Have you been reading your well-loved copy of 1984? Have you been practicing your double speak and your “double plus ungood”? If not, you’d better hop to it because President Trump is already gearing up his fascist language, starting with equating anything that doesn’t show him in a favorable light as “fake news.”
Early Monday morning, the President tweeted that any negative or unfavorable polls against him or his policy ideas are “fake news.” Just like, he said, most of the corporate media.
Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2017
Previously, we had seen this misuse of the buzzword phrase “fake news” when Trump called CNN “fake news,” as an excuse to ignore a question from CNN‘s Jim Acosta. Then as in now, Trump is merely trying to continue the narrative that appeals to his base while also asserting that only he and Fox News are to be trusted.
That Trump is now attacking polls really comes as no surprise as he did so throughout the campaign. Any poll that favored him was a great poll worth citing, while the rest were false and the result of a biased poll-taker.
Additionally, ever since Trump took office just over two weeks ago, polls have shown that he has already hit record low approval ratings out of any other president, and at record time! Though that’s quite an accomplishment, it’s no doubt one that fills the president with white hot rage.
It goes without saying that when the President attacks the legitimacy of anything that is critical of him, it does harm to our entire nation. To a greater degree, his attack of federal judges who ruled against his executive order is the more extreme, dangerous element. Still, the constant attack to something as innocuous as a poll sows the seed of uncertainty for anyone who actually believes the lies he spews.
The president must recognize that his words matter, and that what he says will have real-life consequences.
