Trump Booster Scottie Nell Hughes Declares Facts Dead; Twitter Is Truth
During a panel on Diane Rehm's show, Trump surrogate and right-wing propagandist Scottie Nell Hughes declared facts to be as dead as fossils in the ground.
"There's no such thing, unfortunately, anymore of facts," Hughes stated. "And so Mr. Trump's tweet amongst a certain crowd, a large -- a large part of the population, are truth."
She continued with her insidious denial of factual information, saying, "When he says that millions of people illegally voted, he has some -- in his -- amongst him and his supporters, and people believe they have facts to back that up."
We can believe the moon is made of cream cheese, too, but that doesn't make it fact. We can believe in flying reindeer, but that, too, is not fact. And then she hit the punch line.
"Those that do not like Mr. Trump, they say that those are lies, and there's no facts to back it up. So..."
Of course, facts don't really express likes or dislikes. They are facts, free of bias toward or against any one person. Her declaration that fact-checking somehow means that reporters should not call out lies for fear of being considered biased is not just wrong, it's dangerous.
This discussion about people voting illegally is just a distraction, and of course it's not fact-based, as Glenn Thrush pointed out. Hughes cited some debunked studies before abandoning it altogether for more of her usual spin.