… A decade ago, the comedian Stephen Colbert introduced viewers to the idea of “truthiness,” a quality belonging to claims that were based on gut feelings instead of facts. Last year, the Oxford Dictionaries named the word “post-truth” the word of the year. It’s a description of a general characteristic […] Read more »
In Watergate, One Set of Facts. In Trump Era, Take Your Pick.
… Mainstream journalism, a shiny and ascendant conveyor of truth during Watergate, is in a battered state after decades of economic erosion, its own mistakes and the efforts of partisan wrecking crews to discredit its work, the most recent one led by the president himself. All of it gives the […] Read more »
Making the Facts Not Matter
People get a clearer picture if you tell them what someone or something is rather than telling them what it isn’t. I’ve said that a few times in this blog. … But it’s something that Donald Trump seems to know instinctively. … When the news or opponents point out that […] Read more »
Polarization in state voter confidence
… Lots of people make claims about voter confidence, particularly what causes it to go up or down, oftentimes tying these claims to support for some type of election reform. In fact, the literature on voter confidence suggests that very little in the way of election reform can move voter […] Read more »
Trump’s crisis of legitimacy
… Politicians can and do change their minds. The view from Air Force One differs from the panorama visible on the campaign plane. But democracy requires some important correlation between words uttered on the campaign trail and actions taken in the Oval Office. Without such linkage, elections are a farce. […] Read more »
Americans Aren’t Just Divided Politically, They’re Divided Over History Too
Historian Jill Lepore tells Rachel Martin that Americans have no shared past, no shared agreement about the facts or meaning of our past — so it’s hard to have a shared sense of the present or future. NPR Read more »