Anatomy of Republican lies
Right on cue, Republicans attacked Kamala Harris’ VP pick Tim Walz the second his candidacy was announced. Within minutes Donald Trump chimed in by writing that Walz would “unleash hell on earth” in America, later claiming that Walz wants to spread a “dangerously liberal agenda far and wide.” Some time after that JD Vance claimed that Walz was guilty of “stolen valour” because he (Walz) never deployed overseas while in the military. You can expect more specific attacks later as MAGA fanatics sift through every aspect of Tim Walz’ past looking for something — anything! — that can be interpreted unfavourably.
A sure sign that Republicans are getting desperate? Maybe. A further clue that the Republican edifice is cracking because they’re using easily-refutable lies? Perhaps. But if you actually think these lies will be easy to expose, think again. In fact, the ease with which they can be exposed makes very, very little difference.
The lies may not be sophisticated, but they don’t have to be. Just about any lie will do, no matter how transparent. The MAGA fanatic will believe it instantly. There will be no dissuading him or her. But even the independent or casual voter will consider such lies as possibly true without giving them much thought. All that is required for the lie to have wings is that it be sufficiently interesting to be remembered, and that it be endlessly repeated on social media and elsewhere.
I’ll give you two recent examples to illustrate my point. First, there is the evidence-free rumour that JD Vance wears eyeliner. Unlike with Donald Trump or Rudy Giuliani, I can find no photographic evidence or confirming anecdotes that Vance uses makeup of any kind. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t wear makeup, of course. But I think the preponderance of evidence suggests he does not.
Now, your response to the above paragraph very much depends on your politics. If you’re a Trumper it was probably something along the lines of “damned right.” If your politics are more along the lines of most readers of Palmer Report your reaction may have been instantly sceptical, possibly even hostile.
Here’s a second example. No sooner had the furore over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump died down than conspiracy theories that it was “rigged” took wing. The question over what wounded Trump’s ear, a bullet or a shard of glass, became an immediate hotbed of controversy. Many people, who suddenly became instant experts in ballistics, went to great lengths to “prove” that Trump’s wound was caused by a shard of plastic or glass, and therefore the assassination was rigged. Precisely how the two are connected they do not say. Photographs of huge AR-15 cartridges have flashed across the internet in meme form as further “proof” of how huge AR-15 bullets are, never mind that the photos are not of bullets but of full cartridges.
Again, if your immediate response was to rush to Google, if you’re a little angry with me for daring to suggest that these memes are inaccurate or premature or even silly, then you’re proving my point. The veracity of any information is secondary. The most important part is the politics of the person receiving that information.
This is why we must neither underestimate the lies that Republicans are telling nor overestimate our ability to refute them. We are going to have to work very hard to defeat the Trump juggernaut, and we should not become overly comfortable merely because we think Republicans are getting “desperate.” It may in fact be true that Republicans ARE getting desperate, but that has no bearing on how effective their lies are. As immediately absurd as Republican lies seem to us, we must never forget that others do not necessarily receive them that way.
I’ll illustrate my point with a further example. Unlike many rumours we can locate the exact source of the rumour about JD Vance and his couch. It was created on July 15, 2024, by X user @rickrudescalves. He invented it from whole cloth, even “quoting” a specific passage from Vance’s memoir. And he admitted as much immediately after posting it. It made no difference. In fact, since then another rumour has been started, that the anecdote wasn’t in Vance’s memoir but it was in an earlier version.
Again, your knee-jerk reaction to this information ought to tell you a lot about why lies persist. But be not deceived, lies, especially interesting lies, take on a life of their own. It’s amusing until it happens to us.
Moreover, there exists no circumstance so mundane, no anecdote so ordinary, that something “suspicious” cannot be found in it by a motivated observer. Every unremarkable aspect of our lives can be made to look sinister by anyone with a will to do so. That is why critical thinking is so important, and why its scarcity is so dangerous.
Unlike Republicans, we don’t need to make stuff up. We have an embarrassment of riches. Imagine, for instance, JD Vance trying to smear a man for “stolen valour” while running with a draft dodger. You can’t make this stuff up, and we don’t have to.
The point again is this: we will not easily conquer Republican lies. Biased and unbiased people alike will ignore even the most compelling evidence that a false rumour is a lie. Thinking is hard, and most people don’t like to do it. It is the world we are in. To conquer MAGA lies we must continue to promote truth with extraordinary vigour. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.