Witch hunt. Spygate. Hoax. Rigged. Fake news.
These are some of the words Trumpistas often use in their campaign to discredit those who don't agree or are investigating potential violations of law.
By regularly referring to news reports as fake, false, biased or other terms, Trump and his minions plant the seeds of doubt that soon sprout into weeds of untruth that crowd out the bloom of fact.
"Truth is variable," insists Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. "They may have a different version of the truth than we do."
But that's what courts are for, where a judge and jury decide which "version of truth" is more relevant to the issue being debated. Moreover, such a debate can go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Some truths, however, are not debatable. For example, denying having said something even as multiple recordings on many occasions show just what the denier said. There was a time, before sound recording devices, when a politician could get away with denying his words, insisting that the dispute was his word against that of a reporter holding a pad and pencil. And as "everyone" knows, the politician can insist, reporters can't be trusted, and the news media are the enemy of the people.
Which makes one wonder: What's he been smoking?
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