No. of Recommendations: 17
Democracy only works if we can agree on what happened. Not what it means, just what actually happened. We can debate whether a war was justified. We can't debate whether it occurred.
That basic requirement is now broken.
Consider this: 30% of Americans believe Joe Biden stole the presidency despite no evidence of widespread fraud after countless Republican-led investigations. One-third of adults believe COVID vaccines have caused thousands of sudden deaths in otherwise healthy people. 63% of Republicans think the January 6th defendants deserved pardons.
These are people believing things that didn't happen.
When someone claims Trump reduced the deficit, they're not just wrong about economic policy. They're wrong about reality. He added $7.8 trillion to it. When they claim crime is at record highs, they're denying FBI statistics showing violent crime near its lowest levels since the early 1970s. When they believe a billionaire who gold-plates his toilets actually cares about working families, they're living in a fantasy where a man who stiffed his own contractors for decades is somehow their champion.
This isn't a difference of perspective. It's a rejection of reality itself
Christopher Armitage
