Open societies thrive on press freedom, vigorous debate, and evidence-based policymaking. While liberal democracies do not always live up to this ideal, the understanding that this is how things should work, and that voters can remove leaders who transgress this expectation, is the source of their strength.
LONDON – It has become something of a cliché in recent years to say that we live in a post-truth, post-fact age. In the United Kingdom, the Brexit referendum and the spectacular rise and fall of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson catapulted the crisis of truth to the forefront of political debate. In the United States, former President Donald Trump’s incessant falsehoods during his tumultuous term in office and his equally turbulent post-presidency continue to pose an unprecedented threat to the fabric of American democracy.
During his four years in the White House, the Washington Post estimated that Trump told 30,573 untruths – an average of 21 false claims a day. Of course, Trump capped his term with the most egregious lie of all: that he won the 2020 election. In reality, it wasn’t even close. President Joe Biden secured 306 Electoral College votes and won the popular vote by more than seven million.
In Trump’s telling, millions of Biden votes were fabricated, and the presidential election was “rigged” by a grand conspiracy of the “deep state” and the Democratic Party. Although this conspiracy theory has been thoroughly debunked over the past two and a half years, the “stolen election” narrative remains immensely popular among Republican voters and will likely help propel Trump to the 2024 GOP nomination.
LONDON – It has become something of a cliché in recent years to say that we live in a post-truth, post-fact age. In the United Kingdom, the Brexit referendum and the spectacular rise and fall of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson catapulted the crisis of truth to the forefront of political debate. In the United States, former President Donald Trump’s incessant falsehoods during his tumultuous term in office and his equally turbulent post-presidency continue to pose an unprecedented threat to the fabric of American democracy.
During his four years in the White House, the Washington Post estimated that Trump told 30,573 untruths – an average of 21 false claims a day. Of course, Trump capped his term with the most egregious lie of all: that he won the 2020 election. In reality, it wasn’t even close. President Joe Biden secured 306 Electoral College votes and won the popular vote by more than seven million.
In Trump’s telling, millions of Biden votes were fabricated, and the presidential election was “rigged” by a grand conspiracy of the “deep state” and the Democratic Party. Although this conspiracy theory has been thoroughly debunked over the past two and a half years, the “stolen election” narrative remains immensely popular among Republican voters and will likely help propel Trump to the 2024 GOP nomination.