One of the major issues in the 2024 presidential election has been politicians lying. They always do, but this time the prevarications were on steroids. The accelerated focus on lies is a carryover from the 2020 campaign – with Donald Trump being the primary target. The issue had become so prolific that the Washington Post established a ledger of lies and awarded one to four Pinocchios to the newpaper’s perceived offenders. Most of the Pinocchios went to Trump. And yes, he is prone to exaggerate, engage in hyperbole, misstate facts, and fib, but the lack of balance in calling out the lies of others was nothing less than gross media bias.
Among all of Trump’s dubious statements, the Democrats and the left-wing media branded one claim as the BIG LIE — and that was Trump’s insistence that he won the 2020 election. I have never engaged in the debate over the outcome of the 2020 election because it was settled when the Electoral College voted Joe Biden the winner. That was the ball game. Whether Trump could have won Pennsylvania or not — whether there were enough questionable votes to flip the election or not – became immaterial.
While I thought – and occasionally wrote – that Trump should drop the whining about the past election and talk more about the future, I saw a much bigger lie – a HUGE LIE — being promulgated to a much greater extent throughout the campaign. This one is coming from the Democrats and their media cronies – and none of those so-called fact checkers were calling it out. In fact, the HUGE LIE was more than one lie repeated over and over — but rather a family of lies supporting the initial falsehood. It also had to do with the 2020 presidential election,
The HUGE LIE started when Democrats and their media cronies began to characterize the riot on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, as an insurrection. It was an example of what is known the news business as “story creep” – the same event getting described in more sensational terms with each new reporting. It crept further as some left-wing news outlets started reporting the event as an ongoing attempted coup – an overthrow of the government. There were false claims of police officers being killed. A lie within a larger lie. From that point, the initial lie evolved into a nest of lies and actions in support of the central HUGE LIE.
So, what was the HUGE LIE?
It was the political narrative that Trump’s election would literally lead to the end of the American democratic Republic. That he had assembled of a cadre of cultists – a movement — hellbent on violently overthrowing the government. To reinforce the HUGE LIE, Trump was cast as a Hitler-style fascist who would declare himself a dictator. He would end free elections.
As ludicrous as that may seem, many folks believed the HUGE LIE – largely because those on the left followed the Joseph Goebbels propaganda approach of repeating the falsehood over and over again.
The HUGE LIE was not only directed at Trump. Everyone who supported him was demeaned as militants ready to rise up and overthrow the Republic. Democrats and their media allies declared Trump an existential danger to democracy itself.
The left-wing press spread fear mongering speculation, predicting more violence at the Capitol and across the country on the first anniversary of the January 6 riot. To underscore the fear mongering aspect of the HUGE LIE, the House Speaker had fencing placed around the Capitol Building and called on the National Guard for security – something she failed to do in 2021.
On that anniversary day, about 200 Trump supporters appeared on Capitol Hill with a permit. They heard a few speakers and went home. There was no outbreak of violence at the Capitol or around the country.
As the 2024 election neared, the HUGE LIE took on hyperbolic proportions – and the fear monger lies continued. We were told to expect violence and disruptions at the polls. Polling places in Arizona were secured with fencing, cameras and even rooftop snipers. There was no violence and not even credible threats of violence. The election went off peacefully – and against all odds, Trump won.
Now here is where the HUGE LIE gets interesting. It not only ceased to exist once the election was over, but those who propagated it have – indirectly and even directly – admitted it was all just one humongous HUGE LIE from beginning to end. It was a mendacious campaign propaganda narrative without a scintilla of truth to it.
How do we know this? Because since the election, Democrats and those on the left dropped the end-of-the-Republic bullpoop – and are talking about planning for the next election.
In response to the election, President Biden assured the nation that “the American experience endures. We are all going to be ok.” Vice President Harris called on followers to carry on the fight into the next election. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough assured Americans that there will be a future election – which usually favors the party out of power. Senate leader Chuck Schumer is talking about taking back the Senate in 2026. That has been the perspective of Democrat speaker after speaker. Suddenly, the end of the Republic is no longer an operative theme. The HUGE LIE has lost whatever political value it had. It has been exposed for what it was … a HUGE LIE.
The HUGE LIE could not have prevailed over so many months without the explicit help of a corrupt news media. If there were hints of fascism in the 2024 campaigns, it was the left-leaning media operating as an arm of the Democratic Party. Controlling the media is the hallmark of fascist authoritarianism. The HUGE LIE could not have existed without media compliance.
The silver lining in this dark cloud is the fact that most Americans saw through the HUGE LIE. They saw it for what it was. We can now rest assured that the American Republic is rock solid – and the only threat to democracy comes from those who peddled and empowered the HUGE LIE.
The Trump presidency will be controversial. There will be the natural partisan squabble. But the Republic endures because it was never endangered. That was just a HUGE LIE.
So, there ‘tis.