{"id":5195,"date":"2017-02-06T18:23:34","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T23:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=5195"},"modified":"2017-02-07T14:00:35","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T19:00:35","slug":"today-in-alternative-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/today-in-alternative-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"Today in &#8220;Alternative Facts&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_5196\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"5196\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/today-in-alternative-facts\/donald-trump\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command.jpg?fit=653%2C361&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"653,361\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;AP&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1484151602&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Donald Trump&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Donald Trump\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command.jpg?fit=300%2C166&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command.jpg?fit=653%2C361&amp;ssl=1\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5196\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5196\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command-300x166.jpg?resize=300%2C166\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command.jpg?resize=300%2C166&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command.jpg?w=653&amp;ssl=1 653w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5196\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo credit: AP\/Evan Vucci)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>More alternative facts from the new administration. \u00a0Am\u00a0I mistaken to see a\u00a0pattern? \u00a0Looks to me like they always affirm the unhinged, insecure and yet self-congratulatory world inside the president&#8217;s head.<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/s2\/favicons?domain=talkingpointsmemo.com\" \/>\u00a0<a class=\"clickable\" href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/livewire\/trump-negative-polls-fake-news\">Trump Declares That &#8216;Any Negative Polls Are Fake News&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/s2\/favicons?domain=www.washingtonpost.com\" \/>\u00a0<a class=\"clickable\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/politics\/wp\/2017\/02\/06\/president-trump-is-now-speculating-that-the-media-is-covering-up-terrorist-attacks\/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trump-media-4pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&amp;utm_term=.303fadd090fe\">President Trump is now speculating that the media is covering up terrorist attacks &#8211; The Washington Post<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Question is, how many poor benighted souls will follow him inside? \u00a0And where will that leave us?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>UPDATE, 2\/7\/2017<\/strong>: Important angle on this from Greg Sargent at the WaPo:<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/plum-line\/wp\/2017\/02\/07\/trump-is-now-attacking-all-the-institutions-that-could-limit-his-power-later\/?utm_term=.9f894ad52c32\">Trump is now attacking all the institutions that could limit his power later<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Trump \u2014 faced with an outpouring of popular opposition to his [travel] ban, and a level of institutional pushback to it, that surely caught him and his advisers off guard \u2014 is actively experimenting with how far he can go in delegitimizing the institutions that are already signaling they may place serious, meaningful limits on his power. Consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trump\u2019s tweets attacking the judiciary go well beyond conventional criticism of judicial opinions on the substance or of \u201cunelected judges\u201d who are said to be overstepping their power. The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/827867311054974976\">description<\/a> of the judge who first blocked his ban as a \u201cso-called judge\u201d directly targeted the judiciary\u2019s <em>institutional<\/em> legitimacy. And it\u2019s not hard to imagine where Trump\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/828342202174668800\">explicit claim<\/a> that any terrorist attack should be blamed on the judiciary will take him next, if such an attack does occur.<\/li>\n<li>Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/828574430800539648\">recently claimed<\/a> that \u201cany negative polls are fake news,\u201d particularly those from major networks like CNN, NBC and ABC. He added: \u201cSorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.\u201d In other words, any poll that finds that Trump or his policies are unpopular is suspect or invented\u00a0<em>by definition<\/em>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gallup.com\/poll\/203264\/half-americans-say-trump-moving-fast.aspx?g_source=Politics&amp;g_medium=lead&amp;g_campaign=tiles\">Multiple polls<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/americans-sharply-divided-along-partisan-lines-over-travel-ban-trump-cbs-news-poll\/\">have shown<\/a> that majorities reject his travel ban and his border wall, and global protests have broken out against the ban in particular. In other words, the public backlash to the first two major efforts to translate Trumpism into policy reality has been severe. In response, Trump is explicitly telling his supporters that any empirical evidence of that backlash must be discounted as fake news \u2014 <em>particularly<\/em> if the polls in question come from major news organizations, who are thus being cast as deliberate deceivers of Real Americans.<\/li>\n<li>You cannot divorce that last point from the larger context here: Trump and Sean Spicer spent days attacking the news media for <em>accurately<\/em> reporting on his shriveled inauguration crowds, and Stephen Bannon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/trumps-hard-line-actions-have-an-intellectual-godfather-jeff-sessions\/2017\/01\/30\/ac393f66-e4d4-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html?utm_term=.f407fbf05585\">has claimed<\/a> that Trump\u2019s \u201cpopulist nation-state policies are supported by the vast and overwhelming majority of Americans\u201d \u2014 in other words, that a vast silent majority is rooting for Trumpism to succeed. But that\u2019s just nonsense. The effort to falsely inflate impressions of popular support for Trump \u2014 and for policies that in reality are deeply controversial and divisive and are being <em>rejected<\/em> by majorities \u2014 is concerted and deliberate. And the unabashed use of obvious and demonstrable lies to carry out this deception campaign is remarkably brazen.<\/li>\n<li>Trump is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/if-something-happens-trump-points-his-finger-in-case-of-a-terror-attack\/2017\/02\/06\/8e315b78-eca6-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpblame-0808pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&amp;utm_term=.410416e981cd\">now claiming that the media is covering up terrorist attacks, saying<\/a> that \u201cISIS is on a campaign of genocide, committing atrocities across the world,\u201d and that \u201cin many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn\u2019t want to report it.\u201d The larger context here is crucial, too: The media has in fact been invaluable in rooting out the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/01\/28\/politics\/donald-trump-travel-ban\/index.html\">dangerously incompetent process<\/a>that led to the creation of this ban, as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/bannon-explained-his-worldview-well-before-it-became-official-us-policy\/2017\/01\/31\/2f4102ac-e7ca-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?utm_term=.6e10c9240e28\">ugly, discriminatory ideological underpinnings<\/a> of the idea. In response, Trump, once again, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/plum-line\/wp\/2017\/01\/23\/dear-media-the-trump-white-house-has-total-contempt-for-you-time-to-react-accordingly\/\">moving to obliterate the very possibility of shared agreement on the legitimate institutional role<\/a> of the news media in informing the citizenry \u2014 right when it is playing that role to great effect by shedding light on the truth about his latest and most visible exercise of executive power, thus demonstrating that <em>it can<\/em> function as a check on him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/plum-line\/wp\/2017\/02\/07\/trump-is-now-attacking-all-the-institutions-that-could-limit-his-power-later\/?utm_term=.9f894ad52c32\">&lt;&#8230;more at the WaPo&#8230;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<!-- sktbuilder starter --><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder\/sktbuilder-frontend-starter.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder-wordpress-driver.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> var starter = new SktbuilderStarter({\"mode\": \"prod\", \"skip\":[\"jquery\",\"underscore\",\"backbone\"],\"sktbuilderUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/plugins\/skt-builder\/sktbuilder\/\", \"driver\": new SktbuilderWordpressDriver({\"ajaxUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\", \"iframeUrl\": \"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/today-in-alternative-facts\/?sktbuilder=true\", \"pageId\": 5195,  \"nonce\": \"45a7bca152\", \"pages\": [{\"title\":\"NTD Officers\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/napervilledemocrats.org\\\/ntdo\\\/wp-admin\\\/post.php?post=475&action=sktbuilder\"},{\"title\":\"2022 Election\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/napervilledemocrats.org\\\/ntdo\\\/wp-admin\\\/post.php?post=11490&action=sktbuilder\"}], \"page\": \"Today in \\\"Alternative Facts\\\"\" }) });<\/script><!-- end sktbuilder starter -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More alternative facts from the new administration. \u00a0Am\u00a0I mistaken to see a\u00a0pattern? \u00a0Looks to me like they always affirm the unhinged, insecure and yet self-congratulatory world inside the president&#8217;s head.<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/today-in-alternative-facts\/\">+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[214,171],"class_list":["post-5195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-falsehoods","tag-trump"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DJT-at-Central-Command.jpg?fit=653%2C361&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BzCg-1lN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5195"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5213,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5195\/revisions\/5213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}