Truth vs. Manufactured Reality In The Dem Primary, Where Biden Lives In A Fictional World
A few days ago, it was the truth of the inflationary economy coming to light. This morning, it was a Morning Joe attempt to erase the N.H. presidential primary. Concludes by endorsing Dean Phillips.
Truth. Where knowledge of actual facts is the basis of reality.
2+2=4.
Fiction. Where a narrative is created to replace truth with alternate reality.
2+2=5.
Do you live in truth? Or do you live in fiction? Is the answer 4 or 5?
Truth vs. Fiction #1:
Creating a fiction via a manufactured narrative
This morning, I assert the truth is that New Hampshire has not changed its laws. There is — as since 1952 — the first-in-the-nation presidential primary coming up on January 23, 2024. See this excerpt from the 2024 election calendar posted online by the N.H. secretary of state’s office:
I further assert the truth is that my favorite Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, registered as a candidate in the primary. I also assert that President Joe Biden, the incumbent, has not registered. See this list of Democratic presidential primary candidates from the secretary of state’s office:
What’s the fictional narrative?
That’s the widespread notion that the Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire is cancelled by fiat of the Democratic National Committee — because South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary on February 3, 2024, ought to be the Democrats‘ first presidential primary. Why? Because South Carolina is the state that propelled President Biden to win the nomination in 2020.
(Further sowing confusion in this narrative, the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina will be conducted on February 24, 2024!)
More fiction: Since there is not a New Hampshire presidential primary in January, Biden need not bother to campaign in New Hampshire. He can wait until South Carolina during the following month.
But back to reality: Meanwhile, Phillips is campaigning as a candidate does. Biden forfeited overwhelming odds to win in New Hampshire because Biden chose not to register to run in New Hampshire. See the reality of the candidate list shown above in which the president‘s name and address are absent.
Fact: There is a New Hampshire primary. If Biden wants to win in New Hampshire, he must win using a write-in campaign or suffer an embarrassing defeat to Phillips. Truth meets fiction, and truth is invincible. The rubber is hitting the road.
In Biden-world, there is no New Hampshire primary. In truth, the Dean Phillips campaign office opens with a public reception on Saturday in Manchester.
Truth vs. Fiction #2
Creating a manufactured narrative takes a lie. To make the lie pervasive takes the media.
I am steamed today at “Morning Joe” Scarborough of MSNBC’s featured and (usually) my favorite morning news-talk show.
But lately, both Joe and co-host (also spouse) Mika Brzezinski have become so very much fawning over Joe Biden.
This morning, Joe Scarborough had the sheer audacity to say Democrats need not worry about New Hampshire because there is not a Democratic primary election there in 2024. That’s an outright lie!
I tried to find a video clip in which this comment was included. Could not find one.
So let’s move on. Just note that this powerful voice to (mostly) Democrats completely echoed the fiction created by the White House, where there is no New Hampshire primary except — oops! — yes there is, so now we’re scrambling for write-in votes.
Truth vs. Fiction #3
As Mark Twain said, there’re lies, damned lies, and statistics
Ha! Even attributing the phrase “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” to Mark Twain, as usually done, is itself possibly a fictional narrative!
There’s no doubt that Twain popularized the saying. But he attributed the words to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. Yet Wikipedia informs us that there is no record of Disraeli using the phrase — only that it was attributed to him following his death. What’s the truth? In this case, who knows? Lies and damned lies, indeed!
What about statistics?
The chief economist on Morning Joe is Steven Rattner, investment banker, writer, and former New York Times economics reporter. Rattler is knowledgeable and fluidly presents statistics on television.
Rattner is an op-ed columnist in today’s Times. He discusses economic statistics, especially inflation, and contrasts good news with the bad news (for President Biden) that polls show Americans don’t have faith that the economy is improving.
Rattner repackaged the same material for an appearance on Morning Joe today.
Generally, the hosts and panelists at the show agree with Rattner. The say the economy is better, and Americans ought to believe it. That’s been the narrative for months.
But whether Disraeli or Twain said so first, there’s three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Consider these two headlines from Monday’s Wall Street Journal:
At top, we have a news story reporting on President Biden touting the good economic news — namely, jobs growth — and contrasted with voter disbelief that the economy is improving. That was on Page A4 of Monday’s Journal.\
Below, we show “The Outlook” column by David Harrison of The Journal discussing some improvements in prices and in goods sectors, enough improvement that now some economists worry that a soft landing from recession will be followed by disinflation. (No wonder economics is the dismal science.)
You can see three charts accompanying this column. I will enlarge the bottom chart so you don’t have to squint to see it:
Here’s where we separate reality from manufactured narrative.
Grocery prices? Still rising.
Clothing and footwear? Still inflationary.
Services? Ditto and, indeed, all the more so.
Biden’s political problem — and the real-life economic problem faced by you, me, and the country — is that while inflation may might be down in the nation, inflation is still rising in the categories we see the most: groceries, clothing, and services.
These statistics are truth. They are real, and the White House ignores this at its peril.
Meanwhile, none of us can ignore the drain in our wallets and the need to scale back on spending.
It’s right there in numbers printed in black and white.
Voters don’t feel the economy is still not treating them well, which is what Democrats and Morning Joe predominantly say. Voters live in an economy where inflation is still a terrible battle for them.
The President does not address it. On economics and in his political campaign for reëlection, he is not playing in reality. This is why, The Moderate Democrat endorses Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., for the presidency on the Democratic ticket in 2024.
Truth vs. Fiction #2 (Reprise)
Creating a manufactured narrative takes a lie. To make the lie pervasive takes the media.
Garbage in? Garbage out.
That’s what they teach to budding computer programmers.
I’ve just illustrated above that once again, the media — it’s not a monolith by any means and here I mean just certain media channels — echoes what the White House wants to present.
The president wants us to believe the economy is improving.
Our weekly supermarket visit says otherwise.
The media — not a monolith to be sure — echoes what the powerful leaders say.
Our lives, grounded in truth of our reality bolstered by actual knowledge of the facts of our measles existence, says otherwise. It’s not good. It’s bad.
Garbage in?
Garbage out!
Reject the garbage of manufactured reality, a.k.a. fiction. Embrace truth. Even as a Democrat, hold fast to what you know to be true.
When the polls tell you that Biden is in trouble even with Democratic voters, believe it.
I urge you to support Dean Phillips for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.