|
 |
Public Notice is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️
During the first Trump administration, Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler documented more than 30,000 lies by the president. Now Trump’s back in the White House and Kessler is gone, as the Post’s owner Jeff Bezos seeks to make the storied paper more MAGA-friendly.
The nature of lies in MAGA-world has changed, too. We’re a long way from “covfefe” and tumescent hurricanes Sharpied on a weather map. This is an era of lies as policy, where government priorities are based on right-wing conspiracy theories and fear-mongering. The federal agencies that survived Elon Musk’s wrecking ball are now captured by the echo chamber of his social media platform, with cabinet secretaries staring furiously into a digital funhouse mirror to divine the will of the most internet-addled members of the MAGA base.
 |
|
Harmeet Dhillon, a former Trump lawyer placed in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, even bragged to the Wall Street Journal that she “wakes up around 6am and begins her workday scrolling through X, searching for claims of discrimination … After spotting ‘a list of new horrors,’ she said, ‘I text my deputies, and we assign cases, and we get cranking.’”
Dhillon’s office has been bleeding staff, since experienced lawyers are largely disinclined to waste their time chasing down the latest target of conservative ire. But she did find someone to harass the Portland Police Bureau for daring to arrest conservative provocateur Nick Sortor during a demonstration in which he stole a burning flag from a protester. Sortor was invited to the White House the following week, where he held forth alongside Jack Posobiec, of Pizzagate fame, and online propagandist Andy Ngo, a former Dhillon client.
The message was clear: The White House is fully occupied by conspiracy theorists, and their maniacal postings will inform federal policy.
Chemtrails and climate change
One of the most persistent right-wing conspiracy theories involves contrails — aka, “chemtrails.”
We’re all familiar with the sight of airplanes drawing white lines across a blue sky as water droplets condense around particles of exhaust and freeze into ice crystals at high altitude. The science behind the phenomenon isn’t complicated — it’s not the aurora borealis! — and the Environmental Protection Agency has a handy explainer for anyone who skipped seventh grade science class.
And yet, for decades conspiracy theorists have told themselves stories about “the government” spraying harmful chemicals on Americans for nefarious purposes.
 |