Lying is not new to politics. But, these days, it has become a vaunted art form. Consider Donald Trump's recent town hall. Michael Harris writes:
Like a mob boss sticking to his story under interrogation, Trump repeated old fictions to the delight of his cackling cult followers. The lies poured out of him like bullets from an AR-15: rapid-fire and relentless.
The 2020 election was stolen; the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol was a gathering of good people and patriotic Americans; the wall on the southern border was completed while he was in office; he could end the war in Ukraine in one day; it would be okay if the U.S. defaulted on its debt; Mike Pence had the legal authority not to ratify the results of the 2020 election. Blah, blah, blah.
Despite being swarmed by Trump’s lies and the crowd’s enabling enthusiasm for this prince of Pinocchios, Collins stood her ground like the solid, journalistic soldier that she is. Trump alternately ignored, talked over, and mocked the CNN moderator, but she doggedly fact-checked his lies, trying valiantly to hold him to the facts. But her solo battle to keep the conversation factual and rational could not slow the mojo of Trump’s mendacity.
And the man who is totally driven by his Id continues to get away with the lies:
The reviews of this clown hall the morning after laid bare just how effective hyperbolic, public lying has become in politics. Commentators did not blast the man who lied his brains out for over an hour. They blasted CNN for agreeing to a format in which their host became a sacrificial lamb to partisan politics, and Trump was given a megaphone to repeat falsehoods—new and old—to a mainstream, national audience.
The critics have it ass-backwards. CNN may not have come up with the best format or venue for this event. They may have put Collins in a lonely and perilous position. But the broadcast did expose America’s most dangerous politician for the bloviating sociopath that he is.
Political lying has become a source of great wealth. And, therefore, it has become acceptable:
The problem is that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The reason is that political lying has become a protected form of dishonesty, something that is emphatically confused with free speech.
In the United States, you can’t lie to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, you can’t lie to a court, and you can’t lie to the Internal Revenue Service. If you do, the consequences are immediate and serious. But if you lie to a whole country in pursuit of winning the right to govern, if you knowingly fabricate the facts to further your personal agenda, that kind of lie goes unpunished.
In fact, this is how upside-down politics and political speech have become. When Trump was criminally indicted in the Stormy Daniels hush-money affair, some observers said that it would actually help his third presidential run. As if that weren’t enough, the same commentators concluded that being found liable by a jury for sexual assault would also assist in his quest for the GOP’s presidential nomination for 2024. Polling seems to back up those bizarre assertions. In other words, political lying is okay, mostly because it often works.
It may work. But no democracy can survive a firehose of lies.
Image: Twitter
6 comments:
The more I experiences day to day life in America the more I question not so much the lying power mongers but the very intelligence of the constituents. There is a lot more going on here than meets the eye I'm afraid. When a society is afraid of homeless people begging food on the subway, ringing your doorbell or turning in your drive the answer in that society will collectively resort to cruelty and ambivalence. It begs the question just how stupid are these people? The entire propaganda machine has enabled all Americans to loudly proclaim how great and exceptional they are with patriotism being an open door to collective bullying and arrogance. I still encounter some outliers who I have to believe are more centre or left of centre but you will never know because the average American will not show their hand when it comes to political affiliation. I guess it is because you never know who's carrying.
Any society which has more guns than people is in deep trouble, zoombats.
"... political lying has become a protected form of dishonesty...". Stephen Harper had the same strategy and PP is following in his footsteps Owen. RG
I agree, RG. And I'm worried.
"I don't care what you say/write about me, as long as you spell my name right".
Heard that line while I was young. It was attributed to some one out of Hollywood.
Trump understands that line. He's a sales person. It might be said he is an unethical one, but as long as he is making money he doesn't really care, its all about him. Many others have seen how it works for him and have started using the same "method". It is up to voters to figure out what the truth is. Failing to do so wiIl bit them in the ass at some future date and "the future" is about right now. American voters ought to have figured out all those guns would have resulted in the deaths of their children. They don't appear to have learned their lessons yet and may never.
In Canada we had good old Harper. He came to office with promises which really weren't kept.
He talked about law. His actions: passed 9 pieces of legislation, which he was told were a violation of the Constituion. Result: all 9 were over turned by the Supreme Court of Canada.
His first order of business was to defund women's groups financed by the federal government. We ought to have noticed this P.M. wasn't all that much interested in women's rights.
He talked a good game about the military and then went on to cause the Veterans untolled misery, and when they objected, some of his "team" went through the medical files of those veterans.
Said he cared about people. Just not Indigenous kids it turns out. He had his government provide less funding for Indigenous children for their education and health care than the rest of the children in Canada. Hence the Human Rights Complaint and the billions the current government is paying out.
If voters elected PP as P.M. things will not go well for Canadians. We can expect those child benefit cheques to stop coming. Instead people will receive 'tax credits' which aren't going to do the job cash does each month. Who it impacts, children. We will most likely have an extra 2 or 300 thousand kids living below the poverty line.
If we ever have another emergency as we did with COVID, do not expect the federal government to send out cheques. there might be "tax credits" for corporations, but the rest will be on their own.
the one thing I've been concerned about with the Conservatives is they might try to change our rights to control our own bodies, i.e. like the americans start restricting abortions. If you don't think that could happen, americans thought the same thing, until it happened. If you have alook at Alberta, they are't the only province who has these "nut bars". Lets not forget PP went and met with the "truckers" in Ottawa when they caused all sorts of problems for others. They didn't care. Neither did PP. He's just interested in being elected. "when they show you who they are, believe them". I've seen him as a political opportunist who doesn't care about Canadians. Unfortunately the Conservatives didn't see fit to keep O'Toole. I'm not a Conservative, but he was way ahead of the others who had been leader of the Conservatives.
for a democracy to work it needs at least 3 viable political parties. So it is always in our best interest to have that in the country. It gives everyone some where to park their votes and keeps the party in power on their toes. We have 4 or 5, Quebec has their own party and we have the Greens. None of these parties are as "ugly" as the Consservatives.
What you say about political parties is true, e.a.f. It's always better to have more than two choices.
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