Here’s what I think won’t stand: the revised history, the recent history, of the country, offered by Trump and the cult. Electing him means the continuation of a fictional narrative of American history. American history, according to Donald Trump. If the authoritarian nature of that fictional narrative isn’t clear to his cult by now, either because they cannot see it, or would prefer not to talk about that part for political reasons, they will go along. The nation will be expected to accept the Big Lie, which by now is an “historical alternative fact”, and move fwd into the future on a phony narrative of who we are and where we are as a nation.
It’s funny how things work sometimes. After offering the above thoughts yesterday, I stumbled across David Corn and realized he is also focused on Trump’s creation of a fictional alternative reality. I think we’re so accustomed to lies from Trump, it’s certainly so normalized by now, that the concerted effort to rewrite history by Trump, which started dawning on me, can slide right by people. “Yeah , he’s lying, what else is new?”. True, but, as noted, he’s creating a fake history, and if elected, this will continue to be presented as true. I cannot be the only one who thinks it’s absurd to move into the future on the back of a fake narrative of where we we’ve been, and where we are. This is the stuff of a Strongman who would be dictator. Not saying our institutions can’t deal with it, but we should at least recognize it!!
Bingo: “Trump is not merely heading a campaign fueled by the routine lies of politics. He is endeavoring to use these and other lies to create an alternative reality for millions so they will vote on the basis of a false understanding of the world”. Exactly what I said, and I believe really cannot stand in the long run. This is not Russia. Yet.
He's not just lying. He's creating an alternative reality.
www.motherjones.com
As Donald Trump attempts to return to the White House, he is not operating a political campaign as much as mounting a disinformation campaign.
Trump’s dishonesty goes further than the usual campaign lying. He concocts and promotes utterly false narratives to shape voters’ perceptions of fundamental realities. His campaign is a full-fledged project to pervert how Americans view the nation and the world, an extensive propaganda campaign designed to fire up fears and intensify anxieties that Trump can then exploit to collect votes. And the political media world has yet to come to terms with the fact that Trump is heading a disinformation crusade more likely to be found in an authoritarian state than a vibrant democracy. This is unlike other presidential campaigns in modern American history—other than his own previous efforts.
Not merely peddling a series of lies, Trump is knitting together a full story that is utterly bogus, trying to convince tens of millions of a reality that does not exist: They’re living in a dangerous hellhole in which they’re imperiled by barbarians, who happen to be people of color. And Trump then accuses Harris and President Joe Biden of purposefully orchestrating this purportedly deadly situation and the collapse of America. At a recent campaign stop, Trump
presented a nutty conspiracy theory: “I will shut down all entries through Kamala’s migrant phone app. She’s got a phone app. It’s meant for the cartel heads. The cartel heads call the app, and they tell them where to drop the illegal migrants…It’s not even believable.” It’s not true.
The overarching goal of Trump’s disinformation efforts is to persuade voters that they should live in fear—and that only he can save them.
Trump has been depicting all of America as a place of tremendous peril: “You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped, you get whatever it may be and you’ve seen it and I’ve seen it.” Yet crime rates across the nation
are down this year, including for
murder.
A critical piece of his disinformation strategy is to present Democrats as perverse extremists—and baby-killers. At rallies, he
lies to his supporters and says that in states run by Democrats it is okay to kill infants after they are born. There are no states where that is legal. He says that Harris “wants to legalize fentanyl.”
No she doesn’t.
It’s one bull**** story after another, with the malicious intent of dehumanizing and demonizing his political rivals and large groups of people.
He is perpetuating a fraud. His electoral success is dependent on his ability to poison the national discourse and turn his fictions into reality for tens of millions of voters. And he is enthusiastically aided by a right-wing media ecosystem, a conservative movement, and a GOP that all work together to echo and affirm Trump’s deceptions, for that is how residents of MAGA-land attain influence, power, and profit. They must endorse Trump’s deceit or face being excommunicated.
“Trump is running a disinformation campaign,” confirms Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor who studies authoritarianism. “I also have long sustained that he is running a radicalization campaign, using his rallies since 2015 to change the way people perceive violence, to build his leader cult. It’s unprecedented even among most autocrats on the rise. People like Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, would tell lies about some things or target some subjects, but Trump lies about everything, on the model of the Kremlin (big surprise).”
The author of
Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, Ben-Ghiat adds, “Trump is one of the most successful propagandists in history. He managed to convince tens of millions that he won a national election working not in a domesticated media system or a one-party state but in a fully pluralist media environment in a democracy. No one has ever done that on that scale. Also look at what he’s accomplished with the perception of January 6.”
Trump is not merely heading a campaign fueled by the routine lies of politics. He is endeavoring to use these and other lies to create an alternative reality for millions so they will vote on the basis of a false understanding of the world. “I get asked all the time how to counteract it,” Hett notes, “and I wish I had a better answer than ‘come with the truth and try to teach critical reading skills where and when you can.'” Diamond says, “What frustrates me is that I don’t know how to counter this. If you point out every single lie, it’s all you’ll be reporting. And still people will believe this.”
Trump’s disinformation con, boosted and abetted by a political party, an expansive media infrastructure, and an entire political movement, is a challenge for the United States and a test. Can his all-out war on the truth prevail? That depends on whether other media accurately portrays it, on how the rest of the political system responds to it, and on whether enough voters resist its pull. Trump has gotten far with this campaign, proving that disinformation delivered by the right carnival barker can be highly effective within America. The final vote count—and perhaps what happens afterward—will show if this nation can resolve its political divisions and differences within the realm of reason and rationality.
www.theatlantic.com
