In an almost offhand fashion last week, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told several congressional committees that his Department of Homeland Security had created a new body, the Disinformation Governance Board (DGB). He offered few specifics as to how it was combating disinformation, and few have come since, apart from his meaningless comment that the DGB would […]
The Elmer’s treatment
The good news is that spring has sprung, and so has Americans’ approval of Congress. The rollout of coronavirus vaccines and the arrival of government relief checks have helped bolster the public’s esteem to its highest level since 2009. From January to March the approval rating rose, Gallup reports, from 25 percent to 36 percent. […]
Truth and Government’s Complicated Relat
Note: This lecture was given at the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy University of Denver in April 2019. Good morning. Thank you for having me here. Quid est veritas: What is truth? Two millennia ago, this important and divisive question was famously raised. Authorities had pulled Jesus of Nazareth before Pontius Pilate, who governed over […]
Sad! A brief history of White House prop...
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, our leaders have had the duty to draw on the government’s public health expertise and vast trove of data on COVID-19 to both explain the threat and teach us practices to diminish the damage it can cause. Instead, President Donald Trump downplayed the virus, likening it to seasonal influenza and […]
Call it what it is: Propaganda
Three hundred million dollars — that’s how much the Trump Administration intends to spend on an ad campaign to buck up a country that is beleaguered by one of the highest coronavirus death rates in the world. The media blitz planned by the Department of Health and Human Services will reportedly feature inspirational videos from […]
Propaganda in the coronavirus era
The White House propaganda has risen to new highs in recent days, as President Trump turns the coronavirus daily briefings into a prime time opportunity to sell himself, replete with videos that double as campaign ads. For his critics, this is the ultimate display of him as a carnival barker, touting himself blatantly at the […]
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