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> … it seems extremely irresponsible to address the White House and the public to say … It’s simple as: 1. They don’t care; 2. It fits their agenda;

• Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  Exactly. Statements like this have been used to approve new programs and legislation that in at least one case led to sweeping profiling and the incorrect retraction of government benefits, causing tens of thousands to end up in poverty and debt and the consequent issues of divorce, children removed from parents, even suicides: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_childcare_benefits_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_childcare_benefits_scand... This all started when a group of Bulgarian migrants took advantage of a loophole, registering as residents for a small amount of time and defrauding the government for about €4 million. The price tag to set it right again was €7.4 billion as of last year: https://nos.nl/artikel/2503966-de-toeslagenaffaire-van-een-miljoenen-naar-een-miljardenoperatie https://nos.nl/artikel/2503966-de-toeslagenaffaire-van-een-m... What I'm trying to say is that right-wing / populist talking points can and will lead to sweeping reform with long term and far reaching consequences. For a few years we had an era of fact checking where these statements were immediately marked, but all the services have removed it again. I'm honestly surprised Twitter still has community notes.
• sumo89 2y ago
  And there's no punishment for being wrong. Even a newspaper has to publish official apologies, not that anyone bothers to read them. He could say the sky is red on that platform and there's nothing anyone could do to force him to change it or admit he's wrong.