Unchartered Water

For years we have argued over “the values to be applied to objective reality,” writes Hayden in “The Assault on Intelligence,”  “or occasionally over what constituted objective reality, not the existence or the relevance of objective reality itself.”  The importance of reality and truth is emphasized by Timothy Snyder, “To abandon facts is to abandon freedom.  If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis to do so.”  And Snyder adds, what Hayden calls this chilly observation, “Post-truth is pre-fascism.”

In February 2018, Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein announced "to the press, to the world, and to Vladimir Putin that the United States was indicting thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian companies ‘for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 presidential election.’”  “Let that sink in,” writes Hayden.  “Crimes.  Real crimes.  No ‘phony,’ no ‘hoax,’ no ‘witch hunt,’ no ‘fake news.’

On the other hand, the president condemned  Obama-era intelligence leaders responsible for the Russian report as “political hacks” and tweeted, “I mean, give me a break.  So you look at it, I mean, you have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey.  Comey is proven now to be a liar and he is proven now to be a leaker.”  Trump has followed this pattern of devaluing and delegitimizing institutions of government, the press, and persons continuously.  He insinuates that a free (though certainly imperfect) press is “fake news,” unless it is Fox; the FBI is in “tatters,” led by a “nut job” director and conducting a “witch hunt”; the Department of Justice  is weak; the intelligence community, in addition to being led by political hacks is “Nazi”-like; the courts are manned by “so called” judges, Obama is an illegitimate president and Hillary sold uranium to Russia.

This is unchartered water—what is truth?  Does only the president speak truth? Are we living in a post-truth era where what he says is true, what I say is untrue, what I think is right, what you think is wrong?  What CNN reports is fake, what Fox reports is real? The existence and relevance of objective reality is being questioned.  If there is no such thing, then Snyder’s words become chilling,  “If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis to do so….Post-truth is pre-fascism”