emptywheel

How Kamala Harris Dodged the Two Truths Problem

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/09/15/how-kamala-harris-dodged-the-two-truths-problem/

How Kamala Harris Dodged the Two Truths Problem - emptywheel

Rather than directly contesting Donald Trump's false claims at the debate, a contest that would persuade none of his followers, Kamala Harris instead demonstrated that the "truth" he offers them is built on a foundation of weakness.

emptywheel
Sep 15, 2024 at 2:39pmWeb
Show threadCluster FckuSep 15, 2024
@emptywheel this is how you debate in this kind of setting: "Trump’s people won’t start to rethink what he tells them to believe until they first doubt who he is, until they first begin to see through his con of being strong and successful."
Show threadHELLO, we're in troubleSep 15, 2024
@emptywheel There are great and useful points made here.
Show threadWeaselSep 15, 2024

@emptywheel

"One reason fact checking doesn’t work with Donald Trump is that he has trained his followers to so distrust the press that even if Daniel Dale lays out 33 lies in one debate, Trump’s followers will simply write that off to press bias. Donald Trump has created a system in which there are two truths in the [U.S.]: one, the reality that sane people live in, and another, an all-encompassing system of false claims that Trump has spun with the help of Fox News."

https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/09/15/how-kamala-harris-dodged-the-two-truths-problem/

How Kamala Harris Dodged the Two Truths Problem - emptywheel

Rather than directly contesting Donald Trump's false claims at the debate, a contest that would persuade none of his followers, Kamala Harris instead demonstrated that the "truth" he offers them is built on a foundation of weakness.

emptywheel
Show threadIdealistic Pragmatist Sep 15, 2024
@emptywheel this is a really good analysis!
Show threadBarry Schwartz 🫖Sep 15, 2024

@emptywheel Heck, I ignore Daniel Dale at this point. It's just boring, and actually misses the point: Trump isn't so much LYING as giving us a PATTER.

It is all lies, but keeping track of them and counting them of them distracts from what they are, which is a HARD SELL.

Show threadDrKylaraSep 15, 2024

@emptywheel

I didn’t love Kamala Harris as my senator, except when she got to show off her skills as a former prosecutor in certain committee sessions.

This debate was yet another demonstration of her extraordinary skill in making informed and passionate arguments without compromising either her own views or the truth. I have an immense amount of respect for that.

I want that power of persuasion and strength representing the US on the international stage. And I want her (and her team’s) use of real data, statistics* and facts backing up domestic policy decisions.

*Political polls are not statistics in this case. I’m talking about analysis of measurable, reproducible data.