It Is the Lies That Are Breaking Our Politics

Political conversations don’t feel like conversations anymore. They are more like collisions, not between ideas, but between realities. We are drowning in lies. Not ordinary lies, not exaggerations or spin, but full-blown alternate-reality lies that millions of Americans sincerely believe. You can’t debate policies when you can’t agree on facts. You can’t fix a country when half of it is living in a world that doesn’t exist. I keep hearing that we have to find common ground. How do you find common ground with a lie?

Some of the most damaging falsehoods that Republicans are pushing have reshaped our political landscape entirely. These are not fringe theories being pushed by off-the-wall conspiracy theorists. They are claims repeated by elected officials, media personalities, and political influencers. The courts, bipartisan officials, scientific bodies, and documented evidence have rejected them. Yet millions believe. Here are only a few of them.

The 2020 election was stolen, except every investigation said otherwise.

More than 60 lawsuits were filed challenging the results of the 2020 election in state and federal courts. Everyone, including those that Trump-appointed judges heard, was dismissed because of a lack of evidence. Republican officials in Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan certified the results. Trump's own Department of Homeland Security called the 2020 election “the most secure election in American history”. Yet millions still believe the election was stolen. Why? Because the lie is simple and emotionally satisfying: They cheated you. The truth is complicated and emotionally flat: Here are dozens of legal rulings, audits, and certifications. In other words, it is just easier to believe the lie than to actually search for the truth. And let's face it, emotion beats evidence. How do you debate something when the other person won’t listen?

January 6^th was peaceful, except that the digital evidence shows violence.

Hundreds of people have been charged and convicted for their actions on January 6^th. Video evidence shows rioters breaking windows, assaulting police officers, and forcing their way into the Capitol. Officers suffered concussions, chemical burns, and broken bones. The total number of U.S. Capitol police officers reported injured that day was 140. Yet we have some Republican leaders describing the events as “peaceful,” “orderly,” and even a “tourist visit.” It's a comforting story, one that lets supporters feel patriotic instead of complicit. But it is a story that collapses in the face of digital evidence, and that evidence will last for future generations to see and study. Yet some don’t believe. That shows that the narrative beats the evidence.

Climate change is a hoax, except the planet is warming.

NASA, NOAA, and the IPCC all confirm that global temperatures are rising sharply due to human activity. The last decade was the hottest ever recorded. Arctic ice is melting at record levels. We have record droughts. Lake Mead is drying up. Yet in other parts of the country, we are having record flooding. In the last 10 years, we have seen an increase in tornadoes, and hurricanes are getting stronger. Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and in intensity, and this trend is worldwide. But we still constantly hear that “climate change is a hoax.” Why? Because it doesn’t take any charts or scientific studies. It is just easier to ignore what is going on around the entire world. It is emotionally convenient. The truth is scientifically complex and politically inconvenient. Anyway, where would all those oil executives spend all their money if they weren’t buying congressmen and senators?

Democrats want open borders, except no Democrat leader supports that.

No Democrat wants open borders. Democratic administrations, just like Republican administrations, have deported millions. Obama had a nickname of deportor-in-chief by the National Council of La Raza president, Janet Murguia, who publicly accused him of deporting too many immigrants. Still, the “open border” is a powerful slogan that appeals to the racism, bigotry, and hatred that the republicans bring to the table. Is simple. It’s scary. It’s easy to visualize. The truth requires explaining policy and the Constitution, and policy and the Constitution are boring. Scary slogans, even when not true, beat explaining policy.

The “deep state” controls the government, except no evidence supports it.

Career civil servants follow laws, procedures, and oversight rules. Investigations into alleged conspiracies have found no organized effort to undermine elected officials. But the “deep state” lie is uniquely dangerous because it discredits every institution Democrats rely on to prove anything. If someone believes the “deep state” exists, then courts are corrupt, scientists are corrupt, journalists are corrupt, and investigations are corrupt. Once the belief in the “deep state” takes hold, all facts become suspect. The “deep state” is the imaginary boogeyman created so you will believe the lies and turn away from the facts. Distrust beats documentation and facts.

Why Democrats struggle to counter these lies

Democrats often respond with charts, data, nuance, institutional trust, and long explanations. But the lies they’re fighting are emotional, simple, repeated constantly, tied to identity, and designed for loyalty. A lie like “the election was stolen” makes people feel righteous. A fact like “60 courts found no fraud” makes people feel nothing. Democrats bring evidence to a fight where evidence isn’t currency. And Democrats soften their language out of fear of sounding elitist or partisan. Instead of saying “that’s a lie,” they say “That claim is disputed.” The Democrats always bring soft language, and soft language loses to hard lies.

The deeper danger

These lies don’t just distort facts; they distort loyalty. They create a world where evidence and facts don’t matter, institutions are enemies, and leaders can’t be held accountable. They turn political identity into personal identity, so correcting a falsehood feels like attacking someone’s sense of self.

We can’t fix politics until we fix reality.

We can disagree about policy. We can disagree on taxes, immigration, healthcare, and foreign affairs. But we can’t survive as a country if we cannot agree on what is real. The Founders warned us about this. Washington cautioned against the “insidious wiles of foreign influence.” Hamilton feared leaders who might be “too much influenced by foreign nations.” They understood that the greatest danger to the republic wasn’t open treason. It was divided loyalty. Today's divided loyalties don’t come from foreign kings. They come from loyalty to falsehoods that fracture our shared reality. Lies may be loud, but truth has one advantage: it doesn’t change and will survive right along with the rest of the digital evidence. And it’s time we started defending it with the same passion with which others defend lies.

I always hear that we must find common ground. I ask: how? How can you find common ground with a lie? That is the question that I always think about. Until we take on the lie, there can be no common ground.