The Lies of the Powerful Are Still Lies

Just say no to truthwashing

Today is a terrible day, and I won’t inflict a long post on readers. Let me instead make just one point, then get out of your inbox.

The point is this: Trump ran a campaign based entirely on lies, and his victory doesn’t make those lies true. No, the price of bacon didn’t quadruple or quintuple. No, America isn’t experiencing a vast wave of crime driven by immigrants.

Many people and institutions should and I hope will engage in soul-searching over why those lies succeeded — Democratic strategists, of course, but also news organizations and for that matter anyone trying to inform the public, myself included.

But you should resist the temptation to engage in truthwashing, a close cousin to the sanewashing that may not have been decisive but certainly helped Trump win.

I see that temptation all around — commentators who want to seem relevant starting to say “Well, maybe Trump has a point about migrant crime/seizing Greenland/annexing Canada/whatever.” Before going there, look at yourself in the mirror.

Also, it won’t get you anywhere. Trump and MAGA in general aren’t going to cut you any slack for showing weakness and compromising your principles. They only want demonstrably horrible people. To be part of the inner circle you must have engaged in behavior that led to accusations of being a substance abuser, a sexual abuser or verifiably corrupt — preferably all three. I wish that were hyperbole, but anyone following, say, the Hegseth nomination knows that it isn’t.

So keep calling out lies, even if — especially if — they’re coming from people in power. I’d like to promise that the truth will win in the end, but I can’t. All I can promise is that those who continue to tell the truth as they see it will find it easier to live with themselves than those who don’t.