What You Can Do About Trumpās Escalating Lies
As the political season heats up, Trump is ramping up his lies through his three amplifiers: Fox News, rallies, and Twitter.
According to The Fact Checkerās database, the average daily rate of TrumpāsĀ false or misleading claims is climbing.
The problem isnāt just the number or flagrancy of the lies ā for example, that Putin and the Russians didnāt intervene in the 2016 election on behalf of Trump, or that the Mueller investigation is part of a Democratic plot to remove him.
And itās not just that the lies are about big, important public issues ā for example, that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born Americans, or trade wars are harmless.
The biggest problem is the lies arenāt subject to the filters traditionally applied to presidential statements ā a skeptical press, experts who debunk falsehoods, and respected politicians who publicly disagree.
The word āmediaā comes from the term āintermediateā ā that is, to come between someone who makes the news and the public who receives it.
But Trump doesnāt hold press conferences. He doesnāt meet in public with anyone who disagrees with him. He denigrates the mainstream press. And he shuns experts.Ā
Instead, his lies go out to tens of millions of Americans every day unmediated.
TV and radio networks simply rebroadcast his rallies, or portions of them.
At his most recent rally in Great Falls, Montana, Trump made 98 factual statements. According to the Washington Postās fact checkers, 76 percent of them were false, misleading or unsupported by evidence.
For example, Trump claimed that āwinning the Electoral College is very tough for a Republican, much tougher than the so-called āpopular vote,ā where people vote four times, you know.ā
The claim ricocheted across the country even though countless studies have shown that Trumpās claims of widespread voter fraud and abuse are simply not borne out by the facts.
Meanwhile, over 50 million Americans receive his daily tweets, which are also brimming with lies.Ā
Recently, for example, Trump tweeted that Democrats were responsible for his administrationās policy of separating migrant families at the border (they werenāt), and that ācrime in Germany is way upā because of migration (in fact, itās down).
Around 6 million Americans watch Fox News each day and relate what they see and hear to their friends and relations.
Fox News is no longer intermediating between the public and Trump. Fox News is Trump. Trump takes many of his lies from Fox News, and Fox News amplifies Trumpās lies.Ā
Fox Newsās Sean Hannity is one of Trumpās de facto top advisers. Trump has just appointed Bill Shine, the former number two at Fox News, as his deputy chief of staff for communications.
No democracy can function under a continuous bombardment of unmediated lies.
So what are we to do, other than vote November 6 to constrain Trump?
First, boycott Fox Newsās major sponsors, listed here.Ā Vote with your wallet and starve the beast. Get others to join you.
Second, attend Trumpās rallies, as distasteful as this may be. Youāre entitled to attend. He is, after all, the president of the entire country.
Organize and mobilize large groups to attend with you. Once there, let your views about his lies be heard and seen by the press. You can find out when and where his rallies will occur hereĀ or here.Ā
Third, sign up for his tweets, and respond to his lies with the simple: āb.s.ā You can sign up here.
Fourth, write to Twitter and tell itsĀ executives to stop enabling Trumpās lies.Ā Its contact information is here.Ā
In addition, as the Timesā Farhad Manjoo suggested recently, Twitterās employees should be encouraged to make a ruckus ā as did Amazon workers who pushed the firm to stop selling facial recognition services to law enforcement agencies, and Google employees who pressured Google not to renew a Pentagon contract for artificial intelligence. Ā
Twitter defines its mission as providing a āhealthy public conversation.ā Let them know that demagoguery isnāt healthy.
Your vote on November 6 is the key, of course.
But as the political season heats up, Trumpās lies are heating up, too. And they will sway unwary voters.
So you need to be active now, before Election Day ā on behalf of the truth.
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