One of President-elect Donald Trump’s bevy of blonde cheerleaders, Scottie Nell Hughes, appeared on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show to discuss journalism in Trump’s America. And what does that look like, according to Hughes? Why, fact-free, of course!
‘There’s No Such Thing As Facts’
Trump’s entire campaign was a study in lies and alternate reality. And, since his election nearly a month ago, things have only gotten worse. His ascendancy to the office of POTUS did not, as some thought it might, bring out his “presidential” side. Trump simply doesn’t have one. The wee-hours Twitter rants have continued, as have the lies about seemingly everything, from his lies about prosecuting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to his lies about Ford Motors to his lies about illegal voting. Actual facts play no part in any of this.
Of course, according to Scottie Nell Hughes, facts don’t exist.
The discussion on The Diane Rehm Show yesterday was about journalism’s place in a Trump administration. James Fallows, of The Atlantic, was on in the early segment and talked about the lies that Trump has been perpetuating since the election. When Rehm turned to Hughes to ask her about the lies, her answer was nothing short of astonishing:
“Well, I think it’s also an idea of an opinion. And that’s—on one hand, I hear half the media saying that these are lies. But on the other half, there are many people that go, ‘No, it’s true.’ And so one thing that has been interesting this entire campaign season to watch, is that people that say facts are facts—they’re not really facts. Everybody has a way—it’s kind of like looking at ratings, or looking at a glass of half-full water. Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth, or not truth. There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts.
And so Mr. Trump’s tweet, amongst a certain crowd—a large part of the population—are truth. When he says that millions of people illegally voted, he has some—amongst him and his supporters, and people believe they have facts to back that up. Those that do not like Mr. Trump, they say that those are lies and that there are no facts to back it up.”
And that, that right there, is why we have a President-elect Donald Trump.
Facts are not objective things, folks. No matter how many times Hughes or other Trump cheerleaders claim otherwise, FACTS. ARE. FACTS.
Thankfully, folks who actually practice responsible journalism were listening in, including Glenn Thrush of Politico, who said:
“First I’ve got to pick my jaw up off the floor here. There are no objective facts? I mean, that is — that is an absolutely outrageous assertion. Of course there are facts.”
You can listen to the entire show here; Scottie Nell Hughes comes on the show just before the 14:00 mark.
Featured Image via screenshot from YouTube video
