My reading recommendation is the Rand Corp study, “The Russian Firehose of Falsehoods Propaganda Model,” which includes advice on how to counter a rapid and continuous stream of lies.
The user of this propaganda technique demonstrates a “shameless willingness” to tell outrageous lies that lots of people know are lies. The liar doesn’t care about consistency. He doesn’t care if it’s obvious he’s lying. In fact, that’s the whole point.
Putin perfected the method. It seems to come naturally to Trump.
Yale professor Timothy Snyder tells how reporters were often so astonished by Putin’s outrageous lies, that they focused on the lies instead of Putin’s latest atrocities. The lies became the news. The actual news gets pushed off the stage.
The goal is the “disruption of truthful reporting and messaging.”
That’s why Trump really wants an actual trial, and why he was so annoyed with the Supreme Court (and other courts) refusing to hear the case. He wants a stage for the lies.
From the Rand study: The Firehose of Falsehood technique “entertains, confuses and overwhelms the audience.” I think the “entertainment” part applies to the GOP leadership who know Trump is lying but cheer the lies because they are so destructive.
OK, so how do we combat this? From the Rand study: While we must refute the falsehoods, “retractions and refutations are seldom effective.” Therefore, “Don’t expect to counter the Firehose of Falsehood with a squirt gun of truth.”
Instead, put raincoats on the population. When people expect the lies, they more easily roll off. Another remedy: counter the effects of the lies. The effect of Trump’s lies is to undermine democracy. So we move quickly to strengthen democracy and institutions.
That’s what Obama was getting at here:
There’s also George Lakoff’s “truth sandwich.” He has a few books explaining. Here’s the truth sandwich in a nutshell:
One debate during the Trump presidency was to what extent Trump was deliberately and cynically applying fascist tactics and how much of his perpetual spring from mental illness. Why not both? Trump isn’t stupid.
Psychiatric professionals have made the second argument. I’ll argue the other side: The tactics are at least somewhat deliberate.
Steve Bannon described the method as “flood the zone with shit.” Bannon coached Trump. Bannon also went to Brazil to coach Bolsonaro (the Brazilian Trump) to do the same thing. It’s not hard to watch Putin and see how well it works.
I think there’s overlap between the methods of fascism (like the Firehose of Falsehoods) and certain kinds of mental illness: It takes someone sort of unhinged to be able to DO the things that fascists do.
To embrace the Leadership Principle from the viewpoint of the Leader (“everything I say is the Truth” and “I embody the mythic destiny of the nation”) would certainly be more effective if the Leader actually believes that everything he says is the truth, or is able to persuade himself that up is down.
Some lies are comforting. Trump tells the Proud Boys they’re at the top of the hierarchy. He assures evangelical Christians that he intends to create the kind of theocratic government that they want.
But lies in the public sphere destroy democracy.
Some people knowingly want to destroy democracy. Really, they do. Democracy is hard and can be frustrating. Democracy requires sharing power with people we don’t like. Democracy requires compromise. Some people don’t want to compromise.
The spread of disinformation is the greatest threat to democracy. It’s a problem that isn’t easily solved.
The people who thrive on conspiracy theories? For now, we have to just outvote them.
