[image_credit]REUTERS/Yuri Gripas[/image_credit][image_caption]Former President Donald Trump[/image_caption]
Of truthiness, the word’s popularizer, comedian Stephen Colbert said, “We’re not talking about truth, we’re talking about something that seems like truth – the truth we want to exist.”
It’s a silly word, meant to emphasize the sheer wackiness of substituting one’s own hopes, wishes and fantasies for obvious evidence and facts. Truthiness is believing that something is true when it demonstrably isn’t.
Truthiness is believing the Earth is flat. It’s believing the Vikings won those four Super Bowls in the 1970s or that the Twins haven’t lost 18 straight playoff games since 2004. And yes, it’s believing that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
Normally, members of our two political parties agree on the truth or facts surrounding a given issue but come up with different solutions, according to their philosophical predilections. A classic example, much in the news today, of agreed-upon facts leading to opposing policy proposals is the shared idea that all employees should get paid for their work. One proposal out of those facts is that the wage nationally should be increased to $15 per hour, while the other is that the federal level should remain the same and each state can set its wage at a level believed appropriate. Though these proposals are different, they are each born from facts.
Of course, in politics there is always a certain amount of truthiness, of things that we want to believe but are not backed by evidence. Common, impossible-to-prove bromides like “America is the greatest country of all” or “the land of the free and home of the brave” are good examples and usually harmless.
[image_caption]Ken Peterson[/image_caption]
By the summer of 2020, the GOP had so subordinated itself to Trump’s truthiness that the party platform’s policy resolution only said, “the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.” Nothing more. Absent were time-honored GOP precepts such as a strong foreign policy, limits on government spending and praise of the free market. Instead, the party’s 2020 agenda was left for Trump to fill in the blanks. Republican policy minds were to be empty until Trump filled them.
The platform’s logic was followed when few Republican leaders disagreed when Trump rejected the 2020 election results. Well regarded polls showed somewhere between 65% and 73% of GOP voters likewise repudiated the outcome. Given that high level of truthiness, there was no surprise when 147 GOP Senate and House members (a solid majority of the party’s total congressional representation) voted to toss out the real Electoral College count in January. By doing so, in Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse’s words, they’ve turned politics into “the weird worship of one dude.”
Prospects don’t look good for a GOP repudiation of truthiness soon. A substantial majority of Republican voters want Trump to remain the party’s leader. Truthiness stalwart Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri reports record-breaking campaign contributions since he egged on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Uber-sycophant Sen. Lindsay Graham is being praised for blistering Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s claim that Trump should answer in another forum for the Capitol attack. And the recent convention of CPAC, the large conservative activist organization, not only had Trump proclaiming his victory but also featured nine speeches and expert panels explaining how the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Sic semper truthiness.
Ken Peterson lives in St. Paul. Though a DFLer, as a former state Labor and Industry commissioner he successfully worked with members of both parties, always believing that telling the truth helped.
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Colbert coined ‘Truthiness’ in *2005*, and it was already a well-established fact of life in most of the GOP (witness weapons of mass destruction, climate change denial, the Laffer curve, etc.).
The only thing that’s changed in the last four years is that Republicans have mostly abandoned the pretense that they’re engaged in factual debate; the actual commitment to fact has been gone for decades.
Perhaps Republicans lie because they have nothing of substance to offer the general public . That they have become servants to a very small but powerful interests such as ALEC, Koch Brothets ect. The once honorable party of Lincoln has become the home of mostly mentally unbalanced and unreasonable types.Trump merely exposed it.
Yeah Ken, it is a tough chew!
“Republican policy minds were to be empty until Trump filled them” Exactly the thought I have had for quite some time. A very sad state of affairs that so many of my right leaning relation etc. can not have a meaningful discussion on issues, looks similar to our entire political spectrum, can’t we talk about values and see what makes sense? Evidently not!
This notion that leftists have the market cornered on truth and facts is nonsense. For example, the narrative that police are murdering unarmed black people in huge numbers. The idea that America was really founded in 1619. All unequal outcomes are proof of racism. It’s ridiculous.
Well, what is not a huge number? And perhaps, killing a guy for trying to cash a fake check, or Brianna Taylor, and on and on. 1619, perhaps you are or should become a Historian, seems the guys who write history do not agree with you, and you can for sure prove they are/were all lefties?
This comment is a perfect example of truthiness.
The point isn’t that the country was founded in 1619. That was the beginning of the oppression of blacks in what would become America. Sadly, right-wing media has done nothing but distort the 1he 1619 project.
It depends on how you define “large numbers” but police shouldn’t be killing any unarmed people. And the unarmed people they kill are disproportionately black.
I agree that the left does not have the market cornered on facts. But this comment sure didn’t prove that. These are examples of right-wing lies. Of distortions of facts and arguments made by the left. This is part of the problem.
the 1619 project was originally presented as history. But it was written by far leftists at the NYT who ignored input from historians during its development. Only after being called out by numerous historians for several intentional inaccuracies did the Times backtrack and pretend otherwise.
Nikole Hannah-Jones even scrubbed her Twitter history to aid in the coverup.
https://nypost.com/2020/09/27/nyt-discredits-itself-by-rewriting-the-facts-of-the-1619-project/
I can’t decide if it’s funny that rightists spend so much time airing their cultural grievances and so little time on discussing actual governance.
No, I won’t get you started on Mr. Potato Head or Dr. Seuss.
Unfortunately the 1619 project falsehoods are being adopted by schools as fact so it’s quite important to correct the record.
It’s funny how that one endeavor has gotten right-wing knickers in such a twist.
Fortunately for kids everywhere, President Biden has scrubbed the efforts of the 1776 Project, likewise untouched by the hands of historians, but this time, sponsored by the federal government. The Project’s report was rife with, to use a polite term, errors and inaccuracies. The commission that prepared it was stacked with right-wing activists and speakers, but I don’t recall many Republicans objecting to it.
And I’m sure we can all assume that Republicans will soon be correcting the record of more recent events, and tell the nation that Trump lost the 2020 election, and that there has been no credible evidence of election fraud, right?
Of course, the 1619 Project talks about race and slavery, and probably doesn’t mention any of the good white people who didn’t personally brutalize slaves. Can’t have that now, can we?
This is an interesting new variant of the “Republicans pounce” angle. When leftists do something ridiculous and conservatives call them out, the leftists try to make the response to the ridiculous act into the real story. Leftists are making a hard push to rewrite/disappear our history and culture.
“Leftists are making a hard push to rewrite/disappear our history and culture.”
The “history” being “rewritten” is an overdue acknowledgment of the fundamental role racism played in this country – in out culture, if you will. Conservatives have long made a sustained endeavor to pretend it didn’t happen, or it wasn’t that bad, or we’re over it now.
It did happen. Slavery and race have long defined the United States in ways you might prefer not to recognize and are still impacting us. The Capitol that Trump’s goons stormed was built by slaves. The minimum wage does not apply to most agricultural workers or household help because they were largely African American when the FLSA was first passed. Conservative Americans will indulge in elaborate rhetorical gyrations to justify state violence against non-whites. This is our “culture,” and no, it’s not good. It is uncomfortable to have to reckon with it, but reckon with it we must or nothing changes.
Incidentally, “history” is rewritten on a continual basis. History is how we remember and celebrate the past. “History” puts up a statue that celebrates the “heroism” of a confederate general. That is a way of remembering one of the many who committed treason in defense of slavery, which is what his “heroism” amounted to.
“Culture” says that statue goes in the public square, as a continual reminder of who is really in charge.
Again, your comments are a perfect example of truthiness and right-wing lies.
Your first problem is citing the NY Post, a right-wing paper that publishes loads of falsehoods. When you cite something like this you are announcing that your arguments should not be taken seriously. Its like citing Sean Hannity. Its just a joke.
And of course there are historians who object to some of the 1619 project. That is going to happen with anything that expansive and controversial. It may be flawed – we are talking about things that occurred hundreds of years ago. But the idea that the 1619 project is on the same level as Trump’s repeated and easily provable lies, or the daily nonsense turned out by the NY Post, is just false. Its pure nonsense.
Very common for leftists to attack the source rather than the accuracy. You can’t refute one single fact so you devolve to ad hominem.
Saying the left also lies is another falsity. And saying so simply makes the massive, planned, purposeful REP ‘re-engineering of truth’ seem not so bad then. I’ve heard all my life ‘every body lies’. And I’ve questioned it all of my life. Why?? Growing up in a strict German community where lies were punishable.
12 years of initial education at parochial schools where fingers and behinds got whacked if one got caught in a lie. Religious training at least 1 hr per day, 6 days a week and focused on the 10 Commandments & more. It may be more true now than ever that a lot of folks are lying: many more people are exaggerating, spinning, embellishing, etc. But with them it generally appears to be more an excuse to draw attention to themselves, from my perspective. It’s annoying.. superficial. The most dangerous lies now are coming from politically motivated types and ever increasing propaganda sites. Those folks care not at all about truth; they are seeking power, $$$ and authoritative control AT ALL COSTS. They are the biggest threat facing us all today, and will destroy our cherished democracy…should we fail to restrain them forcibly. And soon.
You want people restrained forcibly if they disagree with you? That sounds a tad authoritarian. The truth is the authoritarian left controls every branch of government and the majority of social media. Leftists have very little to worry about.
Who said anything about forcibly restraining anyone?! Where did that come from?!
And I daresay the DEMS are enjoying their newly voted in ‘authority’ now by working overtime to undo much of Trump and the REPs destruction, dishonesty and chaos…so average Americans can finally get vaccinated and stop the massive deaths. And have health insurance. And have good jobs w decent wages. And once again have clean water and air. And save the environment w more coordinated clean energy efforts. And see their kids not get saddled for life with student debt. And on and on…. Cuz when we all pull together, we can accomplish a great deal more than when we spend our days ripping everything and everyone apart, and spreading outrageous lies and wild conspiracy theories and deadly viruses….
Oh, there is plenty of dishonesty on the left, especially on the margins. It just pales in comparison to what we have seen from Trump and Republicans, and is a lot more benign.
The DEMs fight daily and hard for the rights of all ‘the people’. The REPs, after 40+ years of doing and saying and pulling every stunt they c think of and spending hundreds of millions of dollar$ along the way have finally achieved the highest levels of power, authority and control they dreamed of. In doing so they’ve fully subverted the party of Lincoln. The 2020 election cost…$14BILLION!!! They lost their power & control…so have launched the most hypocritical of efforts. Over half a million Americans have lost their lives to Covid, due to massive incompetence & neglect on their part. The worst insurrection in the history of the country took place because Trump incited it. They’ve blocked hundreds of DEMs proposed bills that w have helped Americans in a myriad of ways. They continue to push THE BIG LIE that Trump won and wb the president again, effective today (if the Natl Guard doesn’t stop a 2nd and more deadly insurrection effort!!) The comparisons bn the DEMS and the REPs continue to be made by many. I cannot imagine why. Because there are no longer any similarities! They are poles apart, with the DEMs fighting to preserve our democracy while the rogue and traitorous REPs work overtime to derail and destroy our democracy, preferring instead: white nationalism, flatout fascism, and constant outrageous lying. I haven’t heard a word about any programs or policies in some YEARS now, from them. Trump insisted on being the sole candidate and the fearful sycophant REPs went along with it. (What does he have on them?!) Indeed, Trump and Bannon stood on stage b4 a Hillary debate in Oct 2016 and stated on camera that their shared goal was to “obliterate the federal govn”. And that is precisely what they focused on. So I don’t want to hear that the left also lies, or is similar in any way to the current Far R. No way, no how. Not any longer. It’s just another R lie, of many.
Anyone opening their comments w a slam aimed at leftists/lefties shows obvious bias right out of the gate. I stopped reading at that point. I’m trying hard to wade through all of the mixed messages we’re all drowning in these days..I guess hoping to find any common ground. But increasingly it feels like a ft job and a waste of time and energy. So I automatically eliminate the slams and cheap shots, the better to focus on any serious content that may be left. Instead of tossing out frivolous shots & sarcasm could we all try harder to channel our words so some main themes can gel? Somehow we all need to get back to serious discourse, followed by agreed upon solutions. The divisive and destructive among us have caused massive rifts and anger and disinformation. It is incumbent upon all adults to do everything possible to put an end to that. The future of the country cannot and must not be destroyed by sociopathic types with low education bases who support their delusions!
Timely, valuable article, Ken. The recent trend of some to tell lies without embarrassment or apology certainly deserves attention like this and our condemnation.
I think it is fair to say that the 1619 Project, though it has some defects (too hard on Lincoln), aims for a salient truth: That race has been a central, and distorting, feature of our national politics and culture for 400 years. We seem unable to get past it. The Trumpistas don’t aim for truth at all, only for the mantle of victimhood. A truthiness.
I wonder: What would Republicans do next, after they admit the truth–the honest FACT–that Trump lost the presidential election last November?
Where would they go–their minds, their politics–after abjuring The Big Lie about the Stolen Election? All they have on their horizon is Donald Trump, and they would have admitted that he lost, so he’s an ex-president, and a Loser, to boot. Shilling for money for himself, not the party, mind you!
The Republicans seem up a creek without a paddle.