A Truth Reckoning: Why We're Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable (Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2021/01/07/a-truth-reckoning-why-were-holding-those-who-lied-for-trump-accountable/?sh=330512835710
Randall LaneForbes Staff
Business
...From Day One at the Trump White House, up has been down, yes has been no, failure has been success. Sean Spicer set the tone with the inauguration crowd size the worst kind of whopper, as it demanded that people disbelieve their own eyes. The next day, Kellyanne Conway defended Spicers lie with a new term, alternative facts. Spicers successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied at scale, from smearing those who accused Trump of sexual harassment to conjuring jobs statistics. Her successor, Stephanie Grisham, over the course of a year, never even held a press conference, though the BS continued unabated across friendly outlets. And finally, Kayleigh McEnany, Harvard Law graduate, a propaganda prodigy at 32 who makes smiling falsehood an art form. All of this magnified by journalists too often following an old playbook ill-prepared for an Orwellian communication era.
As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed. The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who dont follow the civic norms. Trumps lawyers lie gleefully to the press and public, but those lies, magically, almost never made it into briefs and arguments contempt, perjury and disbarment keep the professional standards high.
So whats the parallel in the dark arts of communication? Simple: Dont let the chronic liars cash in on their dishonesty. Press secretaries like Joe Lockhart, Ari Fleischer and Jay Carney, who left the White House with their reputations in various stages of intact, made millions taking their skills and credibility to corporate America. Trumps liars dont merit that same golden parachute.
Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trumps fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. Were going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism wed approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the worlds biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.
This isnt cancel culture, which is a societal blight. (Theres surely a nice living for each of these press secretaries on the true-believer circuit.) Nor is this politically motivated, as Forbes pro-entrepreneur, pro-growth worldview has generally placed it in the right-of-center camp over the past century this standard needs to apply to liars from either party. Its just a realization that, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, in a thriving democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Our national reset starts there.