Trump treats truth as socially confirmed approximation rather than correspondence to fact
Evidence
According to Marcus, “it is not simply that Trump refuses to accept reality, it is that he bends it to his will.” … In Trumpspeak, truth is not factual. … Truthful statements do not necessarily offer an accurate account of events in the world. They provide an approximation or exaggeration of something that might, in theory have occurred. Whether a terror attack in Sweden ever took place on the night named by the president is irrelevant. Nor should we care that the riot was not massive and there was no death. Close and maybe are good enough. … In Trumpspeak, belief is a signal of truth. If his supporters believe him, then what Trump is saying must be true. Conversely, if his detractors disbelieve him, this too is evidence that what he is saying must be true. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 339
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: The belief-signal logic is genuinely paradigm-level: both agreement and disagreement are converted into confirmation, making the discourse structurally unfalsifiable — worth sitting with.
- XREF: Echoes the self-sealing epistemology described elsewhere where neither confirmation nor disconfirmation can register against the speaker’s framing; resonates with ‘authoritarian’ communications scholarship. — connects to: Trump brought conspiratorial claims into the White House presidency itself — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 157; Trumpspeak treats belief and usefulness as substitutes for factual truth — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 342; Trump’s advisers explicitly claimed facts no longer exist in politics — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 24 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Trumpspeak treats belief and usefulness as substitutes for factual truth
#corroborates(0.90) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 342 - Trump’s advisers explicitly claimed facts no longer exist in politics
#exemplifies(0.80) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 24 - Some post-truth speech is magical thinking rather than mere lying
#complicates(0.80) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 343 - Modern truth is underwritten by intersubjective control rather than given social status
#complicates(0.75) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 217