When Truth Isn't Truth Because You've Invented Your Own Reality
Welcome to the reincarnation of the Big Lie
Today is a very sad day in American history. We have never in over two centuries of our nation’s history had a new president who launched the entire Department of Justice, the entire machinery of justice on a vendetta to persecute, to attack, to investigate, to indict, to try to throw in jail the former President who, it should be noted, is also currently the leading contender on the Republican side to run against the current President.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Facts matter- now more than ever.
The reason facts are so important now is that one of our two major political parties has decided to devote itself to not one but TWO Big Lies:
That the 2020 Presidential election was stolen by Democrat Joe Biden and his evil henchmen. It was not. No evidence that would prove electoral fraud or shenanigans of ANY sort took place that would’ve changed the election’s outcome has ever been presented. The Former Guy lost…and lost BIGLY.
That “Joe Biden’s Department of Justice” has been weaponized by the President to go after The Former Guy, thus the numerous indictments and charges against him now…with more to come.
Neither of the two Big Lies is true, of course, but as Josef Goebbels once theorized and then repeatedly proved, if you parrot a lie with enough fervor and frequency, it will eventually be accepted as the truth.
Combine that with the sad reality that far too many Americans are f*****g morons, and you begin to understand why so many of our contemporaries have accepted both as Gospel.
By now, we have all heard about the Big Lie.
That’s the oft disproven, false assertion—taken as gospel by a good portion of the American public—that the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen from Donald J. Trump. He repeated that Big Lie as recently as Monday night in an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier….
Trump and certain members of the GOP want us to believe the indictments against Trump are politically-driven efforts to punish an innocent man. This includes the current indictments in New York and Florida and likely ones in D.C. and Georgia.
In Trumpland, the indictments are all part of a larger conspiracy—led by Democratic President Joe Biden in the White House—to jail his top political opponent. This is all happening even while his own son, Hunter Biden, is supposedly being let off with a slap on the wrist.
No matter that it was a Trump-appointed prosecutor who offered Hunter Biden a plea deal. No matter that President Biden assiduously avoided any interference into that case. No matter that the kinds of things Hunter Biden is being charged with normally don’t get charged criminally, especially when the back taxes have been paid.
The thought that our Department of Justice might be undertaking a “witch hunt” against The Former Guy presents a very emotionally-charged subject. It strikes at the heart of our conception of how the rule of law works in America. That’s the idea that not only is no one above the law but also that the law cannot and will not be used as an instrument of state power against an individual.
If the law can be used to oppress and/or persecute an individual, what’s to stop the state from going after you or me? What’s to prevent the middle-of-the-night knock at the door that’s the stuff of literature and movies from coming to your front door?
Many supporters of The Former Guy have already (falsely) concluded that he’s innocent and thus being persecuted by a DOJ weaponized and turned loose by President Biden. Of course, these blind loyalists haven’t considered the evidence presented by prosecutors and evaluated by grand juries. They’ve only seen news reports, mostly from Right-wing outlets like Fox News Channel (FNC).
They haven’t considered that their demigod may be guilty of the charges lodged against him, which may not be a “witch hunt.” They may have to face the reality that justice IS blind and that this is how the rule of law is supposed to work.
The idea that the Department of Justice is conducting a witch-hunt against Trump not only has the potential to foment violence, but as with the false claims about the stolen election, it strikes at the heart of how our democracy functions under the rule of law.
A high number of citizens—largely within the Republican base—already falsely concluded Trump is really an innocent man who is being unjustly targeted all because he is a threat to Biden’s hold on power. This moves us even farther off the common ground rules for a stable and functioning democracy.
And the facts are these: Trump was indicted not by Joe Biden, or even Attorney General Merrick Garland. In both New York and Florida, Trump was indicted by a grand jury of his peers after presentation of the evidence by prosecutors, none of whom are under the control of the White House.
The truth is right in front of the zealots…if only they were amenable to seeing it. “Joe Biden’s Justice Department” has had little to do with the indictments The Former Guy faces, nor with the ones soon to come. Joe Biden (and the same goes for Merrick Garland) doesn’t have the power to prosecute anyone. That requires compelling evidence and a grand jury willing to believe that the preponderance of said evidence points to The Former Guy.
It also requires an independent DOJ willing to pursue evidence wherever it may lead.
Of course, MAGA Nation being what it is, truth, reality, facts, and evidence will have little impact on their beliefs or thought processes. They’ll continue to believe only what meshes with their preconceived notions and ignore what clashes with them.
And no amount of testimony, video, audio, or other ironclad evidence will change their mind. Their guy is INNOCENT- that’s it, and that’s all. PERIOD.
The Next Big Lie about a politically-motivated prosecution of Trump is being coordinated from the top—while concocted and amplified as a conspiracy from the depths—just as we saw before with the Big Lie about the stolen 2020 election.
It falls to us—as our responsibility as participants in the discourse to follow—to call the lie out loudly and early.
All those of us willing to consider the evidence can do is continue to call out the bullshit vomited forth by MAGA Nation and ridicule it for what it is- propaganda and meaningless doublespeak. It’s as dense and vacuous as it is insulting to those of us with functional intellects.
You don’t have to be a card-carrying Liberal like myself to recognize when someone is willing to disregard plain and obvious truth. And the truth is that the evidence doesn’t paint The Former Guy in a positive light. In fact, the evidence against him in the Floriduh case is substantial. He could (and hopefully will) spend a long time in prison.
[insert “LOCK HIM UP!!” chant here]
Maybe he’ll find a girlfriend and perhaps some peace in prison. And perhaps every other story in the mainstream media won’t be about The Former Guy. Wouldn’t that be something?
