On January 30, President Donald Trump gave a surprisingly coherent but, still, unsurprisingly ludicrous State of the Union address.
Though it may go without saying, Americans should be taking everything (and I mean everything) Trump says with slightly more than a grain of salt. Fact-checking is more crucial than ever in the midst of an administration that lies without conviction and behind the façade of ridiculous technicalities
Trump has proven himself untrustworthy, haphazardly biased, and all-in-all unfit for office through his frequent lies, deceit, and blatant bigotry. A select fraction of Americans seem keen to ignore the less than desirable qualities of our current president but – why?
Why do some Americans allow Trump to spoon-feed them lies on top of lies without making a point to engage in novice research after the fact?
The simplest answer would be that Americans are too lazy or too comfortable in a cushion of cozy lies to do much refuting. A slightly less simple answer would be fear. Yes, Americans – supporters of the current administration or otherwise – are probably terrified by the happenings of the last year. Believe it or not, some actually voted Trump into office on the basis of (arguably misplaced) fear.
If we allow fear to prevent us from facing our current administration, allowing them to get away with half-truths and whole-lies, we are a part of the problem. And I get it, I really do, seeing as its becoming harder every day to sift through oversaturated news stories and try not to feel too disheartened, too morally drained by whatever new, outrageous statement Trump has made. With that being said, it reflects poorly on us if we do not find it within ourselves to assess any and all information to which we have access and either confirm or disprove its accuracy.
If you want to fact-check the recent State of the Union address, Sen. Bernie Sanders posted a video to his Twitter account on Wednesday highlighting all of the questionable statements made by President Trump during his speech. It’s not where any of us should stop, but it’s certainly a good start.