Ever wonder why the Trump administration keeps repeating debunked claims? Or why it regularly denies objective evidence, and encourages everyone else to do the same? Welcome to the wonderful world of gaslighting! Tune in to the latest from your favorite amphibians to learn more!
This podcast is a bit lighter than other episodes but uses gallows humor to review gaslighting, the very dark underbelly of right-wing politics. Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation where someone makes a victim question their own reality, memory, or sanity, eroding their self-trust and creating dependence.
Although this has been present in politics – particularly on the right – for a long time, it is a hallmark of Trump, his administration, Fox News, and Republicans more broadly particularly in the last few decades.
The gaslighting examples we highlight are related to previous podcasts on tautological externalities, paranoid and conspiracy theories, and the dumbing down of American society.
Gaslighting is often a combination of (a) repeating falsehoods despite correction, (b) denying prior statements or evidence, (c) attacking neutral arbiters of truth, and (d) claiming reality itself is fabricated. Does this sound familiar? Unfortunately, it feels like all of the country – and most of the world – is just being gaslit right now!
Our hosts count down each of their “Top 10” examples of gaslighting in recent politics, with an eye toward the particularly stupid, cartoonish, and/or incredulity that so many Americans fell for them.
Key Terms Used
American Exceptionalism, Boiling Frog, Dunning-Kruger Effect, Gallows Humor, Gaslighting, Groupthink, Herd Mentality, Rational Decisions, Tautological Externality, Whataboutism
Related Resources