MILWAUKEE=20 =E2=80=94 If President Trump=E2=80=99s first tumultuous weeks have done = nothing else, at least=20 they have again made us a nation of readers.
As=20 Americans grapple with the unreality of the new administration, George = Orwell=E2=80=99s=20 =E2=80=9C1984=E2=80=9D has enjoyed a resurgence of interest, becoming a = surprise best seller and=20 an invaluable guide to our post-factual world.
On=20 his first full day in office Mr. Trump insisted that his inaugural crowd = was the=20 largest ever, a baseless boast that will likely set a pattern for his=20 relationship both to the media and to the truth.
At an event=20 marking Black History Month last week, the president took a detour = from a=20 discussion of Frederick Douglass =E2=80=94 he described the abolitionist = as =E2=80=9Can example=20 of somebody who=E2=80=99s done an amazing job and is being recognized = more and more=E2=80=9D =E2=80=94=20 to talk about the press. =E2=80=9CA lot of the media is actually the = opposition party =E2=80=94=20 they=E2=80=99re so biased,=E2=80=9D he said. =E2=80=9CSo much of the = media is the opposition party and=20 knowingly saying incorrect things.=E2=80=9D
Continue=20 reading the main storyMr. Trump understands = that=20 attacking the media is the reddest of meat for his base, which has been=20 conditioned to reject reporting from news sites outside of the = conservative=20 media ecosystem.
For years, as a = conservative radio=20 talk show host, I played a role in that conditioning by hammering the = mainstream=20 media for its bias and double standards. But the price turned out to be = far=20 higher than I imagined. The cumulative effect of the attacks was to = delegitimize=20 those outlets and essentially destroy much of the right=E2=80=99s = immunity to false=20 information. We thought we were creating a savvier, more skeptical = audience.=20 Instead, we opened the door for President Trump, who found an audience = that=20 could be easily misled.
The news media=E2=80=99s spectacular failure to = get the election=20 right has made it only easier for many conservatives to ignore anything = that=20 happens outside the right=E2=80=99s bubble and for the Trump White House = to fabricate=20 facts with little fear of alienating its base.
Unfortunately, that also means that the more the = fact-based media tries to debunk the president=E2=80=99s falsehoods, the = further it will=20 entrench the battle lines.
During his first week in office, Mr. Trump = reiterated the=20 unfounded = charge=20 that millions of people had voted illegally. When challenged on the = evident=20 falsehood, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, seemed to argue = that=20 Mr. Trump=E2=80=99s belief that something was true qualified as = evidence. The press=20 secretary also declined to answer a straightforward question about the=20 unemployment rate, suggesting that the number will henceforth be = whatever the=20 Trump administration wants it to be.
He can do this because members of the Trump = administration=20 feel confident that the alternative-reality media will provide air = cover, even=20 if they are caught fabricating facts or twisting words (like claiming = that the=20 =E2=80=9Cban=E2=80=9D on Muslim immigrants wasn=E2=80=99t really a = =E2=80=9Cban=E2=80=9D). Indeed, they believe they=20 have shifted the paradigm of media coverage, replacing the traditional = media=20 with their own.
In a stunning demonstration of the power and = resiliency of=20 our new post-factual political culture, Mr. Trump and his allies in the = right=20 media have already turned the term =E2=80=9Cfake news=E2=80=9D against = its critics, essentially=20 draining it of any meaning. During the campaign, actual =E2=80=9Cfake = news=E2=80=9D =E2=80=94 deliberate=20 hoaxes =E2=80=94 polluted political discourse and clogged social media = timelines.
Some outlets opened the door, by helping spread = conspiracy=20 theories and indulging the paranoia of the fever swamps. For years, the = widely=20 read Drudge Report has linked to the bizarre conspiracy theorist Alex = Jones, who=20 believes that both the attacks of Sept. 11 and the Sandy Hook shootings = were=20 government-inspired =E2=80=9Cfalse flag=E2=80=9D operations.
For conservatives, this should have made it = clear that=20 something was badly amiss in their media ecosystem. But now any news = deemed to=20 be biased, annoying or negative can be labeled =E2=80=9Cfake = news.=E2=80=9D Erroneous reports=20 that the bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed = from the=20 Oval Office or misleading reports that sanctions against Russia had been = lifted=20 will be seized on by Mr. Trump=E2=80=99s White House to reinforce his = indictment.
Even as he continues to attack the = =E2=80=9Cdishonest media,=E2=80=9D Mr.=20 Trump and his allies are empowering this alt-reality media, providing = White=20 House access to Breitbart and other post-factual outlets that are = already=20 morphing into fierce defenders of the administration.
The relationship = appears to be=20 symbiotic, as Mr. Trump often seems to pick up on talking points from = Fox News=20 and has tweeted out links from websites notorious for their casual = relationship=20 to the truth, including sites like Gateway Pundit, a hoax-peddling site = that=20 announced, shortly after the inauguration, that it would have a White = House=20 correspondent.
By now, it ought to be evident that enemies are = important=20 to this administration, whether they are foreigners, refugees, = international=20 bankers or the press.
But discrediting independent sources of = information also=20 has two major advantages for Mr. Trump: It helps insulate him from = criticism and=20 it allows him to create his own narratives, metrics and = =E2=80=9Calternative facts.=E2=80=9D
All administrations lie, but what we are seeing = here is an=20 attack on credibility itself.
The Russian dissident and chess grandmaster = Garry Kasparov=20 drew upon long familiarity with that process when he=20 tweeted: =E2=80=9CThe point of modern propaganda isn=E2=80=99t only = to misinform or push an=20 agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate = truth.=E2=80=9D
Mr. Kasparov grasps that the real threat is not = merely=20 that a large number of Americans have become accustomed to rejecting = factual=20 information, or even that they have become habituated to believing = hoaxes. The=20 real danger is that, inundated with =E2=80=9Calternative facts,=E2=80=9D = many voters will simply=20 shrug, asking, =E2=80=9CWhat is truth?=E2=80=9D =E2=80=94 and not wait = for an answer.
In that world, the leader becomes the only = reliable source=20 of truth; a familiar phenomenon in an authoritarian state, but a radical = departure from the norms of a democratic society. The battle over truth = is now=20 central to our politics.
This may explain one of the more revealing = moments from=20 after the election, when one of Mr. Trump=E2=80=99s campaign surrogates, = Scottie Nell=20 Hughes, was asked to defend the clearly false statement by Mr. Trump = that=20 millions of votes had been cast illegally. She answered by explaining = that=20 everybody now had their own way of interpreting whether a fact was true = or=20 not.
=E2=80=9CThere=E2=80=99s no such thing, = unfortunately, anymore as facts,=E2=80=9D she declared. Among =E2=80=9Ca = large part of the=20 population=E2=80=9D what Mr. Trump said was the truth.
=E2=80=9CWhen he says that millions of people = illegally voted,=E2=80=9D=20 she said, his supporters believe him =E2=80=94 and =E2=80=9Cpeople = believe they have facts to=20 back that up.=E2=80=9D
Or as George Orwell said: =E2=80=9CThe very = concept of objective=20 truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.=E2=80=9D = But Ms. Hughes=E2=80=99s=20 comment was perhaps unintentionally insightful. Mr. Trump and company = seem to be=20 betting that much of the electorate will not care if the president tells = demonstrable lies, and will pick and choose whatever = =E2=80=9Calternative facts=E2=80=9D confirm=20 their views.
The next few years will be a test of that = thesis.
In the meantime, we must recognize the magnitude = of the=20 challenge. If we want to restore respect for facts and break through the = intellectual ghettos on both the right and left, the mainstream media = will have=20 to be aggressive without being hysterical and adversarial without being = unduly=20 oppositional.
=20Perhaps just as important, it will be incumbent = on=20 conservative media outlets to push back as well. Conservatism should be = a=20 reality-based philosophy, and the movement will be better off if it = recognizes=20 that facts really do matter. There may be short-term advantages to = running=20 headlines about millions of illegal immigrants voting or secret United = Nations=20 plots to steal your guns, but the longer the right enables such = fabrications,=20 the weaker it will be in the long run. As uncomfortable as it may be, it = will=20 fall to the conservative media to police its worst actors.
The conservative media ecosystem =E2=80=94 like = the rest of us =E2=80=94=20 has to recognize how critical, but also how fragile, credibility is in = the=20 Orwellian age of Donald Trump.
Conti= nue=20 reading the main story