Why do we keep swinging at a pitch that has already been called a strike? You cannot tell people to trust you who are convinced that they are being cheated and lied to. Trump threw that strike. He convinced his tribe that everything they hear from the media or press is fake news. We see over and over that they will reject reason because it is outside of their belief system. The liar’s paradox. When he or his acolytes tell them to drink the Cool Aid, they drink.
How do you invade the belief system of fanatics? How do you stop mass hysteria? Messages from formerly respected leaders simply render them liars (see Anthony Fauci, Barack Obama and Liz Cheney as examples). I think it is a waste of time and energy.
I suggest ‘contain don’t convince’ may be the only answer. We are part of a majority that can hold both houses if we all vote. Let’s keep those who are not under the Republican spell with us as part of a team that wants to defend democracy and improve everyone’s life (through ever-improving healthcare, childcare, environmental protections, justice, etc.).
I would stop swinging at those bygone pitches and focus on one issue at a time, totally fact based. Many independents and on-the-fence Democrats can become committed advocates based on real programs to address income inequality, climate change, child and healthcare, etc. Those programs already exist but are obscured by terrible packaging into heterogeneous blobs of programs.
What might a Robert Hubbell do? One column of each topic with a we/they comparison and how it would affect the reader is to me the only way to switch a few votes but more importantly to create the tools that your readers can use to get the maximum number of people out to vote.
Domestic politics in the U.S. overshadowed by Putin's war in Ukraine? It's not a matter of focus on one or the other. It is a matter of maintaining focus on both because they are intrinsically connected by threats to democratic process, the rule of law, and principles of self determination.
Continuing to make connections maintains individual and public efforts to aid Ukraine, as well as to recognize the multiplying signs of autocracy and fascism in the U.S.--and inspiration to fight them.
As I mentioned one day previously, I am reading Ruth Ben-Ghiat's "Strongmen". It is simply amazing the parallels between what is happening in the US today and other fascist/authoritarian governments in the past. "At its core, propaganda is a set of communication strategies designed to sow confusion and uncertainty, discourage critical thinking and persuade people that reality is what the leader says it is." Republicans have now perfected this strategy and the fact that people here believe the most insane things is truly frightening.
Completly agree there was a time when government of the people for the people protected the people from the predations of the oligarchy. It seems sad that many who benefit from union won pensions and social security and medicare are duped by the Putin Republicans and Fox news. The Dems must expose Scotts 11 points for what it is: a Madison Ave created fabric full of twisted holes propagated by a head of a corporation whose thefts from Medicare and Medicaid led to the record fines for the crimes and rewarded hm with a $300 million umbrella. The Foxes have taken over the hen house.
Biden has a strong will but is a fragile commodity and lacks the strength to start barnstorming to reverse the polls. He needs not just a little but a lot of help from his friends - like Obama.
You could be right. Or he could be defaulting to his lifelong pattern of taking the train between DC and Wilmington. He needs help even if he expands his presence on the road. But his handlers seem to be stuck in a DC-beltway mode of governing.
I want to know why we see so little of Vice President Harris? President Biden said she would be his partner, just like he was President Obama’s partner.
She is young and strong. She could do the barnstorming.
She's also got the ability, like any effective prosecutor, to be obnoxious and pushy when she's trying to make a point; not a consistently great retail politician. No question she's underutilized but her spots, like Biden's, have to be carefully chosen.
I guess that I have seen so little of her in the past year that I have not seen that side of her. The Republicans are all pushy and obnoxious. No one calls them out on that. The undemocratic things that they say are what gets everyone’s dander up.
I agree, but people are looking for someone who can make them feel comfortable and safe in an increasingly (at least according to the media) uncomfortable and dangerous world. The Republican feistiness appeals in the same sense that having a trained attack dog makes some people feel safer in their homes - at least until the dog gets excited and mistakes a friend for an enemy. Some parts of the GOP appear to have recognized the uncontrollable nature of their weapons but that is a notoriously hard genie to get back in the bottle. The Democrats' strength has always been first person retail politics but, because that's boring and doesn't generate clicks, likes, and headlines, doesn't get covered. The Katie Porters of the world who just go about doing their jobs don't get a lot of notice and that's the sort of person who'd make the Democrats look really good if they got some support. I don't doubt that there are Republicans in the same situation but they not only don't get covered in the press, they get buried by their party cohorts either because they're considered a bad example or because such a standard of behavior is too high for the current GOP.
I don’t want to be made comfortable. I want the truth! I want to see some passion in discussions about what Russian is doing. We are pushing the European countries to stop buying oil and gas from Russia. What are we doing here to reduce our use of fossil fuels? Are we willing to send the Europeans natural gas and oil? Are other countries willing to do that to hold them over while they reconfigure to renewable sources of energy?
We're pushing the Europeans because the politicians are afraid that if things get tight over here they'll be held responsible and might not get re-elected. It wasn't that long ago that everyone in DC was crowing about how we'd become a net exporter of gas and oil products and were the largest producer in the world. Hard to believe that we've now got to rely on Russian products to get by and any issues result in higher prices. Also hard to believe we can't direct our exports to where we want them, i.e. Europe and get our allies through this situation together. Also surprising that we've been storing grain and dairy products to support inflated prices and now, somehow, can't replace the grain that's being jeopardized by the Russian invasion. It's almost as though the information was being manipulated to serve the needs of those in office and their donor/owners.
You are doing a fine job. But Democratic Party messaging needs to be pointed and sharp. You can lead from the top!
Every time you make a public appearance you need to highlight, with justified pride, the jobs created during your first year in office, the strong, smart efforts to distribute COVID vaccines and convince people that wearing KN85 masks reduces the spread of illness, and (did I get this right?) the successes you have had in filling judicial appointments.
Not a whole laundry list of accomplishments. Just a few.
Some may be able to do that. I have cancelled my subscription to our weekly newspaper. Trump supporters fill the paper with their blasts on President Biden and their praise for Trump. Unfortunately my County is mostly Trump territory. We had two journalists who gave the Democratic viewpoint. They were forced off of the paper by hate mail, hate filled emails and personal confrontations. The Conservative journalist on that paper reigns supreme.
Our situation in Naples Florida is similar. Where are you if you don’t mind my asking? If this is common in our whole country, we are going to struggle even more than I thought.
I live in Bedford, Virginia. We are 30 minutes away from the late Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell Senior’s Liberty University. The area is full of these Evangelical Conservative Trump supporters. If I were younger and my youngest daughter did not live behind me on our family’s land, I would move to a more progressive town, wherever that would be I do not know.
I persist in thinking Biden needs to do something equivalent to the Fireside Chats. As Masha Gessen has pointed out, the key to eliciting support is creating a sense of community. Community trumps policy. So much of what I see from Biden is either behind a lectern or on the fly. I want him to talk to me, person-to-person. He is capable of it, but his handlers aren't setting him up that way.
Years ago I assumed that, since lawyers had gone to law school and passed the bar, they were smart. Then I served on a jury and was quickly disabused of that assumption. Similarly, I have assumed that anyone who runs for Congress is smart (at least savvy and interested enough to understand the law, what they read and more). There goes another assumption, another bubble burst.
We all agree that the media has played an outsized role in omitting all the great things the administration has done, while highlighting "inflation" and other negative items ad nauseum. One person who helped put a spotlight to this was Eric Boehlert who wrote the popular blog "Press Run". Unfortunately, the job he has done will be much harder now as Eric was killed in a tragic bike accident yesterday. Let's honor his legacy by continuing to hold the press accountable in any way we can. https://www.nj.com/news/2022/04/eric-boehlert-media-critic-and-journalist-from-nj-dies-in-bike-accident.html
I agree the Democrats messaging has to be better, louder, and much more aggressive and timely. Most voters like myself are frustrated daily at both the actions and the rhetoric of Republicans in Congress and the constant barrage of lies and racists comments that feels like it is going unchecked and unanswered with the same creditably as the original lies. It’s does not feel like we are adequately fighting back and most importantly voters are believing the lies and misinformation because we are not getting through to them. Jennifer Rubin was right.
I am appalled that Republicans support Putin. Putin is an enemy of the United States. To me, that makes those Republicans and FOX News traitors! I don’t understand why any American citizen would go along with them. It makes me angry.
Sometimes I despair that this is no longer America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. My parents and grandparents would not even recognize this country.
We must win all of the upcoming elections and throw those traitors out of office.
Republicans are chipping away at our Constitutional rights.
FOX News is an enemy of our Democracy. It is like having a Russian State Television Station broadcasting in our country. I wish we could shut them down! But we are not Russia, so we can’t shut down a television channel because we don’t like what they are saying.
You continue to argue that the Supreme Court must be expanded in order to counter the current conservative majority and I certainly agree. Could you please walk us through the mechanics of what would be required in order to enact such an expansion? Thank you.
Eliminate or carve out the filibuster to allow a vote on a bill to reform the Court. Hold a vote in Congress. Pass both chambers with a majority vote. president signs the bill. nothing more needed. Every other approach people discuss requires a constitutional amendment (e.g., term limits, age limits, rotating justices from lower courts, etc)
The Putinist Republicans would do well to read Allen Drury's old cautionary tale 'Come Ninevah, come Tyre' to find out what happens when useful tools are no longer needed. There is never more than one seat at the head of a table and right now there are a lot of asses vying to occupy it.
The Democrats will do much better, as you note in conclusion, to get out and get involved in retail politics with the 40 or so percent of us who are disengaged from both parties and figure out how to deliver what is being sought.
The continuing story of Covid is sad but, since the majority of deaths are preventable, no longer anything other than an academic issue for most people. Those of us who are vaccinated and boosted don't need to be persuaded and those who have chosen not to take those simple steps won't be convinced by another 10 or 15 billion in spending. Covid should take its place alongside the flu and other endemic disease risks as a part of life that we approach with respect and the use of common sense.
Having Biden take credit for jobs and employment is fine, as long as account is also taken of the likely effect of the Fed’s proposed interest rate increases between now and November. These are almost certain to cool the economy and turn the job numbers around. By November, no one will remember what numbers were posted in April.
Take action: Indivisibles, Vote Forward, Swing Left, Jessica Cravens actions, Jen Hoffman’s Americans with a Conscience actions, and so many others that Robert has mentioned. Also, act locally!
It’s the only way I channel my outrage at these very disturbed politicians.
Science, Mathematics, and History all have something very important in common - they are fact-based. While we do discover new facts and those sometimes result in reinterpreting what is known and unknown. What remains true is that before we learn new facts or information they were already there to be discovered. No new information or facts are “created,” rather they are discovered or revealed. They were already there just waiting to be found and hopefully not misunderstood or misinterpreted.
The Tyranny of the disciplines mentioned is they care not for one’s ethnicity, political affiliations or leanings, position or place on the “woke spectrum,” or any other personal characteristic. They are independent of all individual beliefs or bias. Why is that one might ask? Well, because they are fact-based, not belief-based. One can choose to believe them or not. One can choose to talk about them with others or not. But it makes no difference in the real fact-based world what one believes or says, facts and truths remain immutable.
It seems however, Conservatives (I use a capital “C” to reinforce their false belief they hold some special version of “Truth”) feel they have their own special set of facts, not beliefs mind you, but a special set of facts understood and apparent only to them. Perhaps that super power is bestowed on them by wearing red hats. In any case, they have not realized the Tyranny of Science, Math, and History … the Tyranny of facts brooks no tolerance of mere beliefs.
It seems, on the other hand, all of us (in their view) misguided liberals fail to understand they have unearthed the knowledge Rosetta stone that unlocks an entirely new reality unhampered by mere facts, freeing beliefs to now replace them.
But you see, the Tyranny of facts is they remain uncaring about one’s beliefs. Gravity is a fact. 2+2 is still equal to 4. And, Biden is still currently the U.S. President. And, people are still dying of Covid, the majority of them unvaccinated despite what they may “believe.” Because you see, these are all facts and facts just don’t give a 💩 what you believe.
You asked for thoughts, so forgive me in advance.
Why do we keep swinging at a pitch that has already been called a strike? You cannot tell people to trust you who are convinced that they are being cheated and lied to. Trump threw that strike. He convinced his tribe that everything they hear from the media or press is fake news. We see over and over that they will reject reason because it is outside of their belief system. The liar’s paradox. When he or his acolytes tell them to drink the Cool Aid, they drink.
How do you invade the belief system of fanatics? How do you stop mass hysteria? Messages from formerly respected leaders simply render them liars (see Anthony Fauci, Barack Obama and Liz Cheney as examples). I think it is a waste of time and energy.
I suggest ‘contain don’t convince’ may be the only answer. We are part of a majority that can hold both houses if we all vote. Let’s keep those who are not under the Republican spell with us as part of a team that wants to defend democracy and improve everyone’s life (through ever-improving healthcare, childcare, environmental protections, justice, etc.).
I would stop swinging at those bygone pitches and focus on one issue at a time, totally fact based. Many independents and on-the-fence Democrats can become committed advocates based on real programs to address income inequality, climate change, child and healthcare, etc. Those programs already exist but are obscured by terrible packaging into heterogeneous blobs of programs.
What might a Robert Hubbell do? One column of each topic with a we/they comparison and how it would affect the reader is to me the only way to switch a few votes but more importantly to create the tools that your readers can use to get the maximum number of people out to vote.
Domestic politics in the U.S. overshadowed by Putin's war in Ukraine? It's not a matter of focus on one or the other. It is a matter of maintaining focus on both because they are intrinsically connected by threats to democratic process, the rule of law, and principles of self determination.
Continuing to make connections maintains individual and public efforts to aid Ukraine, as well as to recognize the multiplying signs of autocracy and fascism in the U.S.--and inspiration to fight them.
As I mentioned one day previously, I am reading Ruth Ben-Ghiat's "Strongmen". It is simply amazing the parallels between what is happening in the US today and other fascist/authoritarian governments in the past. "At its core, propaganda is a set of communication strategies designed to sow confusion and uncertainty, discourage critical thinking and persuade people that reality is what the leader says it is." Republicans have now perfected this strategy and the fact that people here believe the most insane things is truly frightening.
Completly agree there was a time when government of the people for the people protected the people from the predations of the oligarchy. It seems sad that many who benefit from union won pensions and social security and medicare are duped by the Putin Republicans and Fox news. The Dems must expose Scotts 11 points for what it is: a Madison Ave created fabric full of twisted holes propagated by a head of a corporation whose thefts from Medicare and Medicaid led to the record fines for the crimes and rewarded hm with a $300 million umbrella. The Foxes have taken over the hen house.
Biden has a strong will but is a fragile commodity and lacks the strength to start barnstorming to reverse the polls. He needs not just a little but a lot of help from his friends - like Obama.
You could be right. Or he could be defaulting to his lifelong pattern of taking the train between DC and Wilmington. He needs help even if he expands his presence on the road. But his handlers seem to be stuck in a DC-beltway mode of governing.
I want to know why we see so little of Vice President Harris? President Biden said she would be his partner, just like he was President Obama’s partner.
She is young and strong. She could do the barnstorming.
She's also got the ability, like any effective prosecutor, to be obnoxious and pushy when she's trying to make a point; not a consistently great retail politician. No question she's underutilized but her spots, like Biden's, have to be carefully chosen.
I guess that I have seen so little of her in the past year that I have not seen that side of her. The Republicans are all pushy and obnoxious. No one calls them out on that. The undemocratic things that they say are what gets everyone’s dander up.
I agree, but people are looking for someone who can make them feel comfortable and safe in an increasingly (at least according to the media) uncomfortable and dangerous world. The Republican feistiness appeals in the same sense that having a trained attack dog makes some people feel safer in their homes - at least until the dog gets excited and mistakes a friend for an enemy. Some parts of the GOP appear to have recognized the uncontrollable nature of their weapons but that is a notoriously hard genie to get back in the bottle. The Democrats' strength has always been first person retail politics but, because that's boring and doesn't generate clicks, likes, and headlines, doesn't get covered. The Katie Porters of the world who just go about doing their jobs don't get a lot of notice and that's the sort of person who'd make the Democrats look really good if they got some support. I don't doubt that there are Republicans in the same situation but they not only don't get covered in the press, they get buried by their party cohorts either because they're considered a bad example or because such a standard of behavior is too high for the current GOP.
I don’t want to be made comfortable. I want the truth! I want to see some passion in discussions about what Russian is doing. We are pushing the European countries to stop buying oil and gas from Russia. What are we doing here to reduce our use of fossil fuels? Are we willing to send the Europeans natural gas and oil? Are other countries willing to do that to hold them over while they reconfigure to renewable sources of energy?
We're pushing the Europeans because the politicians are afraid that if things get tight over here they'll be held responsible and might not get re-elected. It wasn't that long ago that everyone in DC was crowing about how we'd become a net exporter of gas and oil products and were the largest producer in the world. Hard to believe that we've now got to rely on Russian products to get by and any issues result in higher prices. Also hard to believe we can't direct our exports to where we want them, i.e. Europe and get our allies through this situation together. Also surprising that we've been storing grain and dairy products to support inflated prices and now, somehow, can't replace the grain that's being jeopardized by the Russian invasion. It's almost as though the information was being manipulated to serve the needs of those in office and their donor/owners.
Y'all are giving me ideas for my next messages to send to the President and Vice-President. Thanks!
OK, here's what I sent just now:
Dear Mr. President,
You are doing a fine job. But Democratic Party messaging needs to be pointed and sharp. You can lead from the top!
Every time you make a public appearance you need to highlight, with justified pride, the jobs created during your first year in office, the strong, smart efforts to distribute COVID vaccines and convince people that wearing KN85 masks reduces the spread of illness, and (did I get this right?) the successes you have had in filling judicial appointments.
Not a whole laundry list of accomplishments. Just a few.
Loud and long and repeated often.
Good advertising, plus, they are all TRUE.
Flood the zone with TRUTH. Verifiable truth.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Stromberg, Round Lake, NY
It's actually KN95 or N95 masks.
How about letters to the editor of your local newspaper?
Some may be able to do that. I have cancelled my subscription to our weekly newspaper. Trump supporters fill the paper with their blasts on President Biden and their praise for Trump. Unfortunately my County is mostly Trump territory. We had two journalists who gave the Democratic viewpoint. They were forced off of the paper by hate mail, hate filled emails and personal confrontations. The Conservative journalist on that paper reigns supreme.
Our situation in Naples Florida is similar. Where are you if you don’t mind my asking? If this is common in our whole country, we are going to struggle even more than I thought.
I live in Bedford, Virginia. We are 30 minutes away from the late Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell Senior’s Liberty University. The area is full of these Evangelical Conservative Trump supporters. If I were younger and my youngest daughter did not live behind me on our family’s land, I would move to a more progressive town, wherever that would be I do not know.
She doesn’t appear to project the strength that is needed at this time in history.
Really? She sure did when she was running for office. Are you talking about strength, or calm?
I know what you are saying but she doesn’t project strength or seriousness.
She does not look happy to me. I bet she wishes she was back in the Senate. She is a very intelligent, capable woman. Her talents are being wasted.
She was better as a prosecutor and senator. I agree her talents aren’t useful as VP.
❤
I persist in thinking Biden needs to do something equivalent to the Fireside Chats. As Masha Gessen has pointed out, the key to eliciting support is creating a sense of community. Community trumps policy. So much of what I see from Biden is either behind a lectern or on the fly. I want him to talk to me, person-to-person. He is capable of it, but his handlers aren't setting him up that way.
Yes; Biden is very effective in the one-on-one interview setting.
I agree with you. It has been a long time since a president has done that.
Years ago I assumed that, since lawyers had gone to law school and passed the bar, they were smart. Then I served on a jury and was quickly disabused of that assumption. Similarly, I have assumed that anyone who runs for Congress is smart (at least savvy and interested enough to understand the law, what they read and more). There goes another assumption, another bubble burst.
Sad, but good delivery.
We all agree that the media has played an outsized role in omitting all the great things the administration has done, while highlighting "inflation" and other negative items ad nauseum. One person who helped put a spotlight to this was Eric Boehlert who wrote the popular blog "Press Run". Unfortunately, the job he has done will be much harder now as Eric was killed in a tragic bike accident yesterday. Let's honor his legacy by continuing to hold the press accountable in any way we can. https://www.nj.com/news/2022/04/eric-boehlert-media-critic-and-journalist-from-nj-dies-in-bike-accident.html
I agree the Democrats messaging has to be better, louder, and much more aggressive and timely. Most voters like myself are frustrated daily at both the actions and the rhetoric of Republicans in Congress and the constant barrage of lies and racists comments that feels like it is going unchecked and unanswered with the same creditably as the original lies. It’s does not feel like we are adequately fighting back and most importantly voters are believing the lies and misinformation because we are not getting through to them. Jennifer Rubin was right.
I am appalled that Republicans support Putin. Putin is an enemy of the United States. To me, that makes those Republicans and FOX News traitors! I don’t understand why any American citizen would go along with them. It makes me angry.
Sometimes I despair that this is no longer America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. My parents and grandparents would not even recognize this country.
We must win all of the upcoming elections and throw those traitors out of office.
Republicans are chipping away at our Constitutional rights.
FOX News is an enemy of our Democracy. It is like having a Russian State Television Station broadcasting in our country. I wish we could shut them down! But we are not Russia, so we can’t shut down a television channel because we don’t like what they are saying.
How do we deal with this, Robert?
You continue to argue that the Supreme Court must be expanded in order to counter the current conservative majority and I certainly agree. Could you please walk us through the mechanics of what would be required in order to enact such an expansion? Thank you.
Eliminate or carve out the filibuster to allow a vote on a bill to reform the Court. Hold a vote in Congress. Pass both chambers with a majority vote. president signs the bill. nothing more needed. Every other approach people discuss requires a constitutional amendment (e.g., term limits, age limits, rotating justices from lower courts, etc)
Maybe Jennifer Rubin can take Jen Psaki’s WH job.
The Putinist Republicans would do well to read Allen Drury's old cautionary tale 'Come Ninevah, come Tyre' to find out what happens when useful tools are no longer needed. There is never more than one seat at the head of a table and right now there are a lot of asses vying to occupy it.
The Democrats will do much better, as you note in conclusion, to get out and get involved in retail politics with the 40 or so percent of us who are disengaged from both parties and figure out how to deliver what is being sought.
The continuing story of Covid is sad but, since the majority of deaths are preventable, no longer anything other than an academic issue for most people. Those of us who are vaccinated and boosted don't need to be persuaded and those who have chosen not to take those simple steps won't be convinced by another 10 or 15 billion in spending. Covid should take its place alongside the flu and other endemic disease risks as a part of life that we approach with respect and the use of common sense.
Having Biden take credit for jobs and employment is fine, as long as account is also taken of the likely effect of the Fed’s proposed interest rate increases between now and November. These are almost certain to cool the economy and turn the job numbers around. By November, no one will remember what numbers were posted in April.
How can we get your comments about and suggestions for President Biden into his hands, Robert? Surely there is some accessible conduit.
Take action: Indivisibles, Vote Forward, Swing Left, Jessica Cravens actions, Jen Hoffman’s Americans with a Conscience actions, and so many others that Robert has mentioned. Also, act locally!
It’s the only way I channel my outrage at these very disturbed politicians.
Otherwise I’d sell my house and go to Canada.
The Tyranny of Science, Math, and History
Science, Mathematics, and History all have something very important in common - they are fact-based. While we do discover new facts and those sometimes result in reinterpreting what is known and unknown. What remains true is that before we learn new facts or information they were already there to be discovered. No new information or facts are “created,” rather they are discovered or revealed. They were already there just waiting to be found and hopefully not misunderstood or misinterpreted.
The Tyranny of the disciplines mentioned is they care not for one’s ethnicity, political affiliations or leanings, position or place on the “woke spectrum,” or any other personal characteristic. They are independent of all individual beliefs or bias. Why is that one might ask? Well, because they are fact-based, not belief-based. One can choose to believe them or not. One can choose to talk about them with others or not. But it makes no difference in the real fact-based world what one believes or says, facts and truths remain immutable.
It seems however, Conservatives (I use a capital “C” to reinforce their false belief they hold some special version of “Truth”) feel they have their own special set of facts, not beliefs mind you, but a special set of facts understood and apparent only to them. Perhaps that super power is bestowed on them by wearing red hats. In any case, they have not realized the Tyranny of Science, Math, and History … the Tyranny of facts brooks no tolerance of mere beliefs.
It seems, on the other hand, all of us (in their view) misguided liberals fail to understand they have unearthed the knowledge Rosetta stone that unlocks an entirely new reality unhampered by mere facts, freeing beliefs to now replace them.
But you see, the Tyranny of facts is they remain uncaring about one’s beliefs. Gravity is a fact. 2+2 is still equal to 4. And, Biden is still currently the U.S. President. And, people are still dying of Covid, the majority of them unvaccinated despite what they may “believe.” Because you see, these are all facts and facts just don’t give a 💩 what you believe.