Alternative Facts

[Okeefenokee]

Well, Trump has done a few things he said he would do on day one, getting a little boost in confidence from people who were willing to give him a shot, and the people who aren't gonna give him a shot don't matter.

[C-Mag]

Well, Trump has done a few things he said he would do on day one, getting a little boost in confidence from people who were willing to give him a shot, and the people who aren't gonna give him a shot don't matter.

Hey, he met with the Union and got an agreement with the 'family', you know, union family on how to move ahead to get things done.

[Speaker to Animals]

I wonder how long it will take for the lying media to run stories about how backing out of TPP was fascism or racism.

[C-Mag]

I wonder how long it will take for the lying media to run stories about how backing out of TPP was fascism or racism.

It's probably already up as trusted news on Facebook.

[K@th]

Exactly Kath thinks Trump shouldn't fight back and that doing so will score him points somehow. She thinks playing nice in politics is a good strategy, it's laughable.

Fight against lies with the truth. Fighting lies with bigger lies is a losing strategy.

[StCapps]

Exactly Kath thinks Trump shouldn't fight back and that doing so will score him points somehow. She thinks playing nice in politics is a good strategy, it's laughable.

Fight against lies with the truth. Fighting lies with bigger lies is a losing strategy.

No it isn't. Most people can't tell what the truth is, therefore lying is quite effective if the downside for getting caught is small. You over-estimate the cost of getting caught in a lie like Sean Spicer's. The moral of the story to "the boy who cried wolf" isn't if you lie people won't believe you when you tell the truth, it's never tell the same lie twice. If you keep telling the same lie over and over, and most people can easily verify that isn't true, they tend catch on real quick, not so much if you use a little creativity and play on things that people already believe to be true.

Countering lies with lies, is a winning strategy most of the time, just because you don't like lies, doesn't change that fact. If countering lies with only the truth was winning strategy then politicians wouldn't counter lies with lies, yet they do, because it's effective. They aren't just shooting themselves in the foot, if they don't lie then there opponent will take advantage of them using kid gloves and use lies and the truth. It's practically impossible to beat well choosen lies and the truth with only the truth, that's fighting with one hand tied behind your back. How did that work out for Bernie against Hillary? Not so well.

Kid gloves don't win elections. Well told stories do. Whether the story is a lie, the truth or a combination of both is not relevant to victory.

[K@th]

When a leader lies its a good strategy but when a media outlet lies its bad. It's this a good summary of your positions?

[StCapps]

When a leader lies its a good strategy but when a media outlet lies its bad. It's this a good summary of your positions?

No my position is that if a lie is more entertaining and compelling than the truth, than the truth loses. The media isn't losing because they are lying, they are losing because their opponents are telling better lies. Trump isn't winning because he's lying, he's winning because his opponents lies are not as good. The truth can be a useful tool, just like lying, but what is important is the quality of the story, not whether or not it's true.

Tell the truth when it's a better story and a lie when it's the better story, and mix and match when appropriate. That is optimal political strategy. Only telling the truth or only telling lies is obviously not as effective as the mixed strategy.

[K@th]

All trump is doing is pointing out how shallow and pretty his ego is. So.... big win I guess.

[BjornP]

When a leader lies its a good strategy but when a media outlet lies its bad. It's this a good summary of your positions?

I think Capps is just (cynically?) pointing out that if you lie well enough (and often enough?), the truth simply doesn't matter. Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes truth. Doesn't become fact, of course, but it becomes something the general public recognizes as the truth. That's true enough. Wether or not Capps think a society built upon that foundation is a good or bad thing, wether or not he'd personally see that sort of development as a positive or negative, personally desirable or undesirable trend...dunno. Do you, Capps?