In his first 400 days in office, President Trump made more than 2,400 false or misleading claims, according to The Washington Post. …
Wittingly or not, Mr. Trump’s representatives have used a subtle psychological strategy to defend his falsehoods: They encourage people to reflect on how the falsehoods could have been true.
New research of mine suggests that this strategy can convince supporters that it’s not all that unethical for a political leader to tell a falsehood — even though the supporters are fully aware the claim is false. CONT.
Daniel A. Effron (London Business School), New York Times