Since the beginning of the last election, when Donald Trump entered the race, it seems to me that they very idea of truth has been steadily undermined. He started by attempting to marginalize the press, and then further to dehumanize the press, increasingly labeling them all as disgusting, scum, lowlifes, and finally as "fake news," enemies of the people, and a "stain" on the country.
The press hasn't been his only target, of course, since his aim seems to be to disqualify other institutions and professions as arbiters of fact, including the courts, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, historians, and even scientists.
His goal seems evident: to destroy the idea of objective truth. He even said to Lesley Stahl of CBS News before the election in 2016, "You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you." How's that for one of the few times the man has been honest?
Bret Stephens, a conservative columnist, put it perfectly in a speech in early 2017, saying the President "is trying to substitute propaganda for news, boosterism for information."
And if he succeeds (as other demagogues have succeeded in the past), and if the United States begins to believe that truth can only come from the head of state, then you will have surrendered the very idea that inspired the founding of your nation.
(The foregoing contains paraphrased excerpts from a speech by Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron to the annual awards gala of the Canadian Journalism Foundation.)
The press hasn't been his only target, of course, since his aim seems to be to disqualify other institutions and professions as arbiters of fact, including the courts, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, historians, and even scientists.
His goal seems evident: to destroy the idea of objective truth. He even said to Lesley Stahl of CBS News before the election in 2016, "You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you." How's that for one of the few times the man has been honest?
Bret Stephens, a conservative columnist, put it perfectly in a speech in early 2017, saying the President "is trying to substitute propaganda for news, boosterism for information."
And if he succeeds (as other demagogues have succeeded in the past), and if the United States begins to believe that truth can only come from the head of state, then you will have surrendered the very idea that inspired the founding of your nation.
(The foregoing contains paraphrased excerpts from a speech by Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron to the annual awards gala of the Canadian Journalism Foundation.)