In a recent speech billed as the “Border 9/11 Gala” at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, former President Donald Trump pushed a number of outright lies about the 2024 presidential election. He claimed the following without any evidence: That misconduct will affect the outcome.
President Trump's comments reflect claims he made in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election and are the basis for his false claims that the election was illegitimate when he lost to President Joe Biden. became.
“We're going to take our country back. Now let's go out and vote. We're going to keep a close eye on fraud,” President Trump said.
Trump, who is certain to be the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, also claimed during the event a “big lie” about 2020, saying that the Biden campaign “won last time by exploiting the new coronavirus,” and the Trump campaign He said he would not tolerate anything.so [to] This year it will “happen”.
Trump went on to say that his support was so high that the election could be called off.
“If it was just voting, they could cancel that election. We're winning that election right now,” President Trump said at the event.
At the same time, he continued to advocate election fraud conspiracy theories. “We have a lot more votes than them, but we have to be very careful. We have to be very careful,” he said.
Trump has consistently exploited his supporters' acceptance of falsehoods as truth for his own political gain. His recent patently false statements include:
- The Democratic Party claims to support the “execution” of infants after birth.
- They say immigrants take away people's social security benefits.
- The Biden administration said it has ordered an investigation by state authorities into President Trump's interference in the 2020 election.
- And he continues to claim that the 2020 presidential election was “a fraudulent election,'' despite the lack of evidence to support such claims.
Anti-Trump voices are at odds with the fact that Trump's disinformation is so effective among his base, and the fact that the media has failed to show large sections of society that he is constantly lying. I am becoming increasingly dissatisfied. Experts say there are many strategies to counter such disinformation, and some of the best options require a “long game” approach.
Susan Stokes, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, writes: project syndicate In a column last summer, I said that repetition was a key part of the equation.
“This helps keep the facts straight and appeals to voters' critical thinking skills,” Stokes wrote. “Trump himself has relied heavily on repetition, and Democrats have done the same, and his recklessness and self-centeredness are putting national security at risk and potentially exposing the American people to great harm.” should be made clear again and again.”
Christopher M. Richardson, immigration attorney and author, said: Los Angeles Times In a February op-ed, Trump's lies, particularly those about the mayhem he incited on January 6th and his attempts to portray those who took part as “hostages” of the U.S. government, are commonly known as wars. It was an editorial that reflected the historical revisionism of the Civil War. Lost Cause Movement. Looking at how black Americans have countered these narratives could be key to defeating Trump's falsehoods, Richardson said.
by the 1920s [the Lost Cause] was widely believed to be true. However, this prompted backlash from a group of black scholars who started what was then called “Black History Week,” which later grew into Black History Month in February. These educators had to contend with one of our nation's first disinformation campaigns.
Although the efforts of these scholars were not 100 percent effective, the lies propagated by supporters of the Lost Cause “are not as unchallenged as they were at the beginning of Black History Week,” Richardson continued. Ta.
Strategies these Black historians employed included teaching historical facts to elementary school students and organizing groups of older people who were receptive to their message, including other historians and progressive media. It included ensuring accurate information was disseminated “safely and securely”. educational environment. ”
“It has some resonance today. Debating on X/Twitter may be of little use to MAGA fanatics who are caught up in a new Lost Cause narrative,” Richardson said. added. “Sharing knowledge about America's democratic system with young students and other open-minded people and supporters of democracy may be more valuable. We suggest that this approach can build a lasting foundation for myth-busting education.”
talk to truth Donald Neiman, a history professor at Binghamton University who specializes in American law and politics, said of how to combat Trump's disinformation:
We need fact checkers, and we need people who challenge lies, if only to inject some sanity and seriousness into political debate. But more effective at dispelling Trump's lies is that his positions on abortion, taxes, Social Security, and climate change are deeply unpopular and/or benefit the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. It is to persistently point out what it brings.
“Harshly condemning his role in the January 6th attack on democracy and police is another way to get a relatively small number of floating voters to understand what's at stake,” Neiman said. he added.
Freelance science journalist Stephanie Pappas emphasized: scientific american By April 2023, trying to appeal to the logic and emotions of Trump supporters proved unsuccessful. Pappas said the best way to combat conspiracy theorists like Trump is through prevention – by “inoculating” people with information to counter the falsehoods spewed by deceitful politicians before they become a problem. He said it is through education.
“Getting people into an analytical mindset and explicitly teaching them how to evaluate information seems to be the best defense against the rabbit hole of conspiracy,” Pappas added.
