Telling the Truth is Exhausting
FACTS: We could lose our democracy if enough people believe the lies, if enough people become exhausted correcting falsehoods, if enough people stop telling the truth. Listen. Learn. Spread the truth.
(Representative image. Photo: Maxx-Studio / Shutterstock)
I always have to take a deep breath, a defeated sigh if you will, before I start writing about truth. Trying to identify truth, honor it and spread it is daunting. Trying to counter ignorance, misinformation, dis-information and falsehood is exhausting. I feel like I am going to fail before I even begin. That’s because truth has been intentionally and successfully demeaned, disparaged and virtually destroyed. But, tell the truth, we must.
I have seen the dearth of truth deepen during my lifetime. Underlying it has been a long and willful campaign (an evil undertaking) to cloud the truth in order to confuse the people.
If you want to control the populace, wield ultimate power, you must destroy the social institutions that protect people’s rights, freedoms and information. So, there has been a concerted effort to denigrate …
the independence of the free press
the raison d’etre of the government
the security of free and fair elections
the expertise of the educated
In place of truthful reporting, honest legislating, informed voting and evidence-based decision-making - is simply belief. Belief trumps accurate confirmed news. Belief trumps thoughtful consensus-derived laws. Belief trumps representative government chosen by electoral majorities. Belief trumps peer-reviewed scientific inquiry.
And speaking of trumping, Donald J. Trump has effectively damaged all three branches of the American federal government:
He has divided the Supreme Court with a majority of conservative ideologues.
He has neutered the integrity & legislative independence of Congress.
He has corrupted the Office of the Presidency.
Too many American citizens (and citizens of the world, frankly) have been duped. They have been lead to their beliefs. Their beliefs have been birthed and nurtured in dishonest social media. Their beliefs have been manipulated and amplified by a dishonest right-wing press. Their beliefs have been politicized, polarized and weaponized by a dishonest autocratic, anti-American movement of power-seeking and power-seizing evil men and women. Why? To what end?
These distributors of lies, these destroyers of order, these demolitionists of institutions, these defeaters of truth intend to take over the American government. As President Joe Biden would say: “This isn’t hyperbole.” This is the truth.
Their aims are nefarious. They are already drawing plans, identifying their adherents and training their operatives. Their first step in this ‘America First’ campaign was to fracture truth. In large part they have succeeded. One only has to research and understand the mistaken beliefs of the MAGA cult to know that truth has died in that willfully ignorant subculture.
Why is this important? I mean, if you are reading this, you are most likely well-informed. You have a grasp of the truth and can, for the most part, recognize lies, in spite of the sophistication & success of disinformation campaigns & deep fakes.
It’s important to be laser-focused on this because the ecosystem of deceit is growing wider, deeper and stronger. It’s hard to recognize the subterfuge in deep fake videos. It’s even harder to counter the dark influences of malicious misinformation on social media. It’s particularly frustrating to fact check the endless torrent of lies from Donald Trump, his cynical opportunists in right-wing media and his sycophants in government - federal, state & local. People are ‘believing’ the lies meant to deceive them & convince them of absurdities. They are falling for the lies, cons, scams & grifts. Seemingly in increasing numbers. Dangerously increasing numbers.
It would be too exhausting to try to catalog the litany of falsehoods the Trump world has been conned & duped into believing. The cultists can not be shaken of those beliefs because they simply are never confronted or challenged with the actual truth in their dishonest & manipulative media bubbles.
So, it’s those of us ‘in the know’ who have to wage the war of truth. To do that we have to identify the enemy, know their intentions, find their plans, counter their actions.
How many of you know of Project 2025? The driving force behind this presidential transition project is The Heritage Foundation. Other than the Trump presidential campaign itself, they might be Enemy Number One. This intricately-crafted endeavor has a broad coalition of right-wing organizations on their advisory board. Those ‘conservative’ organizations are committed to implementing a huge & hugely radical policy agenda.
They literally have a 920-page foundational document, called “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” It’s a comprehensive and detailed plan on how to staff the entire American government with vetted ‘conservatives’ loyal to the next president - Donald J. Trump. They intend to install a Unitary President and establish a post-Constitutional government.
Before reading on, please watch this video from The Heritage Foundation and take particular note of the statement, “… in line with the president’s will.”
I have tried to read all I can about Project 2025 and to distill and publicize its intentions. But, it is too vast a plan to fully digest. But, they have divided it all up neatly and are already vetting and training the indoctrinated personnel of the next American government. This is really scary stuff. Again, this is not hyperbole. This is a real, active plan to turn our democratic republic into an autocratic state.
We all know that Trump has been a “useful idiot” for Putin. Well, he has also been useful to the mature established conservative organizations that have always wanted to shrink and control the American government. They want to decimate the regulatory controls that constrict their power and wealth.
Many, many conservatives backed Trump in 2016 with the goal of getting majority control of the Supreme Court. They got it. Now, in 2024, if they can get a second Trump term, they will have a compliant anti-government Congress and a more powerful president with a duped & loyal voter base following Trump’s every command. With almost complete American governmental control, they can attain the power they have coveted for decades.
How would all this happen?
First, would be the dismissal of objective truth, as I have been harping on here. Trump has already established the perverse idea in his followers heads that the press is the “enemy of the people.” The malignant lie that the independent media is nothing but sick purveyors of “fake news.” He has threatened to change the libel and slander laws to intimidate a free press. Trump’s message to the voting base which elected him president would be to only ‘believe’ him.
Second would be the promulgation and adoption of the Unitary President Theory. Many radical legal ‘scholars’ have already been pushing this insane idea that all American authority ultimately rests in the presidency. It would be so declared.
Third would be a purge of the Civil Service. Trump was about to adopt his Schedule F at the end of his presidency, which would have given him a new power to fire any and all civil servants and appoint those loyal to his presidency and “in line” with his agenda. Plans have already been drawn.
Fourth would be presidential control of the Judiciary. The Department of Justice is under the authority of the Executive Branch. But, by normal traditional standards, it has operated independently from the whims & dictates of the president. Trump, however, as we know, breaks norms and standards. So, he would declare the agency to be under his control and would order or abort DOJ investigations and prosecutions.
Fifth would be the use of something like the Insurrection Act to put both law enforcement and the military under presidential control. This would surely be challenged. So, it likely would be phased in over time, in incremental appeasements, under bogus emergency orders, to make it politically palatable.
Sixth would be the impounding of appropriated congressional funding. Trump has plans to decide for himself which of the budget items passed by Congress he will or will not spend. He will seize the power of the purse from the legislative branch of the federal government. To quote The Washington Post: “Trump is telegraphing to Congress that he plans a constitutional showdown. Regardless of what courts have decided in the past, and despite what our founding documents say, he believes he personally deserves the power to set funding levels for the entire federal government.”
Seventh would be to begin ‘reforming’ the federal Constitution and state constitutions. Trump become adept at Executive Orders in his first term. But, principled lawyers in the White House largely prevented Trump from perverting the Constitution and American law. They will not be there to guard against the slow adoption of fascism in a second term. The new lawyers, vetted by the radical right, will always give deference to the Unitary President. And conservatives have been working quietly for years to give state legislatures the right to amend the federal Constitution. You will see our constitutional rights chipped away, piece by piece.
Eigth, and this may seem far-fetched, but Trump could change the Constitution to end term limits on the presidency and to grant himself the power to choose his successor(s). A dictatorial familial dynasty could be established, especially if there are enough Trump voters and Trump state legislators and Trump federal judges to make that happen. President Ivanka Trump? President Donald Trump, Jr.? President Baron Trump?
Don’t think this can happen here? I have always bristled at ridiculous Hitler comparisons. But, if you don’t see the analogy of how Adolph slowly and methodically rose to power in 1930’s Germany, becoming the Fuhrer of the people, then you are not paying attention to the lessons of history.
How does this happen? It happens if enough people don’t know the truth. It happens if enough people believe the lies. It happens if enough of us become exhausted with correcting falsehoods. It happens if enough people are uninformed, misinformed and dis-informed. It happens if we don’t make it our mission to spread the truth.