According to the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “the truth shall set you free.” (John 8: 32) So what happens to us, and to our nation, when we are enveloped by lies? (And, are all these lies “setting us free”?)
Growing up, I was taught that facts mattered: was the earth flat, or round? (Would Columbus’ ships sailing west from Spain fall off the edge of the planet? In 1492, “when Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” many people believed they would.) Was Lee Harvey Oswald the lone gunman in JFK’s assassination? Does the Sun revolve around the Earth, or vice versa? Is the Earth 4,000 years old, or (as science tells us) 4.54 billion years old? (When John Scopes taught Darwin’s evolutionary theory instead of creationism, he was convicted for violating a Tennessee law that forbid teaching evolution.)
When I was a kid, Superman was fighting for “truth, justice, and the American Way.” Truth? Once upon a time, before “truthiness” and “alternative facts,” finding the truth actually mattered; In the popular television show Dragnet, Detective Sgt. Friday would often respond to rambling witnesses with the curt phrase, “Just the facts.”
So, what has happened? It turns out that many facts are just stubbornly inconvenient to our beliefs, our popularity, or our profits. Consider how for many years, a coalition of fossil fuel industries and the auto industry persisted in denying or downplaying the increasingly evident fact that humans were causing global warming. In a world where “success” is measured in terms of money and/or power, individuals, corporations, and politicians face many of greed for money and power, there are many inconvenient facts and truths. Against that momentum, truth tellers often pay a high price for their honesty and integrity. That includes “whistleblowers” who “tattle” (for the public good) and often either lose their jobs and can also be threatened with violence. Consider what happened to Cassidy Hutchinson after she testified about White House during January 6th, 2021.
But at the same time, many who tell lies, even deliberate ones, may even be rewarded with “clicks” on social media. Falsehoods and conspiracy theories abound, like the QAnon post that claimed Hilary Clinton was trafficking children in D.C., using the basement of the Comet Ping Pong Pizza.
All politicians lie, some far more than others. And the Trump Administration has gone to great lengths to conceal the truth so that lies have even more traction. Here are some of the ways.
- The Trump Administration controls media and public messaging by restricting journalists’ access to the White House, Pentagon, and other agencies. It has repeatedly targeted media outlets and threatened to revoke broadcast licenses of organizations it labeled as “fake news.”
- It has deleted vital government web pages and data repositories, removing essential public information on topics like climate change, health insurance, school enrollment, and maternal mortality. Agencies responsible for tracking important public health statistics (e.g., maternal mortality) have had their projects placed on hold, compromising transparency and informed policymaking. In more than 100 congressional investigations, the Trump Administration refused to turn over requested documents and information, often invoking executive privilege or blocking depositions
- It has purged oversight and independent watchdogs. Several impartial government overseers were removed during abrupt “Friday night purges” to diminish impartial checks on executive power.
- Trump and his team have made many legal threats against any unfavorable coverage. Lawsuits and legal threats against media companies have served both punitive and deterrent functions, discouraging critical or investigative reporting.
An escalating “war on truth” has serious consequences for our Republic and its future. Among other things, those who identify as Republicans generally absorb the kind of lies told by GOP leaders and the propaganda of Fox News. These include: (1) the belief that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was rigged or subject to widespread fraud; (2) cutting taxes for the wealthy always stimulates broad economic growth and benefits the wider population; (3) there was no violence against Capitol police on Jan. 6, 2021; (4) increasing access to firearms for private citizens makes society safer overall; (5) large numbers of non-citizens (especially undocumented immigrants) cast votes in U.S. federal elections, unfairly tilting outcomes; (6) human-caused climate change is either a myth or exaggerated.
Exaggerations? This is a real battle, folks, being waged to exert greater control over minds and hearts of Americans. The groundwork for such truth suppression are the many “fake wars” promoted by right-wingers over the years.
The right-wing-noise machine has been beating the cultural drum for many years now about various “wars” –– the War on Christmas, the War on Coal, the War on White People, the War on Heterosexuality. Name the cultural phenomenon and you can bet they’ll call it a war. It’s a “free country,” so why not claim that immigrants are eating cats and dogs, or in claiming that electing Kamala Harris would mean that your child would go to school a girl and return as a boy?
Here are some of the “wars” declared by right-wing “culture warriors.”
The “War” on Christmas and Christianity. Right wing culture warriors claimed that secular, non-believing liberals were striving to erase Christian meaning from the holiday by replacing “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays,” minimizing nativity scenes, and emphasizing multicultural celebration. Promoted by Fox News personalities like Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump, and others, it became an annual campaign issue and a broader symbol of Christian identity under siege.
The “War” on American Virtue and Values. Instead of celebrating how great the country is, culture warriors claim that liberals are intent on tearing it down by by teaching about the ills of slavery and pointing out how systemic racism holds back some members of society.
The “War” on Family/Traditional Values: Right wing culture warriors will typically frame issues of reproductive rights, same-sex marriage, sex education, and LGBTQ+ representation as attacks on the nuclear family and traditional morality. This rhetoric often overlaps with the “war on gender” and the “war on Christianity.”
The “War on Police.” In response to protest movements after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman, we were warned about a “war on police,” casting social justice protests as attacks on law enforcement and public safety.
The “War on Guns.” Gun-safety measures are depicted as an orchestrated assault on constitutional rights and personal liberties, framed as a “war on guns” or as a “war” on the Second Amendment.
The War” on Patriotism.” Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protests, critiques of American foreign policy, and debates over national symbols have been characterized as assaults on patriotism or as a “war on America itself.”
These “wars” are not really about specific policies; they are designed to mobilize conservative identity, fundraise, and maintain political cohesion against “liberals.” Many scholars claim that right wing strategically manufactures “moral panics” and uses these narratives to delegitimize opponents, gain media traction, and shape electoral agendas. The language of war turns cultural debates into existential struggles for the nation’s future.
But the now-escalating “War on Truth” is not like these hyped-up, fictional “wars.” It is a war on truth being waged every day by Trump’s “government.” Thanks to our First Amendment’s embrace of “free speech,” most lies, even the most blatant lies, are perfectly legal, unless it’s defamation, or a false and misleading claim about a product. The First Amendment was supposed to create a “marketplace of ideas” where truth would eventually win out. But it hasn’t worked out that way, has it? Disinformation and misinformation rule our thinking and thus, our lives as individuals and a body politic.
In the past week alone, two items stand out. The first is the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Why? The numbers, although evidently accurate, weren’t to Trump’s liking, and he appointed someone who will tell the public what he thinks it needs to hear (that is, whatever makes him look good). The second is the declaration of an emergency in the District of Columbia on August 11th, where Pres. Trump grossly mis-stated the facts about crime in D.C., but then lying is a daily habit for our President, and that is no longer anything “new” or “newsworthy.”
Parents almost always caution their children not to lie — who do you know that appreciates being lied to? But how persuasive can that parental advice be when lying seems to “win,” truth-tellers are punished, and the suppression of inconvenient facts and truth continues to provide momentum for a particular political narrative. What happened to “truth, justice, and the American Way?” Maybe it’s now “lies, injustice, and a new un-American Way? “
Sadly, most lying –– whether by individuals, companies, or government officials –– is “perfectly legal,” but has terrible consequences for the good of society.