In my regular blog post on May 30 (see here), I cited the highly significant words of John 8:32 in the New Testament: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Those words have relevance far beyond the context in which they were originally spoken/written, relevance that extends to the chaotic political situation in the U.S. at this time.
Since the announcement of the jury’s verdict that Donald J. Trump was guilty of the 34 felonies he had been charged with in New York City, there has been a multitude of lies and misleading statements spoken and written by Trump himself and by Trump supporters, including some of the right-wing news media. And that is a major problem.
There is a huge number of people in this country whose information about the result of the historic trial in which a former U.S. President was convicted of a felony comes from Trump himself, from biased media such as Fox News or Breitbart.com (among many others), and/or from “talk radio.” If that is how people get the information that they think is true, how are they ever going to know the truth?
Here is the link to a post made on May 31 by APNews.com, stating that in the talk Trump made in front of Trump Tower that day, “he repeated numerous false or unsupported claims” ranging “from blaming the Biden administration for orchestrating the hush money case to other false claims about the trial and other issues facing the country.” (Associated Press, AP, is one of the most unbiased news sources.)
Even major newspapers can be highly biased. A case in point is the New York Post, whose daily printed copies are about the same as the Washington Post (about 136,000 in 2023, although about half of the print circulation of the New York Times). The front page of New York Post’s “late city final” for May 30 had the bold headline “INJUSTICE” at the top and then, “NYC jury makes Donald Trump first felon president after political hit job.”
“Injustice” and “political hit job” are words of opinion; they are not objective facts. Similarly, much of what appears on Fox News is pro-Trump, pro-MAGA, right-wing propaganda. Consider “Fox News on the evening of the Trump felony conviction,” an article posted today (here) by historian John Fea.
The voting public badly needs to have true, factual information about what is happening in general and about the result of the Trump trial in particular. They need to be set free from the lies, misleading statements, propaganda, innuendo, and deception of untrustworthy people–and especially of Trump himself–and “news” sources.
But my question remains, when and how will the people in this county who are Trump supporters be able to know and accept the truth about Trump and his conviction in order to be set free from all the falsehood surrounding them?
The View from This Seat (supplementary blog) 
Darn! I thought you were going to answer your question. My answer would be we will never communicate that accurately/effectively. Human nature has self interest. Republicans see that they are always going to be the minority, but they want the power of the majority, so lying is one of the ways they manipulate. Other ways might be gerrymandering, bribing, intimidation, blackmail, physically or mentally forcing, violence, military power/murder, genocide, etc. Miseducation it’s just one of the milder ways. To get the power, they have to change the system to something other than democracy… Autocracy, theocracy, Patriarchy, Matriarchy, oligarchy… Something that makes a minority get their way. majority Rule will never work for them.
Bob, I think you are probably right. But that is the problem I am struggling with. Is the only possible future one in which there are violent clashes–or a permanent takeover by the MAGA Republicans and a loss of democracy as we know it now? If that is the case, what can or what should we do?
I’m about to retire, having spent 21 years in military service serving this country. I wasn’t born in America, but if there’s one thing that I admired about the United States long before I emigrated here, it was its functioning institutions, but over the years, especially since Trump’s emergence on this country’s political scene, I’m baffled, to an extent even ashamed, of what I see happening now. How do I explain to my folks back in Africa, those who look up to America as the beacon of democracy, that a felon is about to stand as a candidate for the presidency of this country? Yet, there are those who stand on rooftops, proclaiming, as he does very often, that he’s an “innocent man”? Where are the Barry Goldwaters in the Republican Party, those men who had the guts to tell the truth, even to the president from their own? That this country has gotten down to this level is beyond comprehension. But I still strongly believe that this is nothing but a blur, that guardrails of this country’s institutions would stand strong.
Joseph, I appreciate you writing early yesterday morning, and I’m sorry to be slow in responding. I certainly hope you are right in what you said in your last sentence. I repeatedly think that there is no way Trump will be re-elected as President. But I also thought there was no way he was going to be nominated as the Republican candidate in 2016 and then after he was there was no way he was going to be elected President. But I was obviously wrong then, and I have to realize that I may be wrong now. The Republican Party has increasingly made it harder for people who are likely to vote for Democrats to vote, and it seems that Russian misinformation and anti-Democratic Party propaganda has most likely increased since 2016 and 2020. I certainly hope that what we are seeing by the MAGA Republicans support for Trump is “nothing but a blur” and that there will be a Blue wave in November that will move the country toward what years ago was considered normalcy. I think we need a two-Party system in this country, but two parties that are neither extremist in what they say and do.
When 34 felony convictions suddenly seem to be nearly meaningless, it truly is time for reflection. The Bible tells us that the love of money is root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), and the love of money has addicted America to the movie “truth” that “Greed is good!” How does one get the Zeitgeist to change? The only answer I know is what you lead off with, “the truth will set you free.”
Sometimes I get too cryptic, so let me expand on “Greed is good!” Way back in 1987 in the movie Wall Street the lead character, Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas), says, “The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” This famous quote is what I am comparing to the verse from Timothy.
Thanks for the clarification, Craig. I see now what you meant by “the movie ‘truth’.” I do remember seeing the movie Wall Street, and probably saw it more than once, but I hadn’t remembered those pivotal words you referred to.
But my question remains, what can we do to help people know the truth that, in fact, greed is not good–and neither is lying or misleading people with false, biased information?
Leroy:
You are “right-on.” The bondage of falsehood is chocking our country to death. I pray, “Lord Jesus, come quickly. . .a solution is out of our hands!’ My humble contribution to a solution is in a book I have coming out in August or Sept., What Does American Want In Its President. It addresses the Trumpian belief and culture versus that of a pure democracy with the challenge to make a choice based, not upon party or pressure, but on moral conviction.
Blessings,
Truett
Truett
Here are comments received by email from local Thinking Friend Vern Barnet:
“How will people be rightly informed — by a presidential debate ( two are planned, I think) with moderators asking fact-based questions and a well-prepared Biden. By remaining righteous GOP leaders finding an effective united voice.
“And I now think that if Biden were to publicly urge NY Sate governor Kathy Hochul to pardon Trump immediately, this would given Biden a stage to speak to the MAGA folks. This needs to be done before appeals in order to permanently stain Trump as a pardoned felon and save the agony of a disputed penalty which would only be appealed anyhow.”
Vern, thanks for your response to the question I posed–and, indeed, the presidential debates could be of great value–and the first one is now just a little more than three weeks away. But if Trump “loses” the debate, I am quite sure he will say it was rigged since he has consistently criticized CNN, saying the questions were not good or the moderators wouldn’t let him speak, etc., etc. — and most of the MAGA folk will agree with him and not be changed by how the debate turns out. It is also possible that Biden will make several gaffes and will be ridiculed by Trump and his followers. So, I while I hope there will be positive things coming out of the debate(s), I am not optimistic that such will be the case.
Yesterday, Thinking Friend Glenn Hinson in Kentucky sent me these comments and question:
“You raise ask urgent question, Leroy. I don’t know the answer. Trump himself leads the parade of truth-deniers. Much of the distortion comes out of religious believers’ mouths. Have you read Tim Alberta’s The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. It’s a whole culture!
And then Thinking Friend Charles Kiker in Texas asked me to post these comments he sent by email:
“I find it distressing but not surprising that Biden is being blamed for the trial and conviction of Trump in a New York court. I had also thought that a commutation of the sentence, not a pardon, might be helpful politically for Biden. But of course Biden could not issue a pardon/commutation of a conviction from a state court. I stress “commute” because, as I understand it at least, a pardon would mean DJT was no longer a felon, whereas a commutation, again as I understand, would not cleanse the record. Your suggestion that Biden ask the NY governor to do this is right on. But even that could be seen as federal meddling in state business. HR Speaker Johnson, as a constitutional scholar, knows Biden has no power in a state court, but says it anyway. As a professed Christian he knows it’s a sin to lie. But he does it anyway.”
It is extremely difficult for anyone to admit their worldview is wrong. In fact, many literally would rather die.
Thanks, Ray, for reading and responding to the “extra” blog post I made on Saturday afternoon. I think you are certainly right about how extremely difficult it is for anyone to change their worldview–and the older people get the more difficult that becomes. (That is the reason religious conversions are far fewer for older people.) I don’t know if many literally die to keep from changing their worldview, but certainly some people lie, malign others, and even kill (most usually by character assassination) those who seriously challenge/question their worldview.
Here are further comments from Ray in response to what I wrote with regard to his earlier comments:
“Thank you, Leroy.
“I was making a meager attempt to quote from Paul Hiebert. Here are his words verbatim.
“‘To question a worldview is to challenge the very foundations of life, and we resist such challenges with strong emotional reactions. There are few human fears greater than the fear of a loss of a sense of order and meaning. We are even willing to die for those beliefs because they make death itself meaningful (Hiebert, The Gospel in Human Contexts, 158).
“I would offer the 9/11 terrorists as just one example.”
Here are comments received a few minutes ago from Thinking Friend Virginia Belk in New Mexico:
“I agree that much journalism today is opinion, rather than fact. I think the fact that reporters sit in front of TV cameras and discuss the typed reports that are coming out of the court room, legislative committees, and press conferences, as they are occurring, contribute to the opinionated news reports.
“Fred and I are reading (I read aloud and we discuss) Zinn’s history, Killers of the Flower Moon, Africatown, Lies my Teacher Told Me, 1491, etc. Some time ago, I read White Trash, which is about the mistreatment of poor folks who were sent to North America to do the dirty work and whose descendants are the “red necks.” I’ve written to about this segment of our population, previously.
“On my own, I found and read The Suppressed History of America by Paul Schrag and Xaviant Haze. In addition to telling about several anomalies in records of the encounters with Indian/Indigenous people, the “Corps of Discovery” 1804-1806 also found evidence of other, much earlier European, Chinese/Oriental, and African explorations and settlements on this continent.
“Jefferson’s plan was to create a nation of small farmers, who would be the backbone of the nation. He intended to civilize / European-ize the Indian/indigenous people and add them to this farming economy. This would free up vast hunting grounds for the expanding population of white settlers.
“These authors stated that the revolution was sparked by The Currency Act of 1794; the act, written by the House of Rothchild, who owned the Bank of England, did not bother with loans to individuals, but curried to ‘fractional reserve banking,’ or loans to governments with guarantees of repayment by public taxes. This act made it illegal for the colonies to print their own money and also required repayment in silver or gold. It put a damper on the colonies’ independent trading.
“When the revolution was over, our new nation was deeply in debt; Washington, not realizing Alexander Hamilton was an agent for the House of Rothchild/Bank of England, borrowed from him. Hamilton set up the First Bank of the United States in 1791, but it was actually owned by the House of Rothchild. I infer this is a major reason our nation prefers trade and manufacturing over independent individualism.
“This seems to me to underlie the irrational stance of the supporters of the former president; they seem to say that they did better under DJT than under JRB.”
I generally agree with your blog statements and with the comments left by others. Of course, if someone is amoral and believes himself to be above the law, then he will consider himself to always be innocent, although no one knows what Trump actually believes.
I have little doubt that Trump’s conviction was correct, but there is the question of the seriousness of the crime(s). Bragg’s predecessor refused to indict Trump for reasons not clear to me, but Bragg clearly believed he had enough evidence to convict Trump, which proved correct.
I am amused, and often appalled, by the nonsense emanating from Fox News and other rightwing sources. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to counter misinformation. Even so, those news sources with high journalistic standards needs to push the facts and the truth consistently and relentlessly.
Yesterday, I received this email message from Eric:
“I forgot to mention that the latest issue of The Atlantic (June 2024) has a lengthy article by Anne Applebaum entitled, “Democracy is Losing the Propaganda War.” Applebaum argues that “autocrats in China, Russia, and elsewhere are now making common cause with MAGA Republicans to discredit liberalism and freedom around the world.” You may already be aware of the article.
Thanks, Eric, for mentioning this. I have high regard for Anne Applebaum, but I have not seen her article in The Atlantic. But even without reading it, I am inclined to believe that her words which you cited are, sadly, all too true.
Where is the truth in what I have heard?
This is a follow up since I hit the wrong button earlier. All jurors in the Trump trial passed the inspection of both prosecution and defense. Was the judge a financial supporter of the Democrat Party and his daughter worked for previous Democrat campaigns? Truth can obviously impact an opinion.
Tom, from what I have heard (and taken as being factual), the judge gave $35 to Biden and the Democrat’s campaign. If that is true, it doesn’t seem to indicate that he would be overly biased in fulfilling his role as being a fair and impartial judge. And why should parents be disqualified for something because of what their children do or have done?
I am not sure I understand what you mean or are implying by your final sentence, but if you mean the truth about his financial support of the Democratic Party and about his daughter’s work is the “truth” you are referring to, I disagree that either are such that the judge’s decision would be significantly impacted by either of those two things.
For more on this matter, some of you may want to read the following June 3 article:
From Fox News to the Far(ther) Right — Calls for Violence and Retribution Follow Trump Verdict | Religion Dispatches