Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes

Carlos Lozada

True Enough Part Two

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”[i]– Aldous Huxley

“And that is what one does, and has always done, within every prevailing morality and religion: the reasons and intents behind habits are invented only when some people start attacking the habits and asking for reasons and intents. Here we have the great dishonesty of conservatives of all times – they are the add-on-liars.”[ii]– Friedrich Nietzsche

It is undeniable that, although ideologically vacuous, Trump has authoritarian leanings and was frustrated by the limits on the executive branch, however, an underreported and underestimated reality is that the Trump era exposed the authoritarian tendencies of his opposition who had so comfortably resided in power for decades. Corporate journalists operate more like voices of the state than those tasked with holding power accountable, which is comical given the habit pundits on networks like CNN and MSNBC have of referring to Trump and any who oppose US foreign policy towards Russia as akin to RT or Sputnik. These ‘journalists’, rebranded themselves as the resistance against Trump’s allegedly unprecedented barrage of lies and attack on the free press, a bedrock of democracy. In this chapter, Carlos Lozada discusses books by partisan hacks like Jim Acosta and Brian Stelter, who in nauseating fashion depict themselves as warriors fighting for democracy on the behalf of freedom.[iii] Acosta frequently got into yelling matches with Trump in press conferences. In one instance, a Trump intern moved to take Acosta’s mic and he put his hand on her arm. Paul Joseph Watson, a conservative commentator from the right-wing outlet Infowars, posted a video of this that differed slightly from C-Span coverage, and he was accused of doctoring the footage.[iv] It is clear in the original footage from C-Span that Acosta puts his hand on the intern.[v] Instead of apologizing, outlets collectively pushed the video doctoring story, enlisting the help of vide experts and professors from Ivy League colleges to back their claims. This was a lie, and it was paraded on all the major networks as proof that Trump’s defenders need to manipulate facts to defend him. This single instance and Acosta’s insistence that he did not touch Trump’s intern, alone show that he lacks credibility, like many others who behaved as activists, not journalists. Acosta proved himself a puppet of the Washington establishment in his theatrical tirades against Trump both with him and on CNN panels.

Lozada, on Acosta’s hilariously titled book: The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America, writes that “Acosta fears journalists may be hurt or even killed by the followers of a president who promotes hatred of journalists, calling them dishonest, disgusting, scum, thieves, sleaze, and worse.”[vi] The Trump administration invoked the Espionage Act in the case of the Julian Assange indictment.[vii] The Obama administration invoked it several times, and the difference between being called mean names on Twitter and being threatened with criminal charges is stark.[viii] Trump’s charges, that the press is dishonest and sleazy, are not unjustified. The White House press corps, in Trump, encountered a president who they could capitalize in a new way, and that was contempt for him. Many reporters wrote a book on their experience covering the Trump years, not just Acosta and Stelter. Jonathan Karl of ABC news wrote two, and Carol Leonig and Phillip Rucker of the Washington Post also wrote two. It is sleazy to decry a man as a threat to democracy and all things good in the world, only to publish bestselling books, do speaking tours, appear on podcasts, and make appearances on news panels, all to make millions off the rage and hate for Trump in Americans. Millions of people who lived the Trump era in a constant state of anxiety and panic snatched these books off the shelves and ripped through them, waiting for the next one, and the next one. Trump called out the press for their cynicism and sleaziness, and rather than acknowledge it, they continued to depict themselves as on the frontlines for democracy. Lozada could have looked at books that take a different approach to media bias and the behavior of journalists during the Trump years. Much of the animus for the press in Trump’s base is rooted in the feeling that the press lives in a beltway bubble, and the perception that they nor the politicians they fawn over have met a poor person. Matt Taibbi notes this in his coverage of the 2016 presidential campaigns, and he describes moments at Trump rallies where he would point at the news journalists and call them ‘bloodsuckers’, and that they wanted him and more importantly, his supporters, to lose the election.[ix] Rural America, when Trump refers to the press as ‘scum’, see their own voices represented, giving the press, who routinely mock and disparage his supporters, a taste of their own medicine. Lozada refers to an exchange Acosta had with Stephen Miller, Trump’s adviser who crafted his controversial immigration policies, and Lozada remarks that “Viewers learned something about the administration’s thinking and historical interpretations, which means that Acosta was doing his job right.”[x] We did not need Acosta acting like a buffoon to discover that Trump and his administration were stocked with ignoramuses. His job is journalist, not thespian. Lozada can cherry pick for examples that show a rare journalistic action by Acosta to prove he is doing his job, however, there are far more examples that he is all the ‘mean things’ that Trump deemed him. Acosta is Trump. He is venal, petty, and dishonest. His railings against Trump were performance art, not actual journalism.

Trump’s lying is not unique. He offers an alternative reality to the myth making in Washington. Biden, Hilary Clinton, and Barrack Obama have lied plenty of times. Their being such stunning successes and breaks from Trump is a lie, as they are more like Trump than they would ever admit. Lozada, like much of the media did during the campaigns in 2016 and 2020 and his presidency, focuses solely on Trump’s lying. As an empire dies out, lies and spectacle are all that’s left, and the façade of democracy is torn down, and in its place is set a new set of lies, lazier and stupider than the last. There is a fantasy that before Trump, journalism in the US was a venerable institution and practice, the Bush administration concocted and laundered a set of lies about Iraq to justify the eventual invasion in 2003. Officials like Nicole Wallace, who is now a host on MSNBC, communicated these lies and much of this was exposed by Wikileaks and other journalists. Obama invoked the espionage act multiple times, wire tapped the journalists James Rosen and Sharyl Attkisson, and concluded after much internal debate that they could not charge Julian Assange, however, the Biden administration is licking their lips in anticipation at his extradition, and he will face 175 years of charges via the espionage act.[xi] These actions are far more egregious than any conduct towards journalism by the Trump administration. Although Assange’s persecution began during the Trump administration, and there was even a plot to kill him concocted by Mike Pompeo’s CIA, the Biden administration has shown it is not a deviation from its predecessor and continues the persecution of Assange.[xii] Mean tweets and insults pale in comparison to the relentless persecution of Assange. If the Department of Justice under Biden puts Assange in prison for the rest of his life, notions like Lozada’s, that the Trump presidency presented a distinct threat to truth and journalism, will become more outrageous. Lozada needs to consider the manipulation of truth by the Washington establishment and by insiders like the Clintons and the Bidens.

Lozada discusses the fact checking operation of the Washington Post, who claim that Trump was nothing like they had ever covered before, and he writes that “Most politicians back down after their lies have been publicly revealed, but not so Trump, not even when his favorite social- media platform feels compelled to fact-check his tweets.”[xiii] On the surface, it seems necessary for these fact checkers to work overtime to cover a president who lies far more than his predecessors; however, Trump’s lying is not unique. He is less an aberration and more a continuance of the fibs tossed around by previous administrations. Before Trump lying was subtle and kept behind closed doors. He openly fibs and engages in lazy mythmaking, and why was there no such fact checking operation covering the Clintons, or Bush, or Obama, or Biden, at the Washington Post? If there was, it was nowhere near as massive as what was revved up under Trump. There is a blatant bias in fact checking operations. During the 2016 presidential campaign, a counter with Trump’s lies was held up by news outlets like CNN, however, there was not one to measure Clinton’s lies. If Trump told an accidental truth, like that America is bogged down in the Middle East, that the military-industrial complex is real and dangerous, or the vaccine will be ready within the year because of Operation Warp Speed, it was noted as a misleading statement.[xiv]

The fact checkers have taken a break at the Washington Post and other outlets like Politico and The New York Times.[xv] As Biden was being sworn in, outlets proclaimed that it would be a relief to not need to work overtime exposing the lies of the new administration- this is absurd. Lozada seems content with the notion that his and other liberal outlets are the sole arbiters of truth, and that the officials who occupied the Obama and Biden administrations are a welcome return to the truth. Not only does Biden have a history of incessant lying, from fudging his academic record and plagiarizing speeches to falsely claiming he marched for civil rights alongside thousands of others, his administration is filled to the brim with professional liars and homicidal maniacs.[xvi] It is this political class who paved the way for Trump and will do so again. Lozada’s unwillingness to set aside his feelings for Trump, and his knee jerk reaction to his lies, represents an inability to step back and see that the erosion of truth has been ongoing for decades. Truth and media decay long predates Trump. He did not necessarily appear at just the right time, as the rise of someone like him has been inevitable for a while. He argued for example in 2013 that entering Syria was a huge mistake.[xvii] He had been railing against ‘typical politicians’ for years before ran, and this was a large part of his message in 2016. In his first presidential debate with Hilary Clinton, he responded to a statement on policy from her by saying, “Typical politician. All talk, no action. Sounds good, doesn’t work. Never going to happen. Our country is suffering because people like Secretary Clinton have made such bad decisions in terms of our jobs and in terms of what’s going on.”[xviii] He is not wrong here. He is telling a truth that resonates with voters who are angry at the entire political establishment. They feel lied to and mocked and are justified in this feeling. This is a side of this topic that Lozada needed to explore to add nuance to his analysis. The grains of truth in Trump’s messaging, especially about his opposition. The lies spread by politicians like Clinton that make people feel like they’ve been screwed over, are crucial to reflect on if we are to learn from the Trump era.

Focusing on Trump’s lazy lies risks exonerating the ruling class of its repeated lies and mythmaking. Russiagate is a prime example. Trump’s lies are bothersome not because they are lies, but because they are not the right lies, and his spinning exposes the falsity of the narrative pushed by the Washington establishment. When he told the truth it bothered them more than when he lied. An example is when, in an interview he said that the military-industrial complex was real and dangerous, and the response was intellectuals and defense officials aghast.[xix] Trump also pointed out that the DNC shafted Bernie Sanders, which Sanders himself would never publicly say, and as if via automated response, articles and tweets denouncing Trump for his statements were rolled out.[xx] There are many truths to be parsed and considered in the rise and popularity of Trump. He lied and engaged in corruption on the same scale as his predecessors, however the difference is that he made it look as horrible and craven as it is. Defenders of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations were most disgusted by this, not the lies themselves. Lozada needed to add such consideration to his analysis to explore deeply ‘how we thought here’. He had a chance in this section to explore the decay of truth further than the basic tenets of corporate media, that it’s the fault of a right-wing media complex that support Trump, him and his administration, postmodernism, and the decline of trust in expertise. Some introspection on the role his outlet and others like it had in the decay of truth and faith in journalism would have added credibility to Lozada’s declared intent to look past personalities and biases. He could have shown the level of reflection that is required to learn from the Trump era.

The exact process that Lozada explains as how Trump lies and perpetuates a lie can be applied to several conspiracy theories and lies spread about Trump. The right has QAnon and neo-Nazis, and the ruling class has Russiagate, the idea that Trump’s movement is a white supremacist movement, and that any dissent comes from the far-right. One is fringe, the other is mainstream. Lozada should have mentioned the Washington Post’s mythmaking and servitude to the Washington establishment. The role the FBI has in making far-right terrorism seem more a threat than it is reveals the cynicism and deceit going on behind the scenes in Washington. Lozada was fine with the empire’s lies when they remained cordial and well-articulated, but when they are lethargic and oafishly delivered by a buffoon like Trump, suddenly, they are fatal and endanger democracy.

Lozada, like many others who freak out over Trump’s lies, are navel gazing egoists who forget that it is their empire of lies that led to Trump being viable and his fantastical vision appealing to so many voters. His continued viability proves that the alterative that Biden was supposed to be is a façade. Lies and grand narratives about Trump and his movement are being doubled down on instead of being questioned or deconstructed, and there is still no moment of introspection. Lozada does not allow for a nuanced take on Trump and how the mainstream media contributed to his rise, and it is evident that he sees Trump as being the culprit behind why there is distrust in US media. This is not a consensus among the public. A poll from Pew Research looks at who people associate with fake news, and there is a partisan divide on who is to blame. Democrats are more likely to blame Trump, while Republicans are more likely to blame the news media, and as they point out, “Fewer Americans mention President Trump and his administration than mention the news media when asked about made-up news.”[xxi] The view often perpetuated is that Trump is a main source of fake news, and journalists present themselves as protectors of democracy and resisters of fake news.

Journalists often have a disgusting egoism and an inflated perception of their honesty and integrity. Pew Research also conducted a poll that reveals journalists tend to have an inflated view of themselves. What polls show is that there is a huge disconnect between journalists and the public on how good a job the news media is doing in reporting. For example, 46% of journalists feel that they have a strong connection with the public, while only 26% of the public feel a strong connection with news media, and Democrats favor ethnic and racial diversity while Republicans favor political diversity in who is investigating and delivering the news.[xxii] This is unsurprising. Often, if there is a conservative on a news panel, his or her role is a punching bag, not a member of a cordial and enriching discussion. Journalism has become a profession populated by highly educated and upper-class people, and this is true across the political spectrum. Commentators on Fox News and other right-wing outlets also live in a bubble. The bubble inhabited by professional journalists results in narratives that in no way comport with reality being disseminated as if they are doctrine, like Trump is a white supremacist on par with Adolf Hitler, or that Vladimir Putin controls him and his foreign policy. Lozada’s inability to escape this journalistic bubble hampers his work. If he treated the accounts of Acosta and Stelter with warranted skepticism, he would have provided a more nuanced analysis. Lozada is evidently in a bubble, and he may also be concerned about being harshly critical of other high-profile journalists, as part of the problem with US media is that any voices outside of the overarching, monolithic, anti-Trump narrative are dismissed and pilloried. Lozada needs to sell his book and keep his job in the Washington Post, so it is understandable that he focuses on the literature that he does, however, this does not excuse him from taking a simplified approach where he promised to be nuanced. The narrative of Trump waging a war on the press is one that needs nuance, and Lozada, whether it’s due to his position or bias, fails to do this.

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[i] Huxley, Aldous. Complete Essays. Edited by Robert S. Baker and James Sexton. Vol. 2. Chicago: I.R. Dee, 2000.

[ii] Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. Edited by Bernard Williams. Translated by Josefine Nauckhoff and Adrian Del Caro. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

[iii] Lozada, Carlos. What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2020.

[iv] Stephen, Bijan. “The White House Used a Doctored Video to Tell a Lie.” The Verge, November 8, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/8/18076532/fake-doctored-video-cnn-cspan-infowars-sarah-huckabee-sanders-jim-acosta., and Jacobs, Ben. “White House Defends Doctored Trump-Acosta Clip Used to Justify Reporter’s Ban.” The Guardian, November 8, 2018, sec. US news. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/08/cnn-jim-acosta-white-house-defends-decision-revoke-press-pass.

[v] “User Clip: Disputed Interaction Between WH Aide and Acosta | C-SPAN.Org.” Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4759587/user-clip-disputed-interaction-wh-aide-acosta.

[vi] Lozada, Carlos. What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era.

[vii] McCarthy, Tom. “Assange’s Indictment Escalates Trump’s Attacks on Free Speech, Experts Say.” The Guardian, May 24, 2019, sec. Media. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/24/julian-assange-arrest-trump-free-speech-attack-experts.

[viii] Obama Used the Espionage Act to Put a Record Number of Reporters’ Sources in Jail, and Trump Could Be Even Worse.” Freedom of the Press. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://freedom.press/news/obama-used-espionage-act-put-record-number-reporters-sources-jail-and-trump-could-be-even-worse/., and Timm, Trevor. “Trump Spied on Journalists. So Did Obama. America Needs More Press Freedom Now.” The Guardian, June 15, 2021, sec. Opinion. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/15/donald-trump-barack-obama-us-press-freedom., and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Obama Administration Plugs up Leaks.” Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.rcfp.org/journals/obama-administration-plugs/.

[ix] Stockwell, Norman. “‘It’s a Scary Time:’ Matt Taibbi Reflects on His Travels on the Trump Campaign Trail.” Progressive.org, March 25, 2017. https://progressive.org/api/content/852ff0d0-07fd-11e7-88ac-0aea2a882f79/., and Taibbi, Matt. Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus. First. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2017.

[x] Lozada, Carlos. What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era.

[xi] Attkisson, Sharyl. “The Government Spied on Me. You Could Be Next. | RealClearPolitics.” Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/05/10/the_government_spied_on_me_you_could_be_next_140291.html.

[xii] Borger, Julian. “CIA Officials under Trump Discussed Assassinating Julian Assange – Report.” The Guardian, September 27, 2021, sec. Media. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/sep/27/senior-cia-officials-trump-discussed-assassinating-julian-assange., and Myers, Fraser. “Everything about the Assange Extradition Is Rotten,” June 20, 2022. https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/06/20/everything-about-the-assange-extradition-is-rotten/., and MacAskill, Ewen. “Julian Assange like a Hi-Tech Terrorist, Says Joe Biden.” The Guardian, December 19, 2010, sec. Media.

[xiii] Lozada, Carlos. What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era.

[xiv] “Joe Biden and the Twilight of the ‘Fact-Checkers.’” Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/04/28/joe-biden-and-the-twilight-of-the-fact-checkers/.

[xv] Diamond, Dan. “The Crash Landing of ‘Operation Warp Speed.’” POLITICO. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/17/crash-landing-of-operation-warp-speed-459892.

[xvi] Weindling, Jacob. “That Time Joe Biden Knowingly Lied About Marching in the Civil Rights Movement.” pastemagazine.com, June 4, 2019. https://www.pastemagazine.com/politics/joe-biden/joe-biden-knowingly-lied-about-marching-in-the-cvi/., and Devine, Miranda. “Tree of ‘Lies’ for Shameless Joe Biden over Faux Synagogue Visit: Devine.” New York Post (blog), September 6, 2021. https://nypost.com/2021/09/05/tree-of-lies-for-shameless-joe-biden-devine/.

[xvii] Merica, Dan. “Trump Repeatedly to Obama in 2013: Don’t Attack Syria.” CNN. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/trump-tweet-syria-obama/index.html.

[xviii] Staff, Politico. “Full Transcript: First 2016 Presidential Debate.” POLITICO. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/full-transcript-first-2016-presidential-debate-228761.

[xix] Wilkerson, Lawrence. “Trump Says the Military Industrial Complex Is Pressuring Him into a War With Iran.” The Real News Network, May 21, 2019. http://therealnews.com/trump-says-the-military-industrial-complex-is-pressuring-him-into-a-war-with-iran.

[xx] Cohen, David. “Trump Warns Sanders He Is Being Cheated Again.” POLITICO. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/28/donald-trump-bernie-sanders-biden-1291377., and Egan, Lauren. “Trump Tells ‘Crazy Bernie’ Sanders: ‘Don’t Let Them Take It Away from You!’” NBC News. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-tells-crazy-bernie-sanders-don-t-let-them-take-n1141206.

[xxi] Mitchell, Amy, Jeffrey Gottfried, Galen Stocking, Mason Walker, and Sophia Fedeli. “Many Americans Say Made-Up News Is a Critical Problem That Needs to Be Fixed.” Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project (blog), June 5, 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2019/06/05/many-americans-say-made-up-news-is-a-critical-problem-that-needs-to-be-fixed/.

[xxii] Gottfried, Jeffrey, Amy Mitchell, Mark Jurkowitz, and Jacob Liedke. “Journalists Sense Turmoil in Their Industry Amid Continued Passion for Their Work.” Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project (blog), June 14, 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2022/06/14/journalists-sense-turmoil-in-their-industry-amid-continued-passion-for-their-work/.

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