Trump’s Lies and Post-Truth Geographies
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Keywords: Trump, political geography, post-truth, elections
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract
Authors:
BARNEY WARF, University of Kansas
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Abstract
Donald Trump is the worst liar in American political history. As president, he told lies more than 30,000 times. Upon losing the presidency, he has promoted the Big Lie that the election was stolen from him. This paper examines the nature and extent of his lies and their implications for the MAGA assemblage, including the violent riot of January 6, 2022 and the mass delusion that pervades the Republican Party. It examines the mechanisms by which these lies are promulgated and the reasons they are so popular among large swaths of the public. It argues that Trump’s self-serving lies are well suited to the age of simulacra and constitute a tocsin of the emerging post-truth society. When political geographies become detached from any semblance of reality, they assist reactionary autocrats bent on forwarding a neoliberal agenda.
Trump’s Lies and Post-Truth Geographies
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Paper Abstract
