The concept of “the big lie” is essentially that if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it people will eventually believe it. Since most people tell small lies themselves in their everyday lives, while they would never tell colossal lies (so have trouble believing someone else would), they are more likely to fall for the big lie than the small lie.
President Trump has not only been a master media manipulator, he has also been a master of the big lie - simple statements that strike an emotional chord, require no additional explanation, can be repeated loudly and often, and are amplified by the conservative media/social media echo chamber. Recent examples of President Trump’s big lies include, the Russia hoax, CNN and The New York Times are fake news, and mainstream media is the enemy of the people.
The regular (i.e., mainstream) news outlets have neither the time nor inclination to continually dispute every claim. The other side is never given ample time to refute these lies, since that takes longer explanations that don’t fit neatly into today’s headline news culture – so occasional (even frequent) fact-checks are not nearly enough to drown out the big lie. And while much is made of the President’s Twitter feed, it was television that gave it coverage beyond the 20% or so of the country that actively uses that social media site.
When he was a candidate for president, Donald Trump was willing to be interviewed everywhere, often calling in by phone (at the time very unusual for any politician). And even the most liberal news networks, such as MSNBC, were salivating to get him on air and give him a virtually uncontested platform. After he became president, he didn’t have to spend any time answering tough questions for non-conservative outlets, he could just tweet something and he knew CNN, MSNBC and the broadcast networks would give it extensive coverage. He reserved most of his in-person interviews for the friendly Fox News hosts. TV was Trump’s friend and he knew how to use it.
The big lie can only be maintained, however, as long as you can shield people from reality. President Trump and his surrogates have run head-first into something that has stopped them in their tracks – “the big truth” (something so obviously true that no amount of lying and no misinformation campaign can make you disbelieve it for long).
The first big truth, of course, is the global COVID-19 pandemic. This is different from virtually every other tragedy or catastrophe in our lifetime. While it is a national and worldwide event, it is also occurring in every city and every local community across the country.
Initially, the epicenter of the virus was the New York metropolitan area, with much of the country being relatively unaffected. The big lie that the virus was under control, it was really just a northeast problem, and the rest of the country could open for business was continually repeated by the President, Vice President, most Republican governors, Fox News, and other conservative media and websites. Despite virtual unanimity among the medical and scientific community that this was not the case, this message was able to resonate with Trump’s base and beyond.
Then came Memorial Day, when people throughout the country congregated and attended large gatherings – at about the same time that states with Trump-following governors, such as Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia, started reopening non-essential businesses without strictly following the CDC recommendations for multi-phased openings. Needless to say, new coronavirus cases spiked sharply in many southern and western states.
People tend to be more familiar with their favorite local newscasters, like them, and find them more credible when reporting local disasters than they do national correspondents. They also tend to trust their local politicians more than national representatives. Some Republican governors can continually deny, dismiss, and downplay the virus, and move to quickly reopen a state, and many of their constituents will believe them – until it hits their town. Then it’s on the local news every day and people start to have friends and family members who are personally affected.
Eventually even most GOP governors and mayors started to realize a pandemic is not something with which you can play politics for too long. Republican senators have started to come out publicly in favor of social distancing and wearing face masks, leaving the President virtually alone on an island of denial (along with a few remaining sycophantic governors). The big lie almost always succumbs to the big truth. Even the Republican Governor of Texas, a strong Trump ally, who had previously forbidden any local counties from mandating people wear face masks, finally relented and issued an executive order requiring face masks in public.
With President Trump and Vice President Pence continuing to act as if the virus is under control and will “soon disappear,” they are increasing seeming out of touch – even among many of their supporters. Turn on the news today and you’re likely to see President Trump flouting not wearing a mask and saying there’s too much testing, followed by medical experts from his own administration wearing masks and saying more testing is essential to stop the spread of the virus (even Vice President Pence has finally started wearing a mask in public). Trump and Pence are both on TV saying the worst is over and they don’t expect any second wave. The next scene shows charts of how much U.S. cases are increasing, with government officials saying they’re preparing for a second wave. Trump and Pence tout how well they are handling the virus. The next segment talks about the EU banning travel from the U.S. because of how poorly we are handling the virus.
The President and Vice President continue to encourage large rallies, with no social distancing and masks optional. There’s actually video of Trump campaign workers removing social distancing stickers from seating at one of his rallies. At the same time, their own medical experts are saying people should stay away from large gatherings, and if they need to go somewhere, social distance and wear masks. For some reason the Trump campaign was surprised that their Tulsa rally was less than one-third filled. Even many Trump supporters can see the big truth, with many, particularly older folks, fearing large gatherings. President Trump’s national bully pulpit is not powerful enough to overcome the consistent local messaging of the big truth.
Another example of the big truth was when an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, was killed by a White police officer. Unlike virtually every other well-documented instance of police abuse, there were no excuses for the racists, the police-supporters at any cost, the heads-in-the-sanders, the status-quo-ers, or the if-only-ers. You couldn’t say “he’d be alive if only he didn’t attack the cops, if only he didn’t grab the gun, if only he didn’t just rob a convenience store, if only he didn’t resist, if only he got out of the car faster, if only he hadn’t been drinking, if only he wasn’t selling loose cigarettes, if only he didn’t look like that other Black guy who really committed a crime…”
When Rayshard Brooks was shot in the back by police, for example, as most people were righteously outraged, Fox News brought on several people, day after day, to opine that the shooting was justified because Mr. Brooks had resisted arrest, grabbed a police taser and was running away (another “if only he…”), with virtually no pushback from the various Fox hosts. Many conservative media outlets took the same stance.
This was not the case with George Floyd. There were simply no excuses possible. There was an 8-minute video showing a White cop put his knee on a handcuffed and unresisting Black man’s neck until he died, with three other cops standing by and letting it happen. Callous, nonchalant, and disgusting, it immediately outraged a nation and led to months-long protests for racial justice and police reform across the country. Even Fox News anchors and opinion hosts had to admit this was revolting and unjustified. This seemed to be a wake-up call to White people across the country that this type of thing happens all the time, and African-Americans have a different and justifiably more fearful view of the police than they do.
After a short period of sympathy (although not empathy) President Trump, Fox News, and other conservative media and online outlets have tried to shift the discussion away from George Floyd and toward rioting/looting, liberal calls to defund the police, attacks on cops, and the idea that there are only a few bad apples and no systemic racism among law enforcement (and, of course, the toppling of Confederate statues). These have been largely overshadowed by diverse racial justice protests, swiftly shifting attitudes, and action – such as NASCAR banning the confederate flag, the NFL saying it previously made a mistake not backing player protests against police violence, cities voting to remove Confederate monuments, advertisers boycotting Facebook until it more strongly addresses hate speech, long-running brands dispensing with racist imagery and icons, Mississippi voting to remove the Confederate symbol from its state flag, nationwide calls for police reform, and even the Washington Redskins finally agreeing to change its “racist” name (the Cleveland Indians are also considering changing its nickname).
While we don’t yet know the extent of real change that will leap forth from this moment, it does seem that a large number of White people are willing to come to terms with some of the more racist aspects of American history, re-examine their own feelings (or at least learn more and acknowledge its existence), and are willing to actually do something about it.
The real world is starting to overshadow, overpower, and overwrite Trump’s scripted reality show. Trump supporters are starting to have friends and relatives get sick or die. Trump campaign workers and Secret Service agents are testing positive for COVID-19. Even Fox news is forced to report these facts (its primetime opinion hosts notwithstanding). Protests for racial justice continue throughout the country, as more and more cases where unarmed African-Americans have died in police custody are being publicly reexamined. Even President Trump can’t tweet or get on TV often or long enough to counteract the ongoing daily narratives (and his surrogates seem less and less willing to go anywhere outside the friendly confines of Fox News). President Trump’s recent speech on July 3rd at Mount Rushmore, where he mentioned the coronavirus once and George Floyd not at all, and defended Confederate monuments, might have been red meat for his base, but it made a lot of other people, including Republican politicians who are up for re-election, cringe. TV is no longer Trump’s friend.
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