(This article first appeared at Broad + Liberty)
Gaslighting: telling someone to trust what they’re being told — and ignore the reality that they see and hear.
The idea that the government would do it to its own citizens makes you think about a sci-fi movie, or life in a totalitarian nation like North Korea, China or the former Soviet Union. Citizens are kept ignorant so that they wouldn’t know how bad their lives are. And so that the decisions of the leaders are never questioned. Worse, it causes division among fellow citizens because anyone questioning what the government tells them is portrayed as disloyal, ignorant — or “weird.”
That the Biden/Harris administration would mislead us on so much for so long is nothing short of gaslighting. They repeatedly work to make us believe an alternate reality based on “statistics” — and demand that we ignore the obvious contradictions in what we are experiencing in our daily lives. That those in power are doing this to win, to retain and expand their power and those of their political allies is a tragic turning point in American history. Not campaign history: American history.
Mark Twain wrote that there are three types of lies: “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” It makes you wonder if Twain would have created a fourth category if he ever met Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
One misstep is an accident. Two times could be sloppiness. But what do you call multiple, repeated “misstatements” and redefinitions about the number of jobs created, about what the real rate of inflation is, and about the number of crimes being committed — all while selling the “inaccurate” data as support for their re-election?
Why is it that major statistics are always “mistaken” or being redefined so that the Biden/Harris administration looks better than the reality we are living in? That’s no accident. And, sorry, it’s not just politicians being politicians. It’s government’s attempt to create an alternate reality. It’s gaslighting.
The recent “correction” to the jobs report is the most brazen example — so far.
1.1 million jobs. That’s how many jobs the Biden administration “overestimated” had been created in March. They just “rechecked” the math. Like an NFL referee: “Upon further review, the call on the field is overturned.” Oops!
For months, Biden/Harris have been touting “historic” job growth with press conferences, “experts” and charts. Biden routinely tweets — his staff tweets — that Biden/Harris created more jobs than any president — and tons more than Trump. And, of course, it’s been trumpeted in legacy newspapers, television stations and on social media. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs!
But in the midst of Kamala Harris’s “joyful” DNC euphoria, it was “corrected” by their own Department of Labor: the March jobs numbers were “off.” Economist Stephen Moore writes that the White House actually missed the mark by 1.1 million jobs. That is to say, there are 1.1 million less people working than they told us initially.
(By the way, it’s a special kind of misleading — or having no respect for your fellow Americans — to compare job growth in 2023 or 2024 to 2020 or 2021. You don’t need an MBA from Wharton — or even a reputable college — to understand that Biden/Harris ought not “spike the football” because their economy is growing faster compared to a pandemic with government imposed lockdowns, when they paid people not to work.)
It’s not the only time they’ve been wrong on jobs numbers — always overestimating. They’ve also been misleading us on inflation. And, they’re misleading us — at best — when it comes to crime. (Spoiler alert: it’s not going down.)
They tried to redefine what “inflation” is. Since 2021, Biden/Harris tried to tell us that there was no inflation. Then, it was “transitory.” Last try: change what’s counted in determining inflation.
We saw that gasoline went from about $2 to $5. It was even more in California, where the trucks receive and transport all the goods we import from China, Japan, and India — diesel broke $7. Americans struggled to heat their homes or keep the lights on while utility bills tripled for many families.
We saw that our groceries kept getting more expensive — even Kamala acknowledges that bread went up 50 percent.
But while some analysts and GOP officials complained about inflation rates of 14 to 20 percent or more, the White House — and all of their “experts” and media supporters — kept telling us it wasn’t that bad. Trust us, they said, inflation was actually lower.
Then, we learned that they were citing “core inflation.” That’s the “academics” rate of inflation — if you don’t count groceries or energy. Unbelievable! That’s like calculating your monthly mortgage payments — if you don’t include the money you owe the bank!
Maybe at Ivy League universities — or “expert” conferences in Davos — they can ponder “core inflation.” But at our kitchen tables, groceries, gasoline, and heating our homes count as real bills. And when those things rise up to 120 percent more, it matters to us.
(This misleading doesn’t even address the Biden/Harris team reporting that “inflation is down,” when what they really mean — and the data proves — is that prices are rising slower. Yippee!)
Crime. Most Americans sense that crime is going up. Many have stopped going into cities or avoiding shopping at night in nearby suburbs. Yet, Biden/Harris, their “experts” and media cheerleaders keep telling us — yet, again — trust the data. Crime is going down — it’s even better than when Trump was President.
Well, maybe not. Lies, damned lies, and what goes into statistics.
Over the last few years, as politics and left-wing ideology have taken over prosecutors’ offices, some crimes aren’t “crimes” any more. Couple that with multiple reporting databases and the White House gets to pick and choose to promote the story they want.
First, Larry Krasner and his ilk across the nation have legalized shoplifting — up to as high as $999. So, those crimes aren’t “crimes.” Second, more felonies are being reclassified as misdemeanors. Presto! Fewer felonies. And finally, as the FBI changes its national crimes database, some communities aren’t sending in the new-style reports — or, aren’t sending anything at all. Cities like Pittsburgh are not included in state or national crimes data. And, yes, crime is even higher in Radnor than in 2021.
Voters have a decision to make. We see the effects of inflation in our daily lives, many sense economic unease at their workplaces, and many don’t feel safe visiting cities, or nearby suburbs, due to the fear of violent crime.
Who do we trust to fix this mess?
The people, the party, and the candidates who tried to make us believe that these problems didn’t exist — and, actually created those problems.
Or, the people, the Party and candidates who have recognized the problems we’re facing, understand the harm, and are committed to fixing them.
Do you trust the gaslighters?
