other adjectives might now be more accurately descriptive of us.
16
"But as both John McCain and Mitt Romney discovered in 2008 and 2012, receiving cash late makes it virtually impossible to catch up in the time-consuming process of constructing a campaign’s digital infrastructure." Yet another reason for the appeal of Mike Bloomberg.
16
In 2016 there was an economic slow down, a mini-recession - but but the Democrats ran on a Great! Economy. and continuity was the most important thing
Now the economy is around 10-15% higher - and the Democrats are saying this is the Worst! Economy and we need to burn everything down.
There is a difference between fibbing about a crowd and fibbing about the economy.
9
Democrats argue that the benefits of the economy are skewed to the wealthy, and there is no shortage of evidence to support this position. Agree with them or not, to claim that they are fibbing could itself be construed as...well...a fib.
46
@Tom In 2016, the Great Recession was winding down. The foundations of today's "roaring" economy had been laid. What did the Republicans, especially Trump, have to say about that? And what are they saying now about this "great" economy? Think about it.
24
@Tom There is no fibbing about the national debt increase and central bank injections of hundreds of billion of dollars. Underneath the balloons is a record sea of debt being sustained by artificially suppressed interest rates and we all what happens when that rolls backwards.
13
"If you like the plan you have, you can keep it. If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too. The only change you’ll see are falling costs as our reforms take hold." - President Obama
Certainly no comparison to Trump, but still.
Facts matter too: historically low unemployment for most groups. Stock market up- this includes pensions for Teachers, cops and fireman, not just those "rich" folks with stocks.
And while I appreciate a good "paper" or "research" from an academic, you can usually find another that supports the opposite argument, so while including them seems to bring weight to your subject, it only shows your bias when you don't include what a contrasting view holds.
Still, IF we Democrats nominate a socialist, Trump's lies won't matter. Because we all know socialism does not work.
6
@profwilliams Oh come one. Bernie is not really a socialist and he's not capable of transforming this country in to a socialist one. The label is so charged and it's just not true. Meanwhile the GOP keeps running up our tab. Let's stop with the labels and talk about what's really happening.
160
@profwilliams
Just two points, as I'm short of time:
1. You've quoted the one statement that Repubs always cite to prove Obama "lied." I think he believed it was so when he said it (people were worried that this was a complete change to the medical system and it wasn't). In any case, It seems to be the only "lie" that they can cite, while Trump's are legion.
2. Let's not use a slippery definition of "socialism" that sometimes means universal health care and other times means Communism. What doesn't work is our current health care system; the systems of other advanced countries do. Drop the labels and look at the results.
31
@profwilliams
Even though comparing Obama’s misstatements to Trumps record of lying is like comparing people who use too much toilet paper to the deforestation of the Amazon, you thought it was worth putting out there for someone to read.
Ditto for Trump’s shameless attempt to claim credit for a reviving economy after Obama did most of the heavy lifting, although rebranding other people’s accomplishments as his own is a familiar Trump trick.
And forty percent of Americans don’t have $400 in the bank but hey, the stock market, amirite?
Socialism seems to work fine for the rich. It’s only working people who have to swallow the line that “...we all know...”
12
It helps if you stick with the truth to make your arguments. The ACA is a massive give away to the insurance industry. The military budget is at least two times bigger than what is needed. The Democrats were captured by big money since Clinton. They need to start telling the truth also.
11
@gene
"... ACA is a massive give away to the insurance industry …"
I agree with your claim. What I can not understand is why all of the GOP politicians who are bought and owned by the insurance industry want to scuttle the ACA?
17
@oldBassGuy
The reason, Republicans are trying to scuttle the ACA, is probably the same reason Republicans weakened and/or obstructed practically everything else Obama wanted to accomplish. It’s the same reason why Trump is trying to erase all-things-Obama from USA history.
There’s nothing new here. Republicans didn’t implement their Southern Strategy and Law and Order policies, back in the 1960s and 1970s, because they believed that we are all created equal... quite the opposite.
11
@gene and yet I know many people that have benefited tremendously from Obamacare. here in CA at least, the stats are undeniable. can you admit that it was the best he could do at the time? even SS was tweaked after its inception to make it what it became. right now republicans are trying to destroy even these advancements in caring for our fellow man. by the way, maybe I am misreading? but the two parties are not the same and do not holds the same amount of blame for the military budget or dark money in politics.
3
It is up to good men who are conservatives to firmly reject Trump’s propaganda, his lies, his corruption, his smearing of political opponents, and his demeaning of our institutions and our free press. It is time for them to show honor and speak the truth. They must chose our country over party, our democracy over partisan politics and power. They must denounce the Republican Party and its leaders for their moral cowardice and endorse totally the Democratic candidates for all offices. They must chose honor over the stench of corruption. No democracy can survive without the highest standards of truth, the rule of law, civility and respect for opposing and varying political points of view.
Our system only works when its leaders have an open mind, and a commitment to cooperate in finding pragmatic solutions to our problems. Without honor and respect, our democracy is lost. The Trumpian method of corrupt governing and his demagogic campaigning are inimical to a functioning democracy and destroy our system that depends on facts, the truth, and a commitment to doing what is right not just what is politically convenient! It requires honesty not disinformation. It requires citizens who have the same high standards and have a love of country and of our democracy that transcends partisanship. It demands that its voters reject all forms of demagoguery and recognize propaganda and disinformation as unacceptable and as the tool of tyrants and would be dictators.
34
@I Please, name two.
As a high schooler at the tail end of the Boomer generation we had a lot of choice in the classes we registered for. Those interested in math or science took a lot of math or science. Those interested in history took a lot of history. Others had vocational classes. Much of this was dismissed as underwater basket weaving. Now as Math science engineering and technology courses are requirements for many/all I wonder if the Humanities have been so diluted that a new effort is required. The timing of the rise of fakery and the diminution of the humanities does not seem coincidental.
184
@EFS : The absence of a solid science and math (notably statistics) foundation is why you have evolution and climate change deniers. After the initial Republican debates of 2012 (where only John Huntsman Jr stated that he believed in evolution), someone pointed out that in Europe, a candidate believing that the Biblical theory of Creation would be laughed out of consideration.
The humanities are important, but need to be complemented by an understanding of the Scientific Method. If you read Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont's "Fashionable Nonsense" you realize that it's the post-modernists who paved the way for "alternative facts". in the area of scientific facts, you can't prove the truth by debate and reasoning that are divorced from observation and experiments.
(The philosopher Hegel made a fool of himself back in 1801 picking on the long-dead Isaac Newton, by essentially claiming that math should not be used in physics, but even today one finds Hegelian apologists trying to find excuses for his folly.)
RE: "The timing of the rise of fakery and the diminution of the humanities does not seem coincidental."
Correlation does not equal causation. NYT, which continually decries Fake News, itself published Amanda Hess's notorious article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/arts/astrology-mysticism-internet.html "Astrology is Fake. but it's probably fine." I guess it's "Do what I say, not what I do".
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@Prakash Nadkarni
Agreed. I do not mean causation. I said coincidence. I mean people's understanding of what is fake. With elevation of STEM more are able to create fakes that are realistic. I believe understanding through history, logic, ethics. etc might help people to better recognize fakes and deal with reality.
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Perhaps a more educated population engenders almost universal skepticism about what is published or broadcast, and a determination to look behind the headlines and gather information from a variety of sources rather than just the morning newspaper or the evening news. Once that happens, the morning paper and the evening news become nice to have but just another source. Isn’t it amazing that in a frenzy to try to knock down these new sources, the traditional media forgets all about its Holy Grail, the 1st Amendment?
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@JPE When there is no effort whatsoever to vet "alternate facts" and active misinformation being peddled by your "variety of sources" we all lose out. What you are saying is that you are looking for sources that confirm your beliefs. That may be great for a religion (or a cult) but no so good for rational thought based on facts and science. Perhaps you can list some of your trusted sources?
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1984 has arrived - 36 years late.
The ignorance of the American people - and their leaders - is frightening. Reading correspondence from 150 years ago in researching genealogy I am astounded at how well informed people were and how involved they were. They believed they had a responsibility as citizens.
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@cynicalskeptic
“Reading correspondence from 150 years ago in researching genealogy I am astounded at how well informed people were and how involved they were.”
That’s an interesting observation. 150 years ago America was relatively young, and the memory of the revolution for independence still fresh in people’s minds. Since then, the citizenry has gradually become jaded and uninvolved in the direction our country has taken. For every American citizen that takes their birthright seriously, there are many more that just shrug and accept the current political events as they are. That’s too bad, because as citizens, we have the power to change this for the better.
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@cynicalskeptic
Actually, for many the egregious acts of the Trump presidency has reignited interest in civics and political activism.
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@cynicalskeptic
Yes, Trump and the Right are using fake news as a weapon.
What can Democrats do? I suggest a new democracy wave.
The idea is to flip Trump's dictatorial, thought control over...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Democrats could use slogans and songs, such as "Democracy." "Democracy is coming to the USA" (Cohen)
They could tease Trump by using his OK sign, with both hands. Trump is not OK. Fake news is not OK. Dictatorship is not OK.
Why not push on Trump, right now, in physical expression?
Why can't the Times write about ways to stop Trump, now?
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
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Dark days indeed.
The fourth estate has to figure out how to fight back, and not with the clickbait headlines and reality-show-esque premature suspense that is afflicting the Times’ election coverage.
As less-educated people lose their mooring in the swirl of disinformation, at some point one hopes they will turn to trusted and professional sources, just as they did in the aftermath of Hearst’s yellow journalism.
The Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker and other ethical organizations have to do a lot more educating of the public of what differentiates journalism from social media.
We also need to break up Facebook and Google and lean on Twitter to eradicate the bots. Actions like 4chan being used to mobilize Trump’s goons into sabotaging the Iowa caucus phone banks need to have immediate, criminal penalties.
Papers and legit TV news networks have to fact-check Trump more prominently, and expose the lies on Fox ‘News’ in a daily column or feature. Murdoch should be banned from the USA.
We know all this, and we are doing very little. Just as there was a March for Science, we need urgently to defend and promote real journalism before it’s too late.
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@Bohemian Sarah "The Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker and other ethical organizations" were dead wrong for three years on Trump collusion with Russia, the Mueller report showed.
Fox was right.
So people who want news which are correct go for Fox. That is why they have more viewers than any wrong source. It's that simple.
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@Bohemian Sarah Agree whole heartedly, when reporting on another outrageous lie that DJT spews out, or a comment from a supporters at his rallies, it should be followed by a fact check in italics. or a sentence starting with, "And after after more the 15,000 statements of misinformation, Trump again says.........., ( followed by a check.......).
It is not just the uneducated who don't have time to read or listen to the news it is the average American who works long hours, 2 jobs, and is just trying to survive. These are the voters who don't have time to vote, research, or get involved with politics.
Election days should be a holiday.
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@Bohemian Sarah. Well stated. Unfortunately hoping that media can address the direct communication of misinformation through the internet is naive. We're in a new world. Bad people now know what works and good people, the law and our institutions dont have tools to stop it.
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There is an antidote to all the Trump lies cloaked as "alternative facts." That is, the real "fake news."
It will come as massive cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. For all to see. It will come as pre-existing conditions and astronomical drug prices rear their heads with a vengeance for the 180 million Americans covered by employer-based health insurance. For all to see. It will come as our bridges, roads and ports crumble. For all to see. It will come as the evisceration of environmental regulations and lack of action in combating climate change wreak havoc on our world. For all to see. It will come as the threat of nuclear war seeps back into the front-page news. For all to see.
But when it is readily apparent, for all to see, then it will already be too late.
It is not too late just yet. But we should not delude ourselves into thinking that we are not perilously close to the end.
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You would think all those things would force people to see the truth but they’ll all blame Obama or Hillary Clinton. What I’m afraid of is that the catastrophe will strike after a Democrat is elected and he or she will get the blame if she fails to clean up the mess. On the bright side, the climate emergency may make everyone forget about the other problems.
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@Blue Moon I just worry that by then that Trump's own 'oligarchs' will sell off this country for parts. It seems headed that way.
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@Blue Moon and as usual, when the wheels come all the way off following disastrous republican policies, a Democrat will get elected to clean up the mess, misery and suffering left behind, like FDR and Obama had to do. Too bad Obama couldn't have a third term like FDR. This assumes we have future elections after a second (I hope not!) Trump term.
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