With ‘Fake News,’ Trump Moves From Alternative Facts To Alternative Language

Friday night, President Trump took to Twitter to deliver one of his favorite insults to journalists ….


Anyone who has followed the news knows this isn’t what “fake news” meant just a few months ago. Back then, it meant lies posing as news, made up by people from Macedonian teenagers to a dad in the Los Angeles suburbs. …

Now, Trump casts all unfavorable news coverage as fake news. In one tweet, he even went so far as to say that “any negative polls are fake news.” And many of his supporters have picked up and run with his new definition.

The ability to reshape language — even a little — is an awesome power to have. …

“The speed of language adoption has never been as fast as it is now, and part of that is because of social media and the ability to touch people wherever they are, whenever you want, with no limits,” said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist who has helped the GOP choose the words it uses to sell its policies. CONT.

Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.