The Witness Chronicles, October 6, 2024

Wading through a sea of political lies

Photo by Sam Arnold on Unsplash

The Cascade of Lies Strategy

Designed to obscure the truth and divide us further

The Republican Party under Donald Trump is splitting in two and you can define which side a politician is on by simply using your built in truth meter. The Trump side has gone all in on a strategy designed to hide the facts about the very real things he is doing and has been indicted for.

The other side is either hiding behind silence or endorsing Kamala Harris, a remarkable development.

The breadth of the lying is stunning and systematic. Lies about FEMA’s response to Helene, lies claiming disaster money was given to immigrants*, constant lying by both Trump and Vance about crime and the economy, and Elon Musk allowing X to be used to spread conspiracy theories right and left. All supported by an ecosystem of Trump operatives doubling down on every falsehood.

*There is a fund to help those with legal asylum claims get settled but it is completely separate from FEMA disaster funding.

This barrage is designed to muddle the truth until no one knows which is which. It’s a last ditch effort, a Hail Mary, but it may be too little too late. As I’ve noted previously, Trump suffers from a ‘boy who cried wolf’ syndrome and the legitimate media is finally starting to call him out for it.

Incidentally, Fox News is not legitimate. They gave up any claims to that after paying an eight hundred million dollar fine for false claims in Trump’s favor.

This constant lying strategy dovetails into the divide and conquer strategy Trump has always used to alienate Americans from each other. It reinforces divisions by multiplying the subjects we have to disagree about, including vital things like preparing and handling massive disasters amplified by climate change, a divisive subject in itself. It is estimated by climate scientists that warming led to increasing the rainfall from Helene by 20-50%.

Of course, global warming due to man’s use of fossil fuels is a giant hoax. Or so that lie goes. No supporting proof, just things like a recent statement that somehow a deadly weather disaster was created by Democrats, as Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed this week. That is a perfect example of how the lying has descended into absurdity.

My regular readers know I am not a fan of the ‘fair and balanced’ coverage by the New York Times, which until now has been anything but, instead whitewashing the constant lies, insults, and crazy talk coming from Trump. Or as the buzzword says, sanewashing.

But now they have finally published a substantial piece detailing the extent of Trump’s speech degradation into incomprehensible gobbledygook that has been going on for at least a year. I’d link to it but I do not have a subscription to the media kingdom. But I give them credit for finally speaking the truth they always claim to own.

The timing is actually very good because it's a well known phenomenon that the general voting public only starts digging into the details when the election nears. All I can say is I hope my fellow voters take this seriously and are able to wade through the sea of lies, insults, and crazy talk.

This week Kamala Harris comes out of her self-imposed media bubble, giving interviews nearly every night on shows like 60 minutes and with Stephen Colbert. Trump declined to be interviewed by Sixty Minutes because they insisted on doing real time fact checking.

That alone should make it clear he knows his lying is out of control and even he cannot control it. And Vance is no different, having thrown a hissy fit over being fact checked just once as he lied his way through his debate with Walz.

These interviews could be the tipping point for the election and they will focus on unraveling the web of constant lies being spread by the Trump GOP. Not exactly an October Surprise, but it is still early in the month.

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