Telling whether Donald Trump is lying or not is tricky. While there are instances where we know he has deliberately said things that are false, he often seems to believe the wrong things he says. When Trump claimed to have been opposed to the Irak war since the beginning, he was probably lying, but when he recently started talking about widespread voter fraud he was most likely just misinformed. It is entirely possible that he will continue to be misinformed in The White House and that people will continue to believe him. And that is a serious problem. So why might he keep tweeting false information at 3 am? And will he know when what he says is wrong?
To many, it might seem unbelievable that he could think that some of his statements about rigged elections, or most recently voter fraud are true, but he might actually believe every word that he is saying. There has been a significant shift lately in the world due to the creation of alternate media sources, which have essentially resulted in people living in different “bubbles.” Something obviously false to someone could make perfect sense to someone else. This is the reality that we are living in. The problem is when the president-elect of the United States tweets and makes statements based on things that he has heard, rather that what there is evidence of.
As I mentioned there are has been a creation of “bubbles,” or parallel universes in society. One of the reasons for this is the spreading of fake news, which aims to simply confirm people’s theories and beliefs about the world so that they will share the article on Facebook.
People want to be able to point to an article and say “SEE! I told you Hillary Clinton was a murderer!” and fake news sites allow them to do that.
Moreover, as the hatred for mainstream media has grown the market for alternate media sources has developed. These new sites are often outspoken critics of more established media and portray the world in a different way. If your primary source of information abut the world is, for example, Breitbart and Trump tweets you are going to have a perspective on the world that is different from someone who reads The New York Times and watches CNN or ABC. Scottie Nell Hughes who is a Trump Surrogate appeared on“The Diane Rehm Show” where she said “And so Mr. Trump’s tweet, amongst a certain crowd — a large part of the population — are truth,” and “There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts.” While she is right about a large number of people believing whatever Trump tweets, she isn’t right about there not being facts anymore. Some things that Trump tweets just aren’t factually accurate.
One great example of this is the issue of voter fraud, which has recently dominated the media cycle. Jill Stein has been pushing for a recount in certain states and has received backing from the Hillary Campaign. This, in combination with the constant updates that Hillary’s lead in the popular vote continues to increase, has presumably rattled Trump who has begun tweeting that millions of votes were cast illegally. Now to circle back to the beginning of the article: Is Trump lying or does he really believe that there is widespread voter fraud?
In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
It is possible, at least in this case that he actually, wholeheartedly believes that it exists. The reason for this is that he is being told this by people he trusts. Trump’s former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway tells ABC News that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who could become the next Homeland Security secretary, as one of the people who has told Trump about the existence of illegal voters. Since Trump has surrounded himself with a lot of “outsiders” like Bannon, who runs Breitbart News, he is likely receiving a lot of information through them. Banon and Kobach are both part of one reality in America, so subsequently, Trump is going to live in that reality and possibly rely on them for intel and analysis of what is going on. They are both critical of mainstream media, and it is dangerous for a President base his decisions on what people around him say, instead of looking at the facts.
There is no evidence of wide-spread voter fraud. This has been reported by a variety of news sources on different ends of the political spectrum, from Fox News to PBS to The New York Times . While There are a few small cases, it isn’t possible that millions of people who shouldn’t have been allowed to vote voted.
Furthermore, it is no secret that Trump has a complicated relationship to the media. Even though Trump loves media attention, he really hates the mainstream media in general. Criticizing media was a central part of his campaign, and he doesn’t seem to trust anything that they say. Consequently, he isn’t going to listen when the Washington Post debunks the myth that there is widespread voter fraud in America since he believes that everything the print is lies, despite the fact that they often have facts and evidence on their side.
It won’t matter if the media has the correct facts on their side, as long as they are criticizing Trump he will most likely just assume that they are being biased. To go back to the question of voter fraud, which has been denounced by mainstream media, Trump doesn’t believe them. As you can see in the tweet below, he believes that the problem is that they are inherently biased and are therefore choosing not to report on it.
Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California – so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias – big problem!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2016
There is a difference between recognizing that many mainstream media outlets are liberal leaning and completely dismissing everything the write that doesn’t reinforce you world view. Every time Trump tweets about the media lying and being biased he is weakening this important democratic institution and cementing the existence of “bubbles.”
Trump’s strong belief that mainstream media is biased and out to get him has resulted in him dismissing anything they write that he doesn’t agree with as left-wing propaganda.
So Trump will probably continue to be wrong and spread false information during his presidency. Since he will be getting his information from sources like Bannon, Sessions, and Kobach. Therefore it is important that people’s relationship with the media becomes better so that he can take in a wider spectrum of information. The spreading Fake News needs to stop, and the journalistic community needs to work hard to restore people trust in the media. Just like it’s important for politicians that criticize the media like Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen to understand that they are undermining democracy and putting their countries at risk. Because they aren’t just criticizing the media, they are completely discrediting and full on attacking it by blaming it for almost everything that is wrong in the world. This has to stop if we don’t want people to start living in different versions of reality. Basic facts need to remain facts regardless of your political views.
