When President Donald Trump holds a press conference, he often gets a comprehensive fact-check from CNN and MS NOW. CNN's Daniel Dale will go point by point, debunking false or inaccurate claims. And MS NOW hosts Chris Jansing and Ana Cabrera will pause coverage of a Trump presser to point out something that's blatantly false. Trump typically responds to debunking on CNN or MS NOW by attacking it as "fake news."
In a biting article published on January 13, Salon's Chauncey DeVega argues that Trump's use of "distortions" is an effective tool for the president because MAGA voters and politicians take comfort in an "alternate reality."
"Donald Trump has constructed a political hall of mirrors," DeVega warns. "It is a sinister, distorting reality that shows the president only what he wishes to see: fantasies of greatness and unchecked power. The effect disorients those who still live in the reality-based community, with centrists, institutionalists, mainstream liberals and progressives among the most vulnerable. For the president and his MAGA followers, though, these distortions are more comforting and real than the outside world. Since Trumpism is a political personality cult, the hall of mirrors and alternate reality it creates are a powerful tool for tying its followers to their dear leader."
DeVega adds, "This illusion is not to be found at some traveling carnival in small-town America. It exists in the White House and is expanding across the United States — and, increasingly, the world, where Trump's behavior is, by his own admission, constrained only by 'my own morality…. my own mind.'"
This "alternate reality," DeVega laments, is reinforced by Trump loyalists in Congress and his administration. The Salon journalist even compares Trump's Cabinet meetings to North Korea, where communist officials relentlessly praise "Dear Leader."
"In scenes that recall North Korea, or some other dictatorship or banana republic," DeVega observes, "Cabinet meetings increasingly function as loyalty rituals, with participants taking turns praising Trump's greatness and flawless leadership…. The president's followers in Congress want to put his face on the silver dollar and other currency. They also want to see Trump's face on Mount Rushmore."
DeVega continues, "The U.S. Navy recently announced plans for a new type of 'battleship' called 'the Trump-class'…. Trump's hall of mirrors is much more than narcissism or egomania. It is a vainglorious Orwellian project to rewrite America's public memory with the goal of further hollowing out democracy and the rule of law.
Chauncey DeVega's full article for Salon is available at this link.
