Abstract
This chapter linguistically and discursively examines how and why Trump’s utterances, Tweets and sayings have become a source of a gaping chasm in American society despite his leaving the White House almost three years ago. It relates to the lessons we can learn from pragmatist thinkers and their rejection of binary divisions of cultures and societies in a world snared by clashes of mindsets and mentalities which analysis shows, can easily fall prey to one-sided, discriminatory discourse. It first provides a synopsis of pragmatism as a philosophy and the role of language in critical inquiry, laying down the conceptual framework for a critical analysis of US mainstream media’s overabundant interest in and coverage of what they initially termed “claims,” then “falsehoods” and finally outright “lies” of Donald Trump. Thereafter, it presents a short survey of data, which essentially comprises US mainstream media’s compilation of compendiums of Trump’s “lies” and the method they pursued in fact-checking them. This method has done little to change beliefs or perceptions, while it concludes that. Trump’s concept has worked well to create confusion about what constitutes truth in this polarized and deeply divided country.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abramowitz, A., & McCoy, J. (2019). United States: Racial resentment, negative partisanship, and polarization in Trump’s America. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 681(1), 137–156.
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. University of Chicago Press.
Arendt, H. (1965). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil (2nd ed.). Viking Press.
Atkin, C. (2016). Donald Trump quotes: The 10 scariest things the presumptive republican nominee has ever said. The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/us/donald-trump-quotes-the-10-scariest-things-the-presumptive-republican-nominee-has-ever-said-a7015236.html
Barkho, L. (2019). Binary journalism: An investigation into Al Jazeera’s news practices. In Al Jazeera in the Gulf and in the world (pp. 99–127). Palgrave Macmillan.
Barkho, L. (2022). Trump's news practices and discursive patterns in his new moment as “former president”. In The future of the presidency, journalism, and democracy (pp. 221–237). Routledge.
Bell, A. (1991). The language of the news media. Blackwell.
Benkelman, S. (2019). Contending with polarized audiences. American Press Institute. https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/strategy-studies/contending-with-polarized-audiences/
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (2016). The social construction of reality. In Social theory re-wired (pp. 110–122). Routledge.
Bernstein, R. J. (2005). The abuse of evil: The corruption of politics and religion since 9/11 (Vol. 19).
Bernstein, R. J. (2010). The pragmatic turn. Polity.
Boroditsky, L. (2011). How language shapes thought. Scientific American, 304(2), 62–65.
Brent, H. (2021). Donald Trump's craziest quotes as US president. The Irish Post. https://www.irishpost.com/life-style/donald-trumps-craziest-quotes-as-us-president-201911
Bump, P. (2016). 23 things Donald Trump has said that would have doomed another candidate. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/17/23-things-donald-trump-has-said-that-would-have-doomed-another-candidate/?utm_term=.3abc98866477
Chang, M. (2017). A curated list of the dumbest things President Trump has ever said Cosmopolitan. http://www.cosmopolitan.com.au/news/dumbest-things-president-donald-trump-has-ever-said-22247
Claire, M. (2018). Yes, The President of the United States really has said this. Marieclaire. http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/people/donald-trump-quotes-57213.
Clark, C. S. (2021). Deconstructing the deep state. Government Executive. https://www.govexec.com/feature/gov-exec-deconstructing-deep-state/
Cohen, C. (2017). Donald Trump sexism tracker: Every offensive comment in one place. The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/donald-trump-sexism-tracker-every-offensive-comment-in-one-place/
Colvin, J. (2022). Trump repeats false election fraud claims during speech in Washington. AP. https://flipboard.com/topic/trumpadministration/trump-repeats-false-election-fraud-claims-during-speech-in-washington/a-9sg_F6XORkWrMfLevogi9A%3Aa%3A2651838374-431128b9d1%2Fpbs.org
Crick, N. (2003). Composition as experience: John Dewey on creative expression and the origins of" mind". College Composition and Communication, 55, 254–275.
Critical Common-Sensism. (2014). Quote in M. Bergman & S. Paavola (Eds.), The commens dictionary: Peirce's terms in his own words. New Edition. Retrieved from http://www.commens.org/dictionary/entry/quote-pragmatism-prag-1.
Dale, D. (2019). The first 5,276 false things Donald Trump said as U.S. president. CNN. https://projects.thestar.com/donald-trump-fact-check/
Dale, D. (2021). The 15 most notable lies of Donald Trump’s presidency. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/fact-check-dale-top-15-donald-trump-lies/index.html
Dale, D. (2022). 10 Trump election lies his own officials called false. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/16/politics/fact-check-trump-officials-testimony-debunking-election-lies/index.html
Davidson, D. (1997). The folly of trying to define truth. Journal of Philosophy, 94, pp. 263–278, printed in his truth, Language, and History (Vol. 2005, pp. 19–37). Clarendon Press.
Dewey, J. (1930). Individualism old and new. Minton.
Dewey, J. (1981). The philosophy of John Dewey. University of Chicago Press.
Elfrink, T. (2020). Do you regret at all, all the lying you've done?: A reporter's blunt question to trump goes unanswere. The Washington Post. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/14/do-you-regret-all-your-lying-white-house-reporters-question-startles-trump
Fact Checker. (2021). In four years, president trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/
Fairclough, N. (1995). Media discourse. Edward Arnold.
Fawbert, D. (2021). The 75 most ridiculous trump quotes: The best Donald Trump quotes revealed. ShortList. https://www.shortlist.com/news/most-ridiculous-trump-quotes-ever
Fisher, A. (2016). All of Donald Trump's dirty words collected in one new anti-trump ad. Reason.com. http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/07/all-of-donald-trumps-dirty-words-one-ad
Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge. Tavistock.
Foucault, M. (1984). The order of discourse. In M. Shapiro (Ed.), Language and politics (pp. 108–138). Basil Blackwell.
Fowler, R. (1985). Power. In T. Van Dijk (Ed.), Handbook of discourse analysis (Vol. 4, pp. 61–82). Academic Press.
Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the news. Routledge.
Fowler, R., & Kress, G. (1979). Critical linguistics. In R. Fowler et al. (Eds.), Language and control (pp. 198–213). Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Georgantopoulos, M. A. (2017). Here's a running list of president Trump's lies and other bullshit. BuzzFeed. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maryanngeorgantopoulos/president-trump-lie-list
Glass, N. (2015). The 7 craziest things Trump has said. Politico. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-ban-muslims-216513
Glasser, S. B. (2018). It’s true: Trump is lying more, and he’s doing it on purpose. The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/trumps-escalating-war-on-the-truth-is-on-purpose.
Glasser, S. (2016). Covering politics in a ‘post-truth’ America. Politico. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/journalism-post-truth-trump-2016-election-politics-susan-glasser-214523/
Graves, L. (2013). Deciding what's true: Fact-checking journalism and the new ecology of news. Columbia University.
Graves, L., & Glaisyer, T. (2012). The fact-checking universe in spring 2012. New America.
Green, J. (2017). Devil's bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the nationalist uprising. Penguin.
Guess, A., Nyhan, B., & Reifler, J. (2018). Selective exposure to misinformation: Evidence from the consumption of fake news during the 2016 US presidential campaign. European Research Council, 9(3), 4.
Habermas, J. (1973). Theory and practice. (trans. John Vietel),. Beacon Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1971). Linguistic structure and literary style; An inquiry into language of William Golding’s the interiors. In S. Chatman (Ed.), Literary style: A symposium. Oxford University Press.
Huntington, S. P. (2000). The clash of civilizations? In Culture and politics (pp. 99–118). Palgrave Macmillan.
Huntington, S. P., & Dunn, S. (2004). Who are we?: The challenges to America's national identity. Simon and Schuster.
Illing, S. (2020). “Flood the zone with shit”: How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy. Vox. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/16/20991816/impeachment-trial-trump-bannon-misinformation
James, W. (1975). The meaning of truth (Vol. 2). Harvard University Press.
James, W. (2009). The principles of psychology. In Berkelouw Rare Books (Vol. 2).
Jorden, E. N. (2018). The alt-right's use of president Donald Trump's twitter account as a propaganda device.
Kanigel, R. (2019). The diversity style guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Kaplan, R. D. (2001). Looking the world in the eye. The Atlantic Monthly, 288(5), 68–82.
Kessler, G. (2021). Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president. Nearly half came in his final year. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-fact-checker-tracked-trump-claims/2021/01/23/ad04b69a-5c1d-11eb-a976-bad6431e03e2_story.html.
Kessler, G., Rizzo, S., & Kelly, M. (2021). Trump’s false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years. Washington Post. https://www.google.com/search?q=list+of+trump+lies+washingtonpost&rlz=1C1GCEB_enAE1022AE1022&oq=list+of+trump+lies+washingtonpost&aqs=chrome..69i57.9977j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Khazan, O. (2017). What trump could mean for journalism. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/01/what-trump-means-for-journalism/514160/
Konnikova, M. (2017). Trump’s Lies vs. Your Brain. Politico Magazine. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/donald-trump-lies-liar-effect-brain-214658.
Kress, G. (1994). Text and grammar as explanation. In U. Meinhof & K. Richardson (Eds.), Text, discourse and context: Representations of poverty in Britain (pp. 24–46). Longman.
Kress, G., & Hodge, R. (1979). Language as ideology. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Lakoff, G. (2014). The all new don't think of an elephant!: Know your values and frame the debate. Chelsea Green Publishing.
Lazitski, O. (2020). Book review: This is not propaganda: Adventures in the war against reality, by Peter Pomerantsev. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 97(4), 1176–1178.
Lemos, N. (2001). Commonsensism in ethics and epistemology. Knowledge, Truth, and Duty, 204–218.
Leonhardt, D., & Thompson, S. A. (2017). President Trump's lies, the definitive list. The New York times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html
Lozada, C. (2017). Samuel Huntington, a prophet for the trump era. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2017/07/18/samuel-huntington-a-prophet-for-the-trump-era/.
Marion, J. L. (2018). On Descartes’ passive thought: The myth of Cartesian dualism. University of Chicago Press.
McGranahan, C. (2017). An anthropology of lying: Trump and the political sociality of moral outrage. American Ethnologist, 44(2), 243–248.
Mcgraw, M. (2022). Trump's election fraud claims were false. Here are his advisers who said so. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/13/trumps-election-fraud-claims-were-false-here-are-his-advisers-who-said-so-00039346.
Mena, P. (2019). Principles and boundaries of fact-checking: Journalists’ perceptions. Journalism Practice, 13(6), 657–672.
Mills, S. (1997). Discourse. Routledge.
Moreno, C. (2016, November 9). 9 outrageous things Donald Trump has said about Latinos. HUFFPOST. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/9-outrageous-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-latinos_us_55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b
Morgan, D., & Beech, E. (2022). Trump ignores republican calls to avoid repeating false election claims. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pence-warns-about-focus-2020-election-trump-returns-washington-2022-07-26/
Newburger, E. (2021). Senate acquits trump for inciting capitol riot even as bipartisan majority votes to convict. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/13/senate-acquits-former-president-donald-trump-on-charge-of-inciting-insurrection-at-us-capitol-.html
Nieminen, S., & Rapeli, L. (2019). Fighting misperceptions and doubting journalists’ objectivity: A review of fact-checking literature. Political Studies Review, 17(3), 296–309.
Nyhan, B., & Reifler, J. (2015). Estimating fact-checking’s effects. American Press Institute.
Paz, C. (2020). All the President’s lies about the coronavirus. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/trumps-lies-about-coronavirus/608647/
Peirce, C. S. (1868). Some consequences of four incapacities. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 2(3), 140–157.
Peirce, C. S. (1940). The philosophy of Peirce: Selected writings. In J. Buchler (Ed.), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; 1955, philosophical writings of Peirce. Dover Publications.
Peirce, C. S. (1992). The essential Peirce (Vol. 1). Indiana University Press.
Pelzer, J. (2016). 50 outrageous Donald Trump quotes. cleveland.com. https://www.cleveland.com/open/2016/04/50_outrageous_donald_trump_quo_1.html
Plowright, D. (2016). Charles Sanders Peirce: Pragmatism and education. Springer.
Pomerantsev, P. (2019). This is not propaganda: Adventures in the war against reality. PublicAffairs.
Popper, K. R. (1963). Science as falsification. Conjectures and refutations, 1(1963), 33–39.
Putnam, H. (1994). Words and life. Harvard University Press.
Qiu, L. (2016). 17 times Donald Trump said one thing and then denied it. Politifact. https://www.politifact.com/article/2016/jul/06/17-things-donald-trump-said-and-then-denied-saying/.
Quealy, K. (2021). The complete list of Trump's twitter insults (2015-2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/19/upshot/trump-complete-insult-list.html.
Reed, A., & Dowling, J. (2018). The role of historical narratives in extremist propaganda. Defence Strategic Communications, 4, 79–104.
Remnick, D. (2018). Trump vs. the times: Inside an off-the-record meeting. The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trump-vs-the-times-inside-an-off-the-record-meeting
Roberts, D. (2020). With impeachment, America’s epistemic crisis has arrived. Vox. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/16/20964281/impeachment-hearings-trump-america-epistemic-crisis.
Rorty, R. (1967). Metaphilosophical Difficulties of Linguistic Philosophy. In R. Rorty (Ed.), The Linguistic Turn (pp. 1–41).
Rucker, P. (2017). Bannon: Trump administration is in unending battle for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/23/bannon-trump-administration-is-in-unending-battle-for-deconstruction-of-the-administrative-state/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Sajjadpour, S. M. K., & Masoudi, H. (2013). Discursive correspondence of hegemonic IR and US foreign policy: George Bush era. The Political Quarterly, 43(3), 153–171.
Sengupta, B. (2022). A list of 'big Lies' that Donald Trump told during his 2024 US presidential announcement. Republic World. https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/us-news/a-list-of-big-lies-that-donald-trump-told-during-his-2024-us-presidential-announcement-articleshow.html
Skjeseth, H. T. (2017). All the president’s lies: Media coverage of lies in the US and France. Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper. University of Oxford. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/all-presidents-lies-media-coverage-lies-us-and-france.
Splichal, S. (2010). Eclipse of the public. The Digital Public Sphere (pp. 23–40). Nordicom.
Spocchia, G. (2021). Final tally of lies: Analysts say trump told 30,000 mistruths–that’s 21 a day–During presidency. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-lies-false-presidency-b1790285.html
Stencel, M., & Ryan, E. (2022). Fact-checkers extend their global reach with 391 outlets, but growth has slowed. The Duke University Reporters' Lab. https://reporterslab.org/fact-checkers-extend-their-global-reach-with-391-outlets-but-growth-has-slowed/
Tavernise, S., & Gardiner, A. (2019). ‘No one believes Anything’: Voters worn out by a fog of political news. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/us/polls-media-fake-news.html
Tenorio, E. H. (2004). The discourse of good and evil in twentieth century speeches. In D. E. Keen & P. R. Keen (Eds.), Considering evil and human wickedness (pp. 17–32). Interdisciplinary Press.
Timm, J. C. (2020). Rump versus the truth: The most outrageous falsehoods of his presidency. NBC NEWS. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-versus-truth-most-outrageous-falsehoods-his-presidency-n1252580
Tompkins, A. (2020). Is fact-checking effective? A critical review of what works–And what doesn’t. Deutsche Welle. https://akademie.dw.com/en/is-fact-checking-effective-a-critical-review-of-what-works-and-what-doesnt/a-55248257
Ulusoy, E., Carnahan, D., Bergan, D. E., Barry, R. C., Ma, S., Ahn, S., & McGraw, J. (2021). Flooding the zone: How exposure to implausible statements shapes subsequent belief judgments. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 33(4), 856–872.
Uscinski, J. E., & Butler, R. W. (2013). The epistemology of fact checking. Critical Review, 25(2), 162–180.
Dijk, V. (1998). Opinions and ideologies in the press. In A. Bell & P. Garrett (Eds.), Approaches to media discourse. Blackwell.
Wellmer, A. (2009). On spirit as a part of nature. Constellations, 16(2), 213–226.
Zurcher, A. (2017). What trump team has said about Islam. BBC. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38886496
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Additional information
Many thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and to Dr. Adebowale Akande for his professorial editorial assistance.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barkho, L. (2023). A Critical Inquiry into US Media’s Fact-Checking and Compendiums of Donald Trump’s Falsehoods and “Lies”. In: Akande, A. (eds) The Perils of Populism. Springer Studies on Populism, Identity Politics and Social Justice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36343-6_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36343-6_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-36342-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-36343-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)