Among the many symptoms of unease and crisis that have afflicted us in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory is the extraordinary uncouth variety of postfactual politics that he personifies. He doesn’t tell the truth. He doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t speak coherently. Power appears to have become unmoored from the basic values of reason, logical consistency and factual evidence. What has caused this degeneration? One can cite a complex of factors. Certainly unscrupulous political demagoguery, the debasement of popular culture and the self-enclosed world of cable TV and social media are part of
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