Jenni Russell has an opinion piece in the NY Times: Can Boris Johnson Lie His Way Back Into Office? There are some extremely relevant points for America.
The old assumptions — that truth matters, that lies shame the liar, that in a democracy the press and the public must have a right to interrogate those who seek the top jobs — have all been swept aside by the Tories’ conviction that in an inattentive, dissatisfied, cacophonous world, victory will go to the most compelling entertainer, the most plausible and shameless deceiver, the leader who can drill home a repetitive and seductive incantation. Facts and details will be irrelevant so long as voters feel a politician is on their side.
And this in particular:
Mr. Johnson’s team has seized upon a terrifying truth: that the old media, particularly the broadcasters, and the establishment that has decided its rules of operation, are no longer the gatekeepers to communication. Cunning politicians can skip accountability, and British broadcasting’s rules on impartiality and balance, by going straight for the voters’ emotional jugular. In place of public and professional scrutiny there’s Twitter and Facebook, where millions of micro-targeted messages are flooding key voters.
The decision of TV networks to not broadcast the Judiciary Committee debate over the articles of impeachment has only one good side. It is not giving exposure to the massive barrage of lies and disinformation being spewed by the Republicans on the committee. The GOP knows — like Boris Johnson — that repetition of shameless lies at high volume can overpower actual facts. It will be picked up and amplified by Fox and the rest of the right wing echo machine.
The refusal of the NY Times to report lies as lies is aiding and abetting the GOP campaign to hold onto power at all costs.
In one regard are we better off than the U.K. Russell opens her piece with this:
This is the dejection election. Not in my lifetime has Britain faced such a miserable choice. Two vain, incompetent, mediocre charlatans are competing to become prime minister. For the Conservatives, we have the blustering, lying, oafish puffball Boris Johnson. In the Labour corner is the querulous, wooden, sanctimonious Jeremy Corbyn.
We have this. We have no shortage of decent candidates on the Democratic side to replace Trump. Whether or not they can prevail against the totally corrupt Republican Party backed by its partisan media machine, and a regular media establishment that is determinedly refusing to see this as anything but ‘normal’ partisan disagreement… that is the question.